The bags are packed and am ready to head to Washington for the Oral Assessment. We are turning this into a little family vacation as well and will get to see some good friends who now live in the area.
Besides my Statement of Interest, I have all of the other forms completed to either turn in for the next phase if I pass or throw in the garbage can.
Less than 72 hours to go.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
The QEP
After the BIO section on the written test, the QEP is probablythe least understood part of the Foreign Service process. It is a relatively new step and appears to be the one part of the process where the Board of Examiners (BEX) actively manages the accession process based upon the overall hiring needs of the State Department and within your future career track.
I was fortunate to get past the QEP on my first attempt, but it wasn't without some great advice. All candidates are told that the QEP looks at the total candidate and since none of us knows what really happens we can only assume that is in fact what happens behind closed doors. The BEX takes into account the initial registration/application, FSWE score, and your five personal narratives. There have been several attempts to look at self reported candidate data to find any correlations to predict success, but the bottom line is no one knows. The conventional wisdom seems to be that all things being equal, your personal narratives are the most closely scrutinized at this point. Also, if you have indicated proficiency in a Super Critical Needs Language, and if you passed the phone assessment, that will be factored into the decision as well. I took and passed the Arabic test, but based upon some of the self reported data speaking a SCNL is not a guaranteed trip to the Oral Assessment.
What do I think I learned from writing my personal narratives? The first thing is what makes a good essay on the written test may not be what makes a good personal narrative. When I first sat down to write my personal narratives I followed a similar structure that I used in writing my FWSE essay( I received an 8). Before I knew it I had a lot of background fluff and then didn't have enough words to answer the question. So for lack of a better word it seems you are better off just sort of throwing up on the page and geting right down to it. So the classic multi paragraph approach probably just doesn't work since you have so few characters to effectively answer the question in the prompt.
The other thing I struggled with was trying to find wow sorts of stories. There are several successful personal narratives floating around and after reading them and with some gentle prodding from a new friend, realized that I didn't have to cure cancer, or have rescued a baby from a burning building to write a successful narrative. There are lots of everyday experiences that we all have that can answer the question and when you first sit down to write them it is easy to think that you need a great tale to wow the BEX.
The last thing and it seems to be a common thread throughout the FSO process is follow directions and answer the question!
I was fortunate to get past the QEP on my first attempt, but it wasn't without some great advice. All candidates are told that the QEP looks at the total candidate and since none of us knows what really happens we can only assume that is in fact what happens behind closed doors. The BEX takes into account the initial registration/application, FSWE score, and your five personal narratives. There have been several attempts to look at self reported candidate data to find any correlations to predict success, but the bottom line is no one knows. The conventional wisdom seems to be that all things being equal, your personal narratives are the most closely scrutinized at this point. Also, if you have indicated proficiency in a Super Critical Needs Language, and if you passed the phone assessment, that will be factored into the decision as well. I took and passed the Arabic test, but based upon some of the self reported data speaking a SCNL is not a guaranteed trip to the Oral Assessment.
What do I think I learned from writing my personal narratives? The first thing is what makes a good essay on the written test may not be what makes a good personal narrative. When I first sat down to write my personal narratives I followed a similar structure that I used in writing my FWSE essay( I received an 8). Before I knew it I had a lot of background fluff and then didn't have enough words to answer the question. So for lack of a better word it seems you are better off just sort of throwing up on the page and geting right down to it. So the classic multi paragraph approach probably just doesn't work since you have so few characters to effectively answer the question in the prompt.
The other thing I struggled with was trying to find wow sorts of stories. There are several successful personal narratives floating around and after reading them and with some gentle prodding from a new friend, realized that I didn't have to cure cancer, or have rescued a baby from a burning building to write a successful narrative. There are lots of everyday experiences that we all have that can answer the question and when you first sit down to write them it is easy to think that you need a great tale to wow the BEX.
The last thing and it seems to be a common thread throughout the FSO process is follow directions and answer the question!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The FSO Written Test
The FSWE is one of those great mysteries since all applicants are required to sign a non disclosure agreement when they take the test. There is a lot of great information on the State Department web site and in their guide there are sample test questions for each section of the test.
For first-timers, the test takes approximately three hours and is divided into Job Knowledge(JK) , English Expression(EE), Biographical(BIO), and an essay. You will hear a lot of different opinions on the test, but in my opinion you can prepare for it. The JK section is very broad and not very deep and you could study for years and not see one question from your studies. That being said I found the Cliff Notes Quick Review Books on American History I and II, American History, and Management to be very useful for my preparation and I would consider myself to be a bit of a history buff and news junkie. My normal routine was to read the NY Times and the WSJ, but I added the Washington Post, the Economist and a Middle Eastern newspaper to my daily reading ritual.
The EE section will look familiar to you if you have taken college or graduate school level entrance exams. It is your typical take a really awkward sentence and make it less awkward. I have never done particularly well on those sorts of tests, but did brush up on my grammar rules and if I have to take the test again will spend more time on this section as a way to raise my overall score.
The BIO section is the section that mystifies most test takers and by far has the biggest delta in terms of test scores. For those long in the tooth like me don't be fooled that a good BIO score equals experience, and younger test takers do not let a lack of traditional experience hold you back from taking the test. The BIO section seems to be more about how you answer the questions in terms of how you fit a State Department profile rather how many languages you speak, have you lived abroad or not, etc. So don't fret if you do not have a lot of international experience. Remember you are being hired as a generalist.
Your essay will only be graded if the combination of your JK, EE, BIO scores reaches the passing mark. The current passing score is 154. I don't know if that number will ever change and it appears that the State Department does not change the pass/fail mark as a means to adjust people moving through the pipeline.
The essay is graded on a scale of 1-6 by two graders and the individual scores are combined to give you an overall score. Currently you need a score of 6 to pass and from most of the self-reported scores on the yahoo group, 6 seems to be the most common result. The essay is definitely a time crunch and I know that I was editing it down to the final seconds. My best advice for the essay is to sit down at your computer with the prompts, turn off your spell checker, set your watch for thirty minutes and just practice. I think I practiced 4-5 essays in my last two weeks before the test and did fine.
Now the score you receive is based on a T Score and most people want to know what the max and min is and what the score itself means. From what I remember from my time taking statistics in college and in grad school is that you can not read too much into your score since you are being compared against your testing cohort and it will depend on who got certain questions right or wrong.
Going into the test I felt that I would do much better than most on the BIO section, as good or slightly better than most on the JK section, and slightly below average on the EE section. I just about got it right except for the BIO section. While I did pretty well on it I was under the impression that traditional experience was what mattered most and I don't think that's the case.
My last bit of advice is not to listen to too much advice! Whether you pass or fail no one really knows why, so take all of the advice(most of it well intentioned) you find out there with a grain of salt.
The FSO Application
At first blush the application seems pretty straight forward and it probably is at the end of the day. The application essentially gets you a seat to take the Foreign Service Written Test. For those that are fortunate to pass the written test and go on to the relatively new step, the QEP, the initial application is part of your packet and is supposedly evaluated along with your test scores from the written test as well as your five personal narratives.
So while the application might not seem too important at first make sure you do take care filling it out since it will be part of the evaluation process.
The FSO Oral Assessment
The Oral Assessment is right around the corner and I am now putting the finishing touches on my preparation for the trip to Washington. I made the salespersons day at Men's Warehouses when I walked in and bought two new suits. They had that great 2 for 1 sale, but since I am in shape I pretty much blew through the cost savings on the suits because they basically had to make new pants to fit me. So I am now in possession of two standard issue federal government suits, four boring shirts, and I had two ties that still worked.
One of the great things about working for yourself, living in a laid back community, and being a house husband is that coat and ties are definitely not part of the dress code. So between the wardrobe upgrade and the trip to D.C. I have made a pretty healthy investment in this.
I am a pretty superstitious person by nature so will not get too far ahead of myself. This is my first attempt at this process and succeed or fail in two weeks I will do my best to share my experiences on the entire process from application to the big day in Annex 44.
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