This paper draws on numerous data sources to better understand the shift from additive to multiplicative thinking in years 4 to 9. Research studies that have used the Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years assessment tasks have found that while students can be supported to move through the early and upper zones of the Learning and Assessment Framework for multiplicative thinking, it has been difficult to move students through Zone 4 at the same rate. A closer examination of item responses at this level reveal that a disposition to notice and work with relationships between quantities may explain this phenomenon.