The 3XME guide is written for parents and teachers who want to help younger children, and for older kids with good reading skills, who are struggling to learn their times tables, and who want a fun and effective way of learning multiplication facts. The guide will also help adult learners who want to learn multiplication tables.

A variety of techniques are used to help you remember the right answers to all 144 multiplication facts from 1 x 1 to 12 x 12. If the answer is forgotten, the methods described in the guide make it easy to work out the right answer.

Uniquely, for the most difficult multiplication facts to remember, the 3XME guide uses characters based on the song 'The 12 Days of Christmas' in short stories of 2 to 3 sentences.

Each character is associated with a number from 1 to 12, as described in the song. For example, 'seven swans a-swimming', so swan =7. The multiplication question provides the first two characters in the story, which makes it easy to remember the second part of the story. When the characters in the story are converted back into their numbers, the answer is revealed.

There are twenty-two stories in all and fifteen are illustrated by Catalina Estrada. The story describes the numbers in the right order to reveal the answer, and the illustration is a reminder of the story. Multiplication has never been so colourful and appealing.

You don't need to worry about learning the words to The 12 Days of Christmas - it's just a gentle way to introduce which character is associated with which number. The hints provided make this easy to remember. For example, the hint for seven is: 'A swan's head and neck look like the number SEVEN from the side'.

The 3XME guide is supported by two versions of the song 'The 12 Days of Christmas'. There's the 12 Days Song, sung by Carly Anderson, and a sing-a-long backing track, arranged and played on guitar by Andy Saphir. Both are delivered as free MP3 downloads.

If reference to Christmas isn't appropriate for cultural reasons, it isn't necessary to use the song to benefit from the 3XME guide. Simply use the hints to remember which character represents which number.

For the other multiplication facts, simple rules are given which make it easy to remember the right answer. For instance, to multiply by 10, add a zero to the other number in the multiplication question (e.g. 7 x 10 = 70).

The focus of the main guide is multiplication facts up to 10 x 10, and a separate section is devoted to the 11's and 12's. This is because some people learn multiplication tables up to 10 x 10, and others learn up to 12 x 12.

Versions:
UK English for printing on A4 paper (210mm x 297mm)
US English for printing on Letter paper (8.5 x 11 inches)

Both versions of the 3XME guide are registered with The UK Copyright Service. Registration numbers: 329043 and 329044.