Goal Setting: Part 1MAKING A PLAN TO GET YOUR GED: SMART GOALS
Why set goals?
People who set a clearly-defined goal and
make a plan to achieve it are much more likely
to get what they’re after.
Getting a GED might seem like a big challenge.
Breaking it up into smaller tasks to do one by one
can make it much easier to reach.
What’s wrong with this goal?
This is a great goal to have, but we haven’t
set up any realistic time frame for doing it.
It’s also not very specific about how to do it.
There are a number of questions we need
to ask about this goal:
“I plan to get my GED so I can get a better job.”
Questions to ask yourself:
When do I plan to complete my
GED?
What specific things am I going to
do to get my GED?
How much time do I have to invest?
What resources am I going to need?
What roadblocks might come in my
way?
Thinking through these questions and coming up
with a plan will help you reach your goal.
GED Sections
There are five sections in the GED:
Language Arts (Reading and Writing)
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Civics
Many people focus on one GED section at a time. Some like to start
with their easiest subject; others like to save the easiest till last.
GED Sections
It isn’t enough to pick which section you want to start with. Each one
is still pretty big. When you work on a section, you will need to break it
up into smaller pieces.
Let’s say you want to tackle
math first.
Well, there’s a lot to cover in
math, and you may already
know some of it.
When you enroll as an official student, you will take some tests to find out what you already know and what you still need to learn.
Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can make a plan.
Start small.
Pick one area that you want to focus on, say, fractions, and develop a plan to master that within some amount of time that seems reasonable for you.
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Don’t just set a goal…
…set a SMART goal.
A SMART goal is one that is:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
Specific:
What exactly do you want?
While you might want to
improve in math, the problem
with making “getting better at
math” as your goal is that
there is a lot of math to cover.
Are you expecting to do
partial differential equations,
or are you still working on your
times tables?
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑎0 +𝑛=1
∞
𝑎𝑛 cos𝑛𝜋𝑥
𝐿+ 𝑏𝑛 sin
𝑛𝜋𝑥
𝐿
𝑥 =−𝑏 ± 𝑏2 − 4𝑎𝑐
2𝑎
𝑎2 + 𝑏2 = 𝑐2
Specific
If you have to eat an
elephant, start by deciding
which part of the elephant
you want to eat first.
I personally recommend the
ear as particularly tasty, but
that’s just me.
Set your goals as specific steps that you
accomplish one at a time.
Specific
A more specific goal would be,
“I want to get better at adding fractions.”
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7+ 3
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Measurable:
How do you know you met the
goal?
We’ve now made our goal more
specific, but we can still improve it.
We need a way to tell that we
have gotten better at adding
fractions.
“I want to get better at adding fractions.”
Measurable
Look at how this goal compares:
“I will keep working on adding fractions
until I can get at least 9 of the 10
problems on a worksheet right without help.”
Now we know when we are done and
are ready to move on to the next
challenge.
Achievable:
Is this something you can do?
“I want a perfect score on my next TABE test in math.”
Who wouldn’t like to get a perfect score?
But the trouble with perfection is that it can keep you from seeing how much great work you did, even if you missed a few questions.
Achievable
Worse, expecting perfection can make people afraid to even try at something, because they don’t want to make a mistake.
But mistakes are where we see our best learning!
A more
achievable goal
would be,
“I want my
TABE test to
show I have
mastered
adding
fractions.”
Relevant:
Is it really going to help you?
There is a difference between being busy and actually getting something done.
Some people try to spend their class time copying everything they read in the social studies book, word for word.
Or they come back to Khan Academy, day after day, until they’ve watched every single science video and their eyes are crossed.
Relevant
I have also found people spending time doing math problems they already know how to do.
This kind of work feels good, because you feel like you are busy, and you don’t have to actually think. But if you’re not thinking, how are you learning?
Don’t work harder: work smarter!
Relevant
Whatever the goal you set, whether it is for your next progress test or
for what you want to get done today, you need to ask yourself how
it fits in the big picture.
If you feel you are spinning
your wheels on something,
ask your teachers if they think
it’s relevant.
Mastering fractions is very
important if you want to pass
the math section on the
GED; mastering stem-and-
leaf plots, not so much.
Time-bound:
When are you going to do it?So you’ve picked learning how to add fractions as your goal.
Great. By when?
Pick deadlines that will challenge you
but that are realistic.
You might want to master adding
fractions by the time you do your next
practice test. Maybe you’ll be able to
master everything with fractions by
then—everyone is different.
You’ve known yourself longer than most people, so you know better than
anyone else what is realistic for you.
Time-focused
Also, as long as
we’re talking about
time, every day that
you sit down to
study, ask yourself
what you’d like to
have accomplished
by quitting time.
Putting it all together
“By my next progress test, my results will show that I have mastered adding fractions.”
This goal is:
Specific: I’m going to focus on adding fractions.
Measurable: my test results will show I got a certain amount of problems right.
Achievable: I’ll be taking a progress test every two and a half months. Everyone’s different, but I think I can get this done by then.
Relevant: I will need to be able to do this to pass the math section on the GED.
Time-bound: I’ve set a reasonable deadline, and I know there’s no time to waste.
ACTIVITY: SMART or not-so-SMART?
Are the following goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
Time-bound)? On your activity sheet, write out how the not-so-SMART ones
can become SMART goals.SMART / Not-so-SMART
I want to save money.
I want to be a nicer person.
I will watch every single history video on
Khan Academy.
My next progress test score will show that
I have mastered adding fractions.
I will read an entire novel within a month.
Not-so-SMART
Not-so-SMART
Not-so-SMART
SMART
SMART
SMART
SMART
SMART
Not-so-SMART
Not-so-SMART
ACTIVITY: SMART or not-so-SMART?
Are the following goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
Time-bound)? On your activity sheet, write out how the not-so-SMART ones
can become SMART goals.
SMART / Not-so-SMART
I will meet people who share my interests
by joining a club that interests me within
two months.
I will have my restitution paid off within
three years.
I will pass one GED subject exam within
three months.
SMART
SMART
SMART
Not-so-SMART
Not-so-SMART
Not-so-SMART
ACTIVITY: Your own SMART Goal
On your activity sheet, write out a SMART goal for yourself. You may not know yet what school topics you want to work on.
That’s okay. You can develop a SMART goal about anything you want, even if it has nothing to do with school.
After you enroll and do your initial testing, we will help you write a SMART goal relating to your classwork.
ACTIVITY
Turn in your goal-setting activity sheet to an instructor once
you’ve finished.
You can either hand it in physically or you can scan and send it
to the address below.
Please make sure your instructor initials this item on your check-
list so that you get credit for the activity.