Personally vetted instructors
Study Skills Coaching tutors, lessons & classes
What's the assignment? Where most study-skills sessions begin.
Personally vetted tutors who coach the actual skill of studying. Note-taking, test prep, retention, time on task. Skills most schools assume kids will pick up on their own, and most kids don't.
Your instructors
Study Skills Coaching tutors for private lessons & classes
Strommen has been tutoring in LA since 2006. Study-skills coaching has grown into one of our most-requested specialties because parents see the difference one well-built skill (the skill of studying) makes across every subject. Every tutor below was met and vetted by us in person. No marketplace. Real teachers with real backgrounds, which you can read about in their bios.
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Below are the Strommen tutors who coach study skills. Photos, ratings, and rates are real. Click any card to read their bio and book a free 30-minute trial.
Evidence-based study methods
5 study methods that actually work, according to cognitive science
These are the methods with the most consistent research behind them. If a coach isn't using them, ask why. Worth knowing whether you're booking for a kid, a college student, or yourself.
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01
Spaced repetition
Reviewing material at expanding intervals (1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month) rather than cramming it all into one session. The research base for this is one of the strongest in cognitive science. Apps like Anki implement it; a paper flashcard system with a Leitner box does the same job.
e.g. Vocabulary learned Monday gets reviewed Wednesday, then the following Monday, then two weeks later.
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02
Retrieval practice
Testing yourself on the material instead of rereading it. The act of pulling information out of memory strengthens it far more than the act of putting it back in. This is why flashcards, practice quizzes, and "close the book and explain it" all work better than rereading notes.
e.g. Close the textbook, write down everything you remember about photosynthesis, then check what you missed.
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03
The Cornell note-taking method
Page divided into three zones: a narrow left column for cue questions, a wide right column for notes during class, a strip across the bottom for a summary written within 24 hours. The method forces engagement at three different time horizons and turns notes into a built-in study tool.
e.g. Right after class, write one sentence summarizing the lecture. Three days later, cover the right column and quiz yourself using the left.
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04
Elaborative interrogation
Pausing at each fact or concept to ask "why is this true?" and "how does it connect to what I already know?" The questions slow you down but build deeper, more durable understanding. Especially useful in science, history, and any subject where memorization without context is brittle.
e.g. Reading that the Treaty of Versailles set up WWII, pause and ask: why specifically? What clauses? What was Germany's economic situation?
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05
Mind-mapping for synthesis
Drawing concept maps that connect topics visually rather than listing them. Useful at the end of a unit to consolidate disparate pieces into a single mental model. Pen and paper work as well as the apps; the act of drawing the connections is what matters.
e.g. After a unit on the Civil War, one page showing causes, key figures, battles, and outcomes radiating from a center node.
About Study Skills Coaching
The skill almost no school teaches
Studying is a skill. That sounds obvious until you realize how rarely it's taught. Most students are handed a textbook, told to "go study," and left to invent a method on their own. The smart ones figure something out. Many don't. The ones who don't are often labeled lazy or unmotivated when the real issue is that nobody ever showed them what good studying looks like.
Decades of research from cognitive science have settled the question of what actually works. Spaced repetition beats cramming. Retrieval practice (testing yourself) beats rereading. Active note-taking beats highlighting. Mixed practice beats blocked practice. Teaching the material to someone else beats passive review. These aren't opinions. They're consistent findings across dozens of studies.
The gap between what cognitive science knows and what students actually do is enormous. Most students still highlight, reread, and cram the night before. They believe it's working because the material feels familiar in the moment. It usually isn't working, because familiarity in the moment doesn't predict recall a week later. That gap is exactly where good study-skills coaching lives.
What our coaches do, concretely. They teach the Cornell note-taking format and similar structured systems that force the student to engage with material rather than transcribe it. They build retrieval schedules so the student is testing themselves on yesterday's material today, last week's material this week. They model elaborative interrogation: pausing to ask "why is this true?" instead of moving on. They teach interleaved practice, where the student mixes problem types instead of grinding through one type at a time. They help students build study guides from scratch rather than working from a teacher-provided outline, because the act of building it is itself the studying.
For test prep specifically, the playbook is different from generalized studying. Coaches teach students how to read the format of a given test, where points are earned and lost, how to manage time during the test, and how to do post-test reviews that actually improve the next attempt. We do this for everything from middle-school unit tests to SAT and ACT prep to graduate qualifying exams.
A student who learns these skills early carries them through college and into professional life. That's the real return. Grades improve, sure, but the bigger payoff is a student who knows how to learn anything on their own, which is the skill that actually matters once school is over. Adult learners signing up for a credential, a career change, or a new language ask for the same coaching for exactly this reason.
Many of our study-skills students also have an LD diagnosis or an executive-function challenge. We coordinate when that's the case. Study skills overlap a lot with executive-function coaching; the difference is emphasis. Study skills focus on what to do with academic material once you're sitting down with it. Executive-function coaching focuses on the sitting-down part: planning, initiating, sustaining attention, transitioning. Many students benefit from both.
Most study-skills work happens online, which suits this kind of coaching well: screen-share for working through actual assignments, document collaboration for note-taking practice, easy file-sharing for study guides. In-person sessions are available around Los Angeles too. Book a free 30-minute trial and the coach will assess what's already working and what to add first.
What you'll cover
Lessons & classes tailored to Study Skills Coaching
Note-taking systems that actually get used
Cornell, outline, charting, mapping. Different methods fit different subjects. Our coaches teach the student to pick the right one for the material in front of them and to use it consistently long enough to see the payoff. We also work on digital vs. handwritten trade-offs (handwritten wins for retention in most studies, even though digital is faster).
Test prep that targets the actual test
Generic studying isn't the same as test prep. Coaches teach students to analyze the format of a specific test, work backwards from a target score, identify where they're losing points, and drill exactly those gaps. We do this for school exams, AP tests, the SAT, the ACT, graduate exams, and professional certifications.
Retention strategies and review schedules
We build personalized review schedules using spaced repetition principles. A student studying for a cumulative final shouldn't be relearning Unit 1 the night before. We set up the spacing so Unit 1 has been reviewed three times by the time Unit 6 hits. This is the single biggest lever for students whose grades suffer on cumulative assessments.
Time management and study planning
Many students don't fail to study because they don't know how; they fail because they don't know when. Coaches help build weekly study plans, break big assignments into chunks, and protect the actual study hours from the things that eat them (phones, switching costs, the perpetual "I'll start in 10 minutes"). Heavier intervention in this area becomes executive-function coaching.
FAQ
About Study Skills Coaching lessons & classes
What's the difference between study-skills coaching and tutoring?
A subject tutor teaches the content of a specific class. A study-skills coach teaches the meta-skill of learning content efficiently across any class. Both have a place. Many students need both: the algebra tutor on Tuesdays, the study-skills coach on Fridays. The skills compound.
What age should we start?
Useful as early as 4th or 5th grade when school workload starts requiring real study habits. Middle school is the most common starting point because that's when the wheels often come off for students who relied on memory through elementary. High school and college students benefit too, especially when grades suddenly slip after a method that used to work stops working.
Will the coach help with specific assignments?
Yes, and that's often where the real learning happens. The coach uses the student's actual current assignment as the vehicle for teaching the method. We don't do the assignment for the student. We coach them through doing it the right way, which is a different and more lasting outcome.
Can study-skills coaching help with test anxiety?
Often, yes. Test anxiety frequently has two roots: not feeling prepared (which good study skills fix) and not having a plan for the test itself (which good test-prep coaching fixes). When both are addressed, the anxiety usually drops. If there's a clinical anxiety component beyond what coaching can touch, we'll say so and recommend bringing in a therapist alongside the academic work.
How long until grades improve?
Habit change is the slow part; grade improvement follows. Most students see grade movement within 6 to 12 weeks of consistent coaching, with bigger gains on cumulative assessments because spaced review compounds over time. Quick wins on individual quizzes can happen sooner, but the durable gains come from sustained habit shifts.
Do you coach adult learners too?
Yes. Adults returning to school, preparing for a professional credential, or self-studying a new field benefit from the same evidence-based methods. Often more, because adults can apply the techniques more deliberately than teenagers can. Common students: bar prep, USMLE, CPA, PMP, and self-directed learners.
Ready for Study Skills Coaching lessons or classes?
Book a free 30-minute trial with one of our personally vetted tutors. Private lessons or small-group classes — your choice.