A method for determining the amount of a target component in a sample wherein the magnetic particles specifically bind to binding sites of a contact surface of a sample chamber filled with the sample with kinetics that depend on the sample-amount of the target component, wherein the magnetic particles are used as labels for the target component and chemically bind to it, the method comprising the following steps: a) at least two "washing steps" in which a magnetic force is exerted on the magnetic particles such that unbound magnetic particles are moved away from the contact surface; b) at least two associated "measurement steps" in which the total amount of magnetic particles at the contact surface is measured during a washing step a); c) an "estimation step" in which the amount of target component in the sample is estimated with the help of the measurement results of the measurement steps b), wherein in the estimation step the at least two measurement results obtained are exploited by basing the estimation step on a plurality of measurement results obtained in the different measurement steps b), wherein the estimation step comprises estimating a value of the sample-amount of target component from each single measurement and then calculating an appropriate statistical average of these values or wherein the plurality of the measurement results obtained in the different measurement steps b) are used to base the estimation of the sample-amount on the change of the measurement results, or wherein the estimation of the sample amount of the target component is based on a single measurement result obtained in step b), further wherein an expected sample-amount of target component is estimated based on the first measurement results obtained during an ongoing assay and thus the method is self-adaptive, and wherein the method automatically selects the optimal procedure of estimation step c) to deal with samples of a completely unknown content of target component, wherein the mathematical relation between measurement results and sample-amount that is needed for the estimation is determined from a calibration procedure performed with test samples having different known sample-amounts of target component. a) at least two "washing steps" in which a magnetic force is exerted on the magnetic particles such that unbound magnetic particles are moved away from the contact surface; b) at least two associated "measurement steps" in which the total amount of magnetic particles at the contact surface is measured during a washing step a); c) an "estimation step" in which the amount of target component in the sample is estimated with the help of the measurement results of the measurement steps b), wherein in the estimation step the at least two measurement results obtained are exploited by basing the estimation step on a plurality of measurement results obtained in the different measurement steps b), wherein the estimation step comprises estimating a value of the sample-amount of target component from each single measurement and then calculating an appropriate statistical average of these values or wherein the plurality of the measurement results obtained in the different measurement steps b) are used to base the estimation of the sample-amount on the change of the measurement results, or wherein the estimation of the sample amount of the target component is based on a single measurement result obtained in step b),