<p><strong>ABSTRACT. </strong><strong><em>Background:</em></strong><strong> </strong>Predoctoral<strong> </strong>education requires student dedication to meet academic demands and learning goals with quality. University professors often complain that students do not regulate their learning strategies and are unable to act autonomously in their professional training. <strong><em>Purpose:</em></strong> To analyze the use of self-regulated learning in dental students at a Colombian public university. <strong><em>Methods:</em> </strong>A descriptive study was carried out using Lindner et al.’s Self-Regulatory Learning Inventory, 4.01 version. The inventory includes four training areas (executive, cognitive, motivation, and environment control) among fourth semester dental students (sophomores) of University of Cartagena in Colombia. <strong><em>Results:</em> </strong>The average use of self-regulated learning by the dental students was low. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the score in the scale (60-119) leads to a deficient level of learning (p<0,05). <strong><em>Conclusions:</em> </strong>Marked weaknesses in the group of students intervened were identified who, in some cases, did not meet adequate self-regulated learning levels for their current year of study.</p><p> </p>