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Mental maths test: ten seconds per question

A ten-second limit is short enough to change the arithmetic you should use. This page explains what fits inside it, what does not, and why hearing the question rather than reading it is the practice that transfers.

  1. Time per question10 sec, adjustable 5–15
  2. DeliverySpoken aloud, English
  3. AnswerInteger, typed
  4. CalculatorNot available
  5. Sign-upNone
  6. CostFree
▶ Practise this format Worked examples
ON THIS PAGEREADY
01What fits inside ten seconds
02Why spoken is harder than printed — and better practice
03Building down to ten seconds
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01

What fits inside ten seconds

One clean route to the answer. Not two, and not a route plus a check. That is why the fast candidate's method is almost never the school method: 35 × 24 becomes 35 × 25 minus 35, and 75% of 2350 becomes 2350 minus a quarter.

What does not fit is long multiplication, long division, or any approach that stores an intermediate figure while you compute a second one. If your method needs to park a number, it will not survive the clock.

02

Why spoken is harder than printed — and better practice

A printed sum lets your eyes go back to the numbers. A spoken sum does not, so you must hold the values in working memory while calculating. That is a genuinely different task, and it is the one several airline assessments actually set.

It is also strictly harder than the printed version, which makes it the better training even when the real test is displayed. Train above the requirement and the requirement feels slow.

03

Building down to ten seconds

Start with the timer off and get the routes right. Then set fifteen seconds and work until you are comfortable. Then ten. Then, if you want real margin, eight.

Watch your average answer time rather than your score. Answering correctly at 9.5 seconds is not passing — it is failing with a delay, because nerves on the day cost roughly a second per question. Keep shortening until the average sits near six.

FAQ

Questions

Is there a free mental maths test with a timer?
Yes — this one. Twenty questions by default at ten seconds each, adjustable from five to fifteen seconds or untimed, with no account and no cost.
Why are the questions read aloud?
Because several airline assessments deliver them that way, and because listening removes the ability to re-read, which forces you to hold the numbers in working memory.
Can I change the number of questions?
Yes. Ten, twenty, thirty or fifty, at four difficulty levels, across 22 question types.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. It uses the speech engine already built into your phone, which typically offers more English voices than a desktop does.
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