The results of previous surveys carried out at the Department of English Language Teacher Education and Applied Linguistics of the University of Szeged show that the majority of English majors is not prepared enough for their studies, their level of proficiency and study skills are often not satisfactory, and they have difficulty in assessing their own strengths, weaknesses and the reasons for being unsuccessful (Doró, 2010). Arising from the previously mentioned conclusions, the present paper aims to find out more about first-year English majors’ study skills, strategies and self-perception in the form of five semi-structured group interviews. The students’ answers shed light on what aspects of studying students have problems with, how they monitor and adjust their own studying process, what their goals are and what methods they use to become more fluent speakers and better students.