foreign service exam

(2025 NOTE: This ARCHIVED post was originally posted on Feb. 14, 2009, on my original, now defunct blog. This post is no longer updated and does not reflect the current format of the FSOT)

(2010 UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, I passed the Foreign Service Oral Assessment – FSOA – in April 2009. I received Final Suitability and was placed on the Register in November 2009. In January 2010, I received and accepted an invitation to join “THE LEGENDARY” 152nd A-100 Class. We graduated A-100 in April 2010, with Secretary Clinton herself administering the Oath of Office. I am now serving at my first overseas post.)

(Originally posted 14 FEB 2009) – Longtime readers of this blog will know that Mr. Crab has long dreamed of joining the U.S. Foreign Service (FS), and is now about 1/3 of the way through the hiring process. The “Foreign Service exam” is a bit of a misnomer as it’s actually a series of tests and background checks, all of which you must pass to advance to the next level. The entire process takes about 9-12 months (or longer) from the day you complete the online application until the day you are admitted to “A-100” — the Foreign Service Orientation Course, a sort-of boot camp for Foreign Service Officers (FSOs). The first major hurdle is the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), more commonly known by its previous name,the Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE).

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(DISCLAIMER: This ARCHIVED post was originally posted on April 2009 on my original, now defunct blog. This post is no longer updated and does not reflect the current format of the FSOA)

Note: This is a shorter and less technical version of my full recap I originally posted on the Yahoo FSOA group. After passing the OA on 4/14/09, it took six months to receive my security clearance and a few additional weeks of waiting for placement on the Consular register. In January 2010, I received and accepted an invitation to the 152nd A-100 class, beginning in late March 2010.

On 14 April 2009 — after two and a half years of testing, trying and re-testing — I finally passed final hurdle of the US Foreign Service Exam: the dreaded Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA), or OA for short. The OA is part role-playing exercise, part job interview…and part psychological battery thrown in for good measure. This was, without a doubt, the hardest and most grueling test I have ever taken. I would rather go through Army basic training course again than retake the OA. It’s a mind game for sure!

Since posting my original recap, a few folks have written me asking for tips & suggestions. So here it is:

Two Crabs Guide to Passing the Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA)

1. Everything you need to know to pass the OA is in the State Department’s “Letter from the Director of Board of Examiners.” Download it, read it, re-read it, digest it, memorize it. It tells you EXACTLY how to pass, from the play-by-play schedule of the OA to the basis for scoring – the infamous 13 Dimensions. Now all you need to do is put it into practice.

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