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What does a foreign service officer do?

What is taking the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) like?

  • I am just wondering if any current or former Foreign Service officers, or those who took the test and for whatever reason didn't pursue a Foreign Service career can shed some light on what taking the test is like, how they prepared, what materials were covered, etc. I'm especially interested in the later in-person rounds of the test instead of the standardized part. All I could find on the subject online is the pretty vague, " It includes a group exercise, a structured interview, and a case management writing exercise."

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    The Foreign Service Exam has gone through so many revisions since I've taken it that I'm sure most of my information is out of date. One thing that remains true, however, is that the written portion of the exam is still a general knowledge test. Because US Foreign Service Officers are considered Generalists, they are expected to know something about a great many things. Questions have ranged from American art and architecture to how the US government works, how laws are passed, how the US economy works or doesn't work, and of course American history. This is hard to cram for. A quick review of appropriate texts might help, but if you don't know it at all, it's probably better to focus on what you know and guess on the rest. The group exercise is designed around a fictional-but-plausible situation in which a group of FSOs are faced with an issue and have to work together to find a solution. You may (or may not!) be assigned roles that you play-act as you think someone with a particular job title would. What's being judged is more how one gets along -- Is one a bully A-type? Is one just sitting back and letting others do the work? -- rather than a precisely correct answer. The structured interview is also about how rather than what. How one approaches an issue, how one forms an answer, how one takes into consideration conflicting views... these are at least as important as coming up with a favored answer. If there even is a favored answer. Often, the question will be one that has no clear-cut answer. Often, the question will have more than one good answer, so how you make your point is important. I'm not directly familiar with the 'case management' exercise, as it wasn't part of my exam process. If it's what I think it is, then it's something I may have worked on in its testing development period as a 'guinea pig'. If that's the case, then it's something that tests prioritization skills. You're presented with a stack of paper, all of which needs attention. You have to read through it, recognize what's most important and how it needs to be channeled for action, and then put the other matters in their proper order. You're not expected to know how the State bureaucracy works, but you do have to be able to suggest what kind of office might best handle a particular kind of issue. Don't forget that once the written exam and the in-person parts are done, you've still to pass through medical and security clearances.

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We just posted a pretty good bank of FSOT practice questions here.  230 of them!  http://www.practicequiz.com/FSOT-Full-Test-Bank

Ted Chan

.For both the written and the orals, it is very helpful to go in with a strong grounding in current global issues.  If you read the Economist from cover to cover every week you should have this aspect covered.  The reason why this is important is that the Orals process takes the better part of a day and if you have a comfortable grasp of international issues then you will be able to focus on the process rather than getting hung up on the substance.  In terms of the process, the critical elements are being able to engage with the interlocutors / other participants in a collegial and mutually supportive manner, and to be able to think on your feet to respond in the various exercises.  The year after I graduated from the University of Michigan when I took the written exam and the orals, I was serving as a Motions Clerk at the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  My job was a combination of 'short order cook' and legal researcher, with the additional requirement that I had to engage with the Appellate Judges to brief them on the incoming motions and provide my recommendations.  I mention this because the job of Motions Clerk turned out to be good training for success in the Orals and I got through the process on my first try. In terms of the specific elements in the orals:  when I took it was surprisingly similar to what you have listed.  The group exercise is where some folks try to 'win' – not surprisingly it is more helpful to your candidacy if you can work well with others to reach the best outcome as a team.  So if you see someone else acting aggressively during the group exercise, don't get upset or react, just stay with the group. The Examiners usually will not reward that kind of behavior. For the structured interview, one of the Examiners will talk with you on a one-to-one basis about specific topics.  You may have a selection of topics, and it this is an area where it is helpful to be comfortable with international news and culture, though as I recall my own interview so many years ago the hardest topic for me was Chicago architecture. (I was living in Chicago at the time and took the exam in Virginia; probably the Examiner thought he was throwing me a softball in asking about Chicago architecture.) For the case management writing exercise, when I took the exam it was called the "In-basket." Here is the basic idea:  for the purpose of the exercise, you have just arrived at post on a Sunday some time after the transfer of your predecessor and you have a limited amount of time to review the in-basket, to assess relative urgency of matters that piled up while the position was unfilled.  Some of these things may be of critical importance, others may be trivial.  So during the exercise you need to remain focused and sort through everything before you take up any individual task, to prioritize and figure out what if anything is urgent and can't wait until the next day.  (I really enjoyed the in-basket because it was the most like my job as a Motions Clerk.) After writing the above, I just found a relatively recent blog that may also be helpful  – http://www.foreignservicetest.com/the-sections-of-the-foreign-service-oral-assessment/#sthash.S4gQcIZE.dpbs

Susan Kling Finston

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