The first section of the written portion of the Foreign Service Officer Test is the essay section. In the Essay Section, you’ll be offered a couple of prompts. The prompts will require you to take a position and effectively argue it. Officially, it doesn’t matter what your position is, but I’d avoid anything offensive. You have 30 minutes to write your essay.
- As soon as you start the test, read each prompt and choose the best one. Don’t look back!
- Write a thesis on your blank piece of scratch paper. I usually write a brief outline as well, but that’s just personal.
- What kind of essay you write depends on how fast you are and how many points you think of. If you have three strong arguments, go with a 5 paragraph essay, if you only have two, go with a two paragraph essay. If you only have one point, think harder!
- Write, write, write! Go quickly, but try not to make simple spelling and grammar mistakes.
For those of you who haven’t written any essays in a while, here are some basics. Always have a thesis. The thesis should generally be one sentence that explains your positions and offers 2-3 arguments that support it. The five paragraph essay consists of an introduction, three paragraphs of arguments, and a conclusion. The thesis should be the last line of your introduction, and the first sentence of each argument paragraph should restate one point from your thesis. The conclusion should restate the thesis and broaden things a bit. The two paragraph essay is much simpler. The first sentence of the essay is the thesis, and the rest of the first paragraph is devoted to arguing the first point. The second paragraph begins by restating the second point, building on it, and closes by restating the thesis. Practice writing essays in 30 minutes so you know how much you can write during that amount of time.
Hints
- The test is computer-based, so you’ll the faster you type, the more time you’ll have for thinking. There are several free, internet-based typing courses that can help you improve your skills.
- If you can’t think of good supporting arguments to your position, try arguing the other side, even if you don’t agree with it. All that matters is how well you write and convince.
- If you run out of things to say, go back and elaborate on what you’ve already said. You don’t want to start over again and end up with two halves of an essay when you run out of time.
This post is part of my unofficial Guide to the Foreign Service Exam.
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did anyone study for the test with a foreign service test review book? I bought The Foreign Service Officer test prep guide by National Learning Corp. The grammar and knowledge questions are so ridiculously hard.
does anyone know the answer to this question.
the largest and best organized terrorist organization in the philiines is :
a) abu sayaff b) mujahedin -e- khalq , c) jemaah islamiyah , d) moro islamic liberation front
if your not prepared to answer a question like this than I guess your not prepared to take the test and become a FSO….. lol
Its D– Moro islamic liberation front. The names of the other organizations just didn’t sound like anything that would be found in the Phillipines. I wouldn’t recommend using this logic though…
I am pretty sure that is the abu sayeff. They are a terrorist group in the southern phillipines Trying to first seperate from the philipines and second create a pan se asian Islamic state.
Both the Moro-Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf operate it the Philippines, but MILF is the largest, which is what the question asked. FYI, I took the test in June, and none of the questions were that hard. I’d recommend focussing on English grammar and U.S. government.
The answer is the MILF as Bets indicates above. However both Abu Sayaf and Jamah Islamya operate in the Muslim areas of the Philippines. These three Muslim insurgent groups have different goals, memberships and sizes: MILF is by far the largest and the oldest of the three because of its nationalist base and goals.
Whether an isolated question of this sort appears on the exam, I doubt it will make much of a difference in an individual’s overall score on the test. Study the guide the State Dept. Board of Examiners provides. The written exam is a basic knowledge and writing skills test. Any FSO needs to be able to write well, rapidly and in an organized fashion, know American history, culture and society as well as demonstrate an excellent knowledge of the world (This is where a question like the one on the Philippines might come in). A broad liberal arts education is an excellent base. However, many of the people who pass all of the hurdles are really mid-career. The written portion is just the beginning.
Hi, I am taking the exam Oct. 8th and I’d like to go over possible essay topics. A few I came up with was the treatment of terrorists, if they should be tried in a civil court of military court. Abortion controversy, and if the new healthcare plan should provide for it. maybe gun control? patriot act? war in afghanistan? israel and palestine conflict, creation of a palestinian state?
can anyone think of some more possible essay topics?
First, I believe those of us who have taken the exam are bound by the NDA. Next, the topics are irrelevant; just take a side and defend with facts. Visit the yahoo fswe group for more…
you say “just take a side and defend with FACTS” - if you know about current events and possible essay topics than you can defend with facts.
you still need a general knowledge of whatever essay topic it may be. i didnt say to give me your prior exam’s essay topic, so that shouldnt keep you bound to the NDA. im just asking what people out there think are relevant topics.
Bill,
My essay had nothing to do with foreign policy or current events. Your essay is about one thing: writing. Relax and just make sure you can write a good, cogent essay under pressure in 30 minutes.
k thx m
Review the study guide from the Board of Examiners (should be on State’s website), Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, and Lynne Truss’ Eats Shoots and Leaves. Eschew the passive and use of jargon.
I agree with Patricia. Look at the guide. The questions on the guide do not deal with Foreign Service specific topics but are more similar to what you would find in a philosophy class in school.
Examples could deal with things like whether assisted suicide or euthanasia should be baned completely or allowed in certain circumstances. I left college a long time ago, but if you have a philosophy book it should have a number of examples. I remember that in my pilosophy class we had to write about 10 papers taking a position on an issue and defending our position. Very similar to this part of the exam — except for the 30 minute time restrcition.
I prepared for the test by reading the Economist from cover to cover every week for three months and writing as many practice essays as I could in thirty minutes or less. The less stressed you are about the time limit, the better your writing will be. Clear, concise sentences are important.
I’ve passed the FSWE twice, both times I took and both times I got invited to the Oral Assessment. Both times I didn’t go because I was in law school.
You just need to read from the State Dept Recommended Reading List. If you do so and have read at least 1/4-1/2 of the books on there you’ll have enough knowledge to pass.
I don’t understand why the blog author and others are saying this test is hard at all. To be honest it’s the easiest entrance exam I’ve ever taken if you’re halfway intelligent.
Good luck to all.
this is why i don’t want to be a lawyer. . . .
agreed
Folks, come on. That Inam, I’m sure is just yanking everyone’s chain. She or he can’t be that much of a tool.
FYI…MILF is not considered a “Terrorist” organization by State. MILF is a seperatist movement, and does not have as a defined goal the overthrow of, economic damage to, or targeted violence towards the Unites States or its citizens. MILF is also engaged in ongoing talks with the Philippines government about the their role and status in the autonomous regions; and the US has been petitioned directly by the Arroyo Government NOT to include MILF on the list. The Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiya would be the only two possible answers.
This is the kind of minutiae they are looking for. And no..I’m not Filipino…I just know this kind of archane, useless everywhere but here information…lol I passed my first try at the written on Oct. 9th..starting my writen tonight.
Or…if you had the NPA as a choice, mine exam did not, then they would be the largest Terrorist organization in the RPI, having about 6K members.
Inan, I agree the written is not that hard if you are a naturally curious person and spend your life reading everything you can get your hands on instead of watching American idol. I passed my first time and am now doing the personal narratives. But you seem a little too A.D.D. to be applying for a job in State. From the time I took the LSAT I didn’t have time to think of anything else but law…let alone wasting my time to take a test for a job I didn’t really want to pursue.
My advice to you…Concentrate on ONE thing…your future clients will thank you for it, and you’ll stop wasting my tax dollars taking tests, and taking up the State Departments time scheduling interviews, for a job you clearly do not desire that much.
Anon 3:
I passed again and am also completing my PN questions and scheduling my Critical Language testing in Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu.
Good luck.
The Foreign Service has always been an option I’ve held in high regard. I did go to law school and I’m quite glad I did, even if I don’t want to be a lawyer in the traditional sense. In fact, the majority of FSO’s accepted to the position in recent years have completed graduate education, often a Master’s or J.D. I don’t see how my intellectual curiosity and breadth of interests is a sort of A.D.D., but that’s an opinion you’re entitled to. If anything, my efforts indicate how much I desire the Foreign Service as an eventual goal. It’s been unfortunate I could not attend my OA’s in the past due to school, but I’ve finally finished my degrees. Previously, I was hesitant to attend because I didn’t want to have to drop everything in the middle of school to go for training if I was selected (which is what you are required to do if you are chosen).
Maybe you should learn a little bit more about the person making the statement before jumping to conclusions about them.
And yes, I apologize for “yanking” the chain a little. I didn’t mean to belittle the exam or anyone taking it. I think it actually does a really decent job of being multidisciplinary and forcing you to learn things that were outside the purview of whatever your major was in undergrad.
Good luck to everyone on their PN’s (and critical language testing if you’re doing that).
The comments in response to Inam are funny. Someone doesn’t want to be a lawyer because lawyers are…smart?…used to much more difficult exams than the FSOT?…write in a straightforward manner about their own experience?…have faced tasks too difficult for them and expect others to be okay with that kind of experience as well?
I studied a few hours the night before and the morning of the FSOT and I passed. After taking a bar exam in the summer, it was nothing to stress about.
Bravo aleyk/i to Inam for knowing a few languages well enough to test in them as well as having perfect English for law school and the FSOT. That’s rare, and more than most lawyers or State Department applicants can boast of.
Y’all leave Inam alone. He or she is obviously a very bright person fully capable of doing all of the things they are doing. And frankly, I didn’t find either the LSAT or law school all that intellectually demanding and nevertheless I still made law review. In fact, studying engineering was much more difficult, where neither the subject matter nor the most common means of communicating it — mathematics — were naturally intuitive to me or most of my fellow students anymore than most people with some other background.
What I would like to know is whether the ADA applies to the Foreign Service — after an accident I had I can’t type with but one hand and would be concerned with the time limit in that respect alone.
I want to review for the FSOT that I’m taking at the end of the month, but really don’t want to spend the $75 plus in review materials. Does anyone here have those material in a digital format I could borrow? I’d really appreciate the favor, even more if I pass the test.
torrent it
Manny, shoot me an email and we can chat about relevant materials.
gjsullivan135 - what’s your email address so I can communicate with you?
gjsullivan135 AT gmail DOT com
gjsullivan135 did you get my email?
Inam sounds quite taken with him or herself, which gives the impression of arrogance. Studying endlessly is fine, but try doing something in the real world.
He/she might also want to rethink testing other languages (heavens, why not Chinese, Russian or Uzbek; complete the list why don’t ya), given that he/she uses a possessive repeatedly to indicate a plural in English. Duh.
Methinks it’s someone who’s not even eligible yanking people’s chains.
I am scheduled to take the exam in a couple of weeks. I am a bit nervous especially after hearing the testimonies about how hard this exam is. I haven’t written an essay in over 20 years. Am I doomed????
I would reiterate that you should practice writing 30 minute essays.
I took the test in 2003. Prior to the test I was concerned about the difficulty of the general knowledge portion of the exam and so I prepared for about 1 month by reading the Economist and brushing up on my us history and government structure. I wasn’t worried about the essay portion because I’d always done well on essays in school.
However, I found that I was way out of practice writing against the clock. Although I do some writing in my job, in the 13 years since my last college exam I haven’t had to write with speed. I took a hand-written test (these no longer exist). I think it would have been easier if had been on a computer because at least you should be able to move sentences around. I got stuck in the middle and wanted to reorganize it but didn’t have time to start over so I patched up the end. In the end I passed the test and failed the essay. In fact, the test was surprisingly easy. There were a few hard questions but plenty of easy ones to balance them out.
If anyone has any thoughts on the structure of the essay, I would be interested. Specifically, should we just argue pros, or look at the pros and cons. I’m a 1L law, so that’s what I’ve been trained to do. Inam, since you’ve apparently passed this difficult test 3 times, your input would be appreciated.
The essay doesn’t necessarily have to be some thesis on complex social and/or cultural issues like Moro-Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vs. Abu Sayyaf. Anyone who has taken the test is bound by the NDA but its safe to say that the test is broad but not deep. I’ve used the ACT study guide the first time but not the second, and did better the second time around. Take that as you want. Also don’t listen to whatever everyone else is saying. SOME people are apparently much superior test takesrs and human beings who scoff at such simple exams, but some of us “normies” have trouble with the test. You don’t have to be a lawyer or a doctor to pass, but IMO they are looking for people that are cultured, educated, and hardworkers in both their profession and their community.
Anyone has any idea of the Foreign service specialist Oral assessment, and the written exercise?
Thanks
Can I ask if anyone would know if this is the same content as the one int he Philippines for FSO exam.. thanks
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