I am studying for the Foreign Service Officer Exam...any suggestions on the best way to prepare?

Question

After 25 years away from college and over 20 years in the private sector running a small business, I am preparing to take the Foreign Service Officer's exam. Any suggestions for someone who has been away from academia for a long time would be appreciated. I've been reading the recommended texts and periodicals...but have no idea what to expect from the exam. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The foreing Service Agency is a very profiling oriented. They like white, married and protestant men. They thing USA should be represented by conservative individuals who like help american bussiness abroad. The dont like liberals because they my sympatize with other cultures and foreing societies. This sympathy are gonna make them suspicious and not people feel superiors among other nations. If you are a white, married, protestant man you are gonna have rapport with your superiors but the main thing is to get very good notes in your exam and be good in your physical.

Answer 2

Actually, you might want to concentrate on English grammer points as much as anything else. You can never really be sure exactly what will pop up, but English grammer definitely will. General background modern history won't hurt, certainly. but, there are questions from a very wide variety of subject matter, including managerial questions. American cultural questions pop up, so do you know authors, playwrights, dancers, painters? But it's hard to say how many of those will show up.  So, it really is tough to prepare for. You've been preparing for it your whole life, you just didn't know it.  If you have hard language skills, you do get brownie points for that.

Answer 3

Even though you have been out of college for a long while, I think your life experience will be as helpful as anything else.

I took the exam once right out of college and failed, and again about 6 years later and passed.

A lot of the "current event" and "recent history" type questions were things that I was simply unaware of when I was younger, but that I actually recalled seeing on the news or having read about later on.

I also think that taking the test is the best way to prepare for it. Most people do not pass the first time, and it gives you a good idea of what to expect the next time.

Good luck!!