Adar Review - Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) 2013 Edition: Complete Study Guide to the Written Exam and Oral Assessment)

ADAR Review

Foreign Service Officer Test Second Edition

Complete Guide to the
Written Exam and Oral Assessment

Updated PearsonVue Edition

FSOTreview.com

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHORS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS BOOK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION, THE ORGANIZATION OR THE WEB SITE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT WEB SITES LISTED ON THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN THE TIME THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND THE TIME IT IS READ.

Note: www.state.gov is the source of much of the materials describing the Foreign Service and the Foreign Service Officer Test.

2014 by Adar Educational Technologies, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-615-81137-6

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Publishers Note

Adar Educational Technologies is an educational company focused on providing accurate and insightful test preparation materials for specialized exams. In 2006, Adar began offering test preparation services for the CFA Exam, a six-hour long exam given by the CFA Institute. The CFA Exam includes several different topics, such as Economics, Finance, Statistics and Ethics. Within a short time, this review course became the best-selling CFA review course on Amazon.com.

In 2008, Adar Review recognized the need for a comprehensive preparation course for the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) and Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA). Although there are many preparation materials in the market, none offers a comprehensive solution to prepare for the exam. Some books offer practice questions only, while others offer general test-taking recommendations but lack sufficient specific information targeted to the FSOT. The Adar Review materials were prepared by candidates who passed the CFA Exam, the FSOT and the FSOA. The principal author of the FSOT review materials recently passed both the FSOT and FSOA. This material is current as of 2014 and includes changes resulting from the shift in test providers from ACT to PearsonVue.

The purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to the FSOT, and to help you prepare for the written exam and oral assessment. Although it is not possible to provide all the information that you need to pass the exam in one volume as a significant portion of the exam will be based on current affairs, the coverage of which is beyond the scope of this material we have prepared a reading list that is much shorter and more focused than the list provided by the Department of State, which we consider far too extensive to be useful in your preparation. We also provide a study guide and practice questions for the exam.

Adar Review launched its FSOT Study Guide in early 2013 and it quickly became the top-selling guide sold by Amazon. We thank our customers for making Adar Review a success.

To enhance your experience, visit our web site (www.FSOTreview.com) where you can find a blog with information about the test and Foreign Service in general, a list of recommended reading materials and clickable versions of all the electronic links found in the book.

If you like our book, we would appreciate it if you could leave a positive review on Amazon and let other people know about our study guide. If you or through our web site. We value your comments and have already made several important improvements based on reader feedback.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I

Introduction to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process

This chapter provides an introduction to the Foreign Service Officer selection process, including the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), the Personal Narrative and the Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA). We recommend that you read this chapter in its entirety. This chapter also provides recommendations on the Personal Narrative and other requirements of the selection process that you should review after passing the FSOT. The remaining chapters will provide recommendations on how to prepare for the FSOT and FSOA as well as provide practice questions for the FSOT.

Adar Educational Technologies congratulates you on taking the first step to become a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) and wishes you success in the FSO selection process. We have prepared this book to help you prepare for and succeed in this exam.

In the following pages we provide a description of the FSO career and the steps required to become an FSO. We have updated this book after the Department of State replaced ACT with Pearson as the test service provider for the FSOT in mid-2014. Thus, this material is current as of 2014 and should remain current for several years. The sources for most of these materials are the web site of the Department of State as well as the experience of successful and unsuccessful candidates.

Foreign Service Officer

FSOs are America's advocates, promoting peace and supporting prosperity as they advance U.S. interests and protect American citizens throughout the world. FSOs are located at over 265 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Members of the Foreign Service must be willing and able to serve anywhere in the world, sometimes even in places where family members cannot join them at their posts due to political instability or other concerns, or when family members must leave the post as conditions deteriorate. Many overseas posts are in remote countries where American-style amenities are unavailable. New FSOs are likely to be assigned to a location that is considered a hardship post. If you are unwilling or unable to live in a hardship location, you should not apply to the Foreign Service; refusal to accept a hardship position would result in dismissal from the service.

To succeed in the Foreign Service, one must be strongly motivated, enjoy challenges, and possess an ardent dedication to public service. FSOs usually share certain characteristics or traits, such as being capable, adventurous and dedicated. They also usually speak at least one foreign language and have lived or traveled extensively abroad.

In 2006, the Department of State engaged McKinsey and Company to review the strengths and weaknesses of the FSO selection process. As a result of this work, the selection process was revised, resulting in the current examination process. As part of this process, the Department determined which characteristics made candidates particularly suited to Foreign Service work. These characteristics are:

Proven leadership skills

Relevant overseas experience

Solid team-building and interpersonal skills

History of tenacity and achievement in difficult tasks

Eligibility

The Department of State requires that applicants for FSO be: