How to become a Foreign Service Officer

The Foreign Service Written Exam Study Guide features information and exercises in several areas. These include:

Job Knowledge

The Job Knowledge portion of the Study Guide focuses on preparing the candidate for the operational exam by means of a practice exam. This practice exam will consist of test questions covering several major content areas, such as U.S. Government and Political System; U.S. and World History; Geography; Economics; Math; Psychology and Human Behavior; Public Communications and the Media; and Computer Applications.

English Expression

This area encompasses English Expression and language usage skills required for preparing or editing written reports, including correct grammar and good writing at the sentence and paragraph level. The English Expression section in this year's Study Guide will include new passages similar to those on the real test, with several more passage-related test questions than last year. Some of the concepts tested will be: editing and revising, punctuating relationships and sequences, using words to fit meaning and function, and managing sentence elements effectively.

Biographical Inventory

This year's Study Guide includes sample questions concerning the Biographical Inventory. The Biographical Inventory is a non-cognitive measure designed to assess an individual's previous experiences. Past behaviors have been shown to be highly related to job performance. Consequently, these types of inventories have been found to be good predictors of a variety of performance measures for many different jobs. The questions were written to assess relevant past interests, activities and behaviors that are related to specific performance dimensions, such as communications and interpersonal and conflict resolution skills.

Essay

The Written Essay is used to evaluate each candidate's ability to analyze a substantive topic, organize and develop ideas, and to express them in correct and readable English prose. The topics may be related to any of the following areas: U.S. and/or international social systems and issues; customs and culture; history; education; religion; employment issues; etc. Essays are evaluated using scoring criteria such as: ability to analyze a topic; clarity of purpose; appropriateness of language to audience and purpose; organization; sentence structure; grammar and mechanics (including spelling and punctuation).

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