Student Frequently Asked Questions
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is weekly study sessions led by students who have previously taken the course and received an A or B. SI Leaders attend class and meet with professors to ensure SI sessions cover the important course concepts, predict and practice test material, develop test prep strategies, and discuss readings.
To find out when and where SI sessions are held, please see the SI schedule.
The following courses are supported during both Fall and Spring semesters:
- CHEM: 151, 152, 241A, 241B
- MCB 181R
- PHYS: 141, 241
- PSIO: 201, 202
The following General Education courses are supported only in the Fall semester:
- NSC 170C1
- SPAN 160C1
Students who attended SI regularly received a half to a full letter grade higher than those who did not attend SI.
Quotes from students about SI:
“SI sessions helped me improve my test score by 20-30%. I will always recommend these sessions to other students! They are a game changer.”
“SI was a great resource for my physics course, & I was able to improve my understanding of lectures and discussions.”
“This resource is extremely helpful and I felt very confident about the content taught in class because of it.”
It’s best to attend the course lecture before attending a SI session. When you attend a SI session, bring your lecture notes and questions you may have about the course content. The SI Leader will facilitate a planned study group session based on your most recent lecture that may answer your questions.
All SI sessions should begin on time as stated on the website. In the event a student arrives before the SI Leader to a session, students are asked to wait 15 minutes if the session is in-person and 15 minutes for an online session.
There are several other resources at THINK TANK that can help you succeed in your courses:
If a section does not offer SI, students may attend SI sessions for other sections of the course. However, SI sections are designed to supplement section specific content. Because course curricula typically differ by professor/section, there is no guarantee SI sessions will pertain to current material in your class.
We have multiple SI leaders for each section to provide a wide variety of session times. Students may choose which sessions best fit their schedule.
If an SI session is held in a Residence Hall before 10 am or after 5 pm, the SI leader will let students into the building.
Depending on the number of students attending a session, particularly around exam times, locations and times may change to better accommodate students in the session.
SI Leaders will give announcements in class or by email about changes to the schedule. In addition, you can subscribe to Google calendars for individual course sections using the SI schedule, which will send out email reminders and changes.
Visit the THINK TANK Jobs page and complete our application. Requirements are as follows:
- Receive an A or B in the course
- Be able to attend all lectures for the class of interest
- Be able to attend mandatory training one week before class begins
If you have further questions about SI, contact supplementalinstruction@arizona.edu