Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
LSAT nipping at your heels

Ah, the holidays. A time for family and over-the-top consumerism. But that’s okay, because you’re going to be a lawyer! You’ll have plenty of money for the yearly spending spree.

If you can just get past that pesky LSAT.

Studying for the LSAT over a holiday break can be trying, to say the least. But it doesn’t have to be impossible. Here are a few tips to get you through this weekend and beyond (since Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas are all over the next two weeks).

1) Set realistic goals for when you’re going to be with your family

I’m sure everyone reading this is studying a solid amount of time for the LSAT. That’s great. The more you put into LSAT prep, the better you’ll do on LSAT test day.

But you’re going to have less free time over this weekend, because family time is going to be required of you.

If you go into this weekend thinking that you’ll study just as much as you have been, you’re going to be disappointed. If you set a goal of an hour or two a day, that’s probably more realistic. If you don’t reach your goals, you’ll probably be a little down on yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure — set realistic goals, and then reach them.

2) Plan a day off

As a corollary to 1, plan a day off. Not only should you have a regular day to relax anyway, but especially this weekend you should enjoy some holiday cheer. Go a little heavy on the eggnog. Play a game of Monopoly with the family (actually, you might want to skip that for study time…).

If you’ve been LSAT prepping right, you’ve probably been overdoing it a little over the past few weeks anyway. A day off will do you some good. Plus, you should be spending as much time with your family as possible. You’re about to enter law school, after all!

3) Have a talk with everyone

While some time off and a relaxed schedule will be nice, you really do need to keep prepping. You can’t take a week off to celebrate the festivities. But when you do sit down to study, you just know your relatives will bust into your room and tell you that it’s time to watch the game or drink some ‘nog.

If you sit everyone down ahead of time and let them know that you need to study, people are a lot more likely to realize that you’re serious about it. That should preempt the frustration that could build from constant interruptions until you unleash it on poor old Aunt Doris when she comes in with a plate of holiday cookies.

Plus, it will foreshadow your excuse to get out of the worst of your family’s traditions:

“It’s time to play Monopoly!”

“Sorry, I can’t; time to study.”