The Australian Curriculum suggests that students have transitioned from additive to multiplicative thinking upon entry into secondary school. However, research shows that many students are thinking additively, placing them at a disadvantage to their multiplicative thinking peers. In this paper, early findings from a broader research project describe the mathematical experiences of pre-multiplicative thinking students in a secondary school context. Critical realism was applied to initial interview data, and a proposed model emerged to represent the pre-multiplicative thinking research space.