When practicing Rocket Math, we ask students to say the whole problem and the answer for each problem while the checker listens. Two beneficial things are happening when students do that. (1) They are retrieving the answer from memory. As they go out and find that answer in their mind they are strengthening the neural connections between the problem and the answer. The more times you think about something the easier it is to remember. So that’s the first benefit. (2) The second benefit is the rehearsal of the verbal chain. A verbal chain is a set of words you often say together. In my workshops I always show how this works by saying the final words of the pledge of allegiance, “and justice for …” and leaving off the word “all.” The participants always help me out. Everyone can complete that final word of the pledge because those words “and justice for all” are a verbal chain. You cannot say “and justice for…” without thinking of the next word “all.” Back to verbal rehearsal of the verbal chain for a math fact. When the student says “Nine times seven is sixty-three” enough times, when the student rehearses it aloud it becomes a memorized verbal chain. Then in the future when the student says to himself or herself, “Nine time seven is…” the answer “sixty-three” pops into mind automatically. That popping into mind is the essence of automaticity and it is the goal of all that practice in Rocket Math. [You didn’t really think the goal was to get to Level Z, did you?] What we want is that when student are doing calculations later in school and life they only have to mutter the problem to themselves and the answer pops into their minds. Now they can do calculations and focus on the procedure and the problem rather than trying to recall the answer. That’s how all that verbal rehearsal pays off. And now you know!