I took the Foreign Service Officer Test yesterday. Three-plus hours (it used to be longer when it wasn't administered via computer) of multiple choice questions and two essays. I have a good feeling about it; it seemed to go smoothly with few instances where I felt that I was truly guessing. And my wife confirmed later that many of the guesses I made were correct.
In this test, guessing is encouraged because you are not penalized for wrong answers. However, the further into the test I got, the more I felt that this was the wrong method -- a large portion of the questions were on material that has definite rules (mathematics and the English language) and therefore has "wrong" answers.
I mean, if the purpose of the test is to determine whether an individual can run economic calculations properly or produce a coherent written report on an issue, then very clearly there are right and wrong answers. If people pass because they're not penalized for wrong answers on the test, then they are going to make those same mistakes when it comes time to do the real thing.
And I'm not just arguing that because I feel good about how it went for me. I wouldn't want to achieve the same score as someone else who actually knew the answers just because I got lucky with the guesswork. It's unfair to those who know their stuff.
At least there are also the essays. Two on the test yesterday. So maybe those are enough to separate the chumps from the champs. Of course, maybe I chumped out on those: one about the U.S. jury trial system and the other on the governance of Arctic Ocean resources (topics assigned, not chosen).
In any case, I won't know whether I passed or not for about 8-10 weeks. Look for an update on this topic in early April.
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3 comments:
Good luck on the test. Though i would have your same reservations about it.
Hope it went well. Would that open up more job opportunities for you?
It wouldn't open any opportunities for me as a spouse. It simply leads to a job as a Foreign Service Officer if you pass the whole gauntlet.
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