When a couple is learning the Sympto-Thermal Method (STM), recording the basal body temperature daily is important. It is best to take the temperature every day from the fifth day of the cycle to the cycle end in order to learn to identify the lower temperature level, the type of shift, and the upper temperature level. Symptoms are recorded every day, regardless of experience.
After several months of STM experience, the woman can decide, with the help of a Serena teacher-couple, to stop taking her temperature once the definite infertility of the post-ovulatory phase has been confirmed, until the fifth day of the following cycle. After one year, if short cycles are unusual, and if pre-ovulatory symptoms are regularly observed, a woman with good self-knowledge will only require about ten days of recorded temperatures per cycle in order to verify the changes in the two temperature levels. However, symptoms must continue to be recorded daily.