LSAT Goal Setting?

cm214998

Hey everyone! I was curious to know if any of you guys used goal setting techniques or methods that help you stay accountable and track your LSAT progress. I was thinking of writing my own goals to see if that helped me stay on top of my studying since I've fallen behind a little bit. Also, I feel it would also help with setting smaller target scores that you can work your way up to which also indicates progress. @"Alex Divine" I know you've mentioned setting goals here before. Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Alex

@cm214998 said:
. @"Alex Divine" I know you've mentioned setting goals here before. Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I think setting goals and staying accountable is essential to doing well on this test!

There doesn't necessarily seem to be a right and a wrong way to set goals as long as they are realistic. For example, when I first started, I would try to set insane goals like: "I want to perfect logic games by the end of the month" or "I want to study 10 hours a day, 7 days a week."

However, sensible and practical goals are very helpful. I try to study 4-5 hours a day, 6 days a week now, and use the 7Sage study scheduler to let me know what I need to get done by the end of the week. When I was going through The LSAT Trainer, I set my goal in # of pages I wanted to get through per day.

Another important idea is being OK with pushing things back when need be. It is much better to get in 3 quality hours of prep as opposed to 6 hours where you have a headache and aren't really absorbing much info. When these things happen sometimes it is best to just take the day off. So stay flexible!

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This is from my own limited experience, but I found that goals don't need to be strictly numerical goals! I'm a splitter that's shooting for T14, so I let the 170+ or bust mentality get to me. This impacted my motivation, focus, and pt scores. I eventually let it go (for the most part) and strived to just be able to get to a point to finish sections and feel like I did well, as opposed to finishing and praying that I hit a targeted score. I found that nothing is more deflating than doing a PT and learning that (a) my score didn't change much and (b) it's still below what I would like. What kept me going (and over the hump) was just making sure that over a couple of PTs, I could feel like I was getting more confident in how I went into answering questions and how I felt after the PT.

Really, the upshot of what I'm saying is basically echoing something I read from the LSAT Trainer, which is a nice Aristotelian take: you should be aiming for mastery over what the LSAT tests as an end in itself and not be aiming at some score.

As for setting goals for studying time or something, I find the 7sage schedule thing really good. I'm terrible with putting aside hours or keeping track of anything. And most importantly, it gave me an estimation of how long it should take – much better than the half-assed and unrealistic approximation that I would have made otherwise. It's also all done with like two clicks, which is probably the only way to get me to do any sort of time planning. Basically, I agree with everything that @"Alex Divine" has said.