Diplomatic Immunity: My FSOT Experience

So, I took the test to be a Foreign Service Officer (a.k.a. Diplomat) the other day. I went into the test somewhat apathetic since I did not prepare for it at all and thought my chances of passing it were nil to zero. Well, I can confidently say that the FSOT is hardly the beast that it is made out to be. I don't think I passed it per say, but I do think I did pretty well for not preparing for it. If I had to estimate my chances, I say I think I have around a 30% chance of advancing to the next stage in the selection process, but that is a huge improvement over the 2.7% chance I thought I had before I took the test.

Here is a breakdown by section to the best of my memory:

The first section is the Job Skill Assessment, and this is probably the hardest part. The questions are a mix of management, history, geography, math, and economics. Going into it, I knew my biggest problems would be the history and geography questions. I have a pretty good grasp on the general outline of most areas of history, but when it comes to putting names and dates to events, then I am up the creek. Surprisingly, the questions were pretty broad and not very difficult for the history part. I can only recall one or two geography questions, and I think I answered at least one of them correct. The economics questions were a breeze. The math was a complete joke (finding averages....really?), and the statistics questions were no more challenging. The management questions were a little bit tricky seeing as there seems like there could be more than one right answer; I think I got most, if not all, of these right but I could be wrong.

The Biographical questions are subjective as there is no right or wrong answer, but they were fairly general questions about past work experience, group projects, personality traits, and the like. Being the reclusive, anti-social beta male that I am, I was a bit apprehensive going into these questions as I thought I would not have much to draw on; but after four years of college and about five years of work experience I answered them pretty deftly. Some of the questions required you to explain your answers, which was not hard but you only have 200 characters for each answers when in reality you could use a whole page to answer thoroughly.

The English section.....a joke. GRE difficulty this is not--more like ACT difficulty if that. Pretty standard stuff of choosing the correct sentence, rearranging a sentence, punctuation, etc. I think I got a good 90% of these correct.

Now the essay I am not so sure about. I did not give the essay my full attention and by the end of the test I wanted it to be over with. I think my argument was pretty weak, but my writing was on point; I kind of BSed my way through it.

Now I sit and wait 3-5 weeks to know if I passed or not. Being a Diplomat seems so far off to me that I cannot even imagine myself advancing in the process, but if by some chance I do then I am definitely going to take the next step more seriously. Looking at the starting salaries for the position, I would have to take a pretty big pay cut, but I figure it will be worth it for a once in a lifetime opportunity, world travel, free housing, and just being able to say that I am a damn Diplomat!

The Beta Male Is Born

I never thought that I would be one to write a blog, but here I am. I have no solid objective I want to achieve with this blog, though, I would like to improve my writing skills, share my opinion on a myriad of topics, and of course lament a little bit on the follies of the world.

Who am I you ask?  Well, I am a 23 year old, single, professional black male living in...well, don't worry about where I live--just know it is somewhere you don't want to be.

And with that said, The Beta Male is born..