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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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.

PCAPLearnLabs@sc.pima.gov