The Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE) is the first step in becoming an FSO. It is offered once a year in cities around the world. Find out more about the exam and the selection process:
SELECTION PROCESS
1. Register for the Written Exam
The first step to becoming a Foreign Service Officer is taking the Foreign Service Written Exam, which is offered once a year in the spring. Visit our exam information page for more details. The exam will measure your knowledge of subjects necessary for performing the tasks required of a Foreign Service Officer. There will be multiple-choice questions on a range of topics from the structure and workings of the U.S. Government to psychology to American culture to management and finance. The exam includes a job knowledge section, an English usage section, a biographic inventory, and an essay exercise. To be eligible, candidates must be U.S. citizens between the ages of 20 and 59, and be available for worldwide assignment. You can select your testing location from among hundreds of test sites around the world.
Click here for more information on how to prepare for the exam.
Have a question about Exam Results? Check out our Question & Answer Page for all of the answers!
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2. Select a Career Track
Foreign Service Officers are considered Generalists, but all Officers enter in one of five career tracks: Management, Consular, Economic, Political and Public Diplomacy. This is an important decision and applicants should carefully inform themselves before making a career track choice in the Exam. Successful candidates will take the second step - an Oral Assessment with reference to their chosen career track. Hiring is based on requirements in each of the five career tracks and candidates compete for appointment from their chosen career track where their composite Oral Assessment score determines their relative position on the career track register.
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3. Take the Written Exam
Upon receipt of your registration, you will be notified of the exact time and location of the exam, and you will receive an admission ticket. You must bring your admission ticket with you to the test location. The exam will take most of the day. Many candidates are understandably nervous about taking the exam. However, when you think about it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. A couple of days before the exam, review the Study Guide, if you ordered it, one last time. The day before the exam, do something enjoyable to take your mind off the exam and then try to get a good night's sleep. When you show up to take your exam, make sure you have your admission ticket, a black pen, several No. 2 pencils and valid identification such as a photo ID card or a driver's license with photo.
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4. Oral Assessment
The Foreign Service Oral Assessment is a day-long series of exercises that tests for the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal qualities deemed essential to the performance of Foreign Service work. The Oral Assessment has been revised to include Management Case Studies, which reflects the growing importance the U.S. Department of State places on resource management and quantitative analysis. More details on the Oral Assessment.
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5. Foreign Languages
There is no foreign language requirement to join the Foreign Service. However, the U.S. Department of State welcomes applicants who are proficient in one or more foreign languages. Those who pass the Oral Assessment can raise their ranking on the Conditional Offer List (see Section 11 below) by passing a language test in any foreign language used by the U.S. Department of State. Additional credit is given to candidates who pass a test "critical needs languages" as defined in section 11 below. The U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Institute conducts the test over the telephone.
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6. Background Investigation
Candidates who pass the Oral Assessment must apply for the security clearance required for appointment to the Foreign Service. A comprehensive background investigation, conducted by the U.S. Department of State in cooperation with other federal, state, and local agencies, will provide the information necessary to determine a candidate's suitability for appointment to the Foreign Service and for a Top Secret security clearance. The process considers such factors as: failure to repay a U.S. Government-guaranteed loan or meet tax obligations; failure to register for the Selective Service; past problems with credit or bankruptcy; unsatisfactory employment records; a criminal record or other violations of the law; drug or alcohol abuse; and less than honorable discharge from the armed forces. Candidates who hold dual citizenship, have had extensive travel, education, residence and /or employment overseas, or who have foreign contacts, a foreign-born spouse, immediate family members or relatives who are not citizens of the United States, should be aware that the clearance process will take longer to complete. The background investigation includes interviews with current and previous contacts, supervisors and coworkers. Candidates who do not receive a security clearance are ineligible for appointment. Potential candidates who have any serious issues that may prevent them from receiving a clearance should give some thought to the likelihood of their being found ineligible before starting this process.
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7. Medical Clearance
The Office of Medical Services of the Department of State determines a candidate's medical fitness and ability to serve overseas. Many Foreign Service posts are located in remote areas with extremely limited medical support; therefore, each candidate must meet rigorous medical standards in order to qualify for the required worldwide medical clearance. Medical clearance determination by Medical Services is based on its thorough review of each candidate's medical history and physical examination, including an individual assessment of his/her specific medical needs and the medical capabilities of Foreign Service posts to meet those needs.
After receiving an Immediate Conditional Offer of employment, each candidate is provided with the necessary examination forms (with instructions) to give to the examining health care practitioner (MD, DO, NP, PA). We also provide an authorization for the Department of State to pay for the examination. However, candidates living within a fifty-mile radius of Washington, D. C. must have their medical examination performed at the Examination Clinic, Office of Medical Services in Washington.
All potential candidates, especially those with current or chronic medical conditions, should be aware of the possibility that they may not qualify for a worldwide medical clearance. Medical Services may be unable to issue a worldwide clearance to a candidate based on its determination that an individual's medical condition requires specialist monitoring or follow-up care unavailable at some Foreign Service postings, that service in a particular geographic area or climate would pose a significant medical risk to the individual or that adequate emergency facilities for treating life-threatening complications of an individual's specific medical condition is not available at all posts.
While the candidate must be medically cleared for worldwide service, the Department of State does not consider the medical condition of eligible family members for pre-employment purposes. It does, however, require that each eligible family member have a medical clearance before they can travel overseas at U. S. Government expense when accompanying an employee on assignment. Please note that employees with a family member who has been issued a limited medical clearance (not worldwide) may be assigned to posts where that family member cannot accompany them. We strongly advise candidates to consider this situation as they pursue employment with the Department of State.
On request, the Director General of the Foreign Service, or designee, may consider granting a waiver of the worldwide availability requirement for a candidate who is unable to qualify for a worldwide medical clearance. Candidates should be aware, however, that the granting of such waivers is rare.
For more information on medical clearances please visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.
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8. Worldwide Availability
Worldwide availability is both an affirmed willingness to serve anywhere in the world and a matter of being medically qualified to do so. Both the willingness and being medically qualified are essential requirements for appointment to the Foreign Service. Worldwide availability also means that, while members of the Foreign Service are expected to serve anywhere in the world, due to political instability and/or security concerns, in some cases family members cannot go to post (unaccompanied tours) or must leave post as security deteriorates (evacuations).
Regardless of who administers the medical clearance exam, the Department's Office of Medical Services determines whether or not a candidate is medically eligible for assignment to all Department of State posts worldwide. While a candidate may effectively manage a chronic health condition or limitation within the United States or in specific areas outside of the U.S., the Office of Medical Services might well determine that the same individual is not eligible for a worldwide ("Class One") medical clearance. Such clearances may only be issued to candidates whom the Office of Medical Services deems able to serve at the most isolated and restricted overseas posts.
Such a post could feature extreme isolation in terms of limitations on reliable air service in and out of the country, unreliable Internet and telecommunications connections, and/or unreliable postal and delivery systems. Any of these limited services can have a severe adverse impact in terms of both bringing in required medical services and/or supplies, and/or permitting timely medical evacuations. Other infrastructure at such a post might also be inadequate. There might be a poor or negligible public health system, poor sanitation, unreliable electricity and a lack of potable water. There might also be infectious and communicable diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, tuberculosis, rabies, encephalitis and gastrointestinal diseases. There might be no health unit at the post and next to no local medical facilities. The emergency room, for example, might be completely inadequate, without ventilators, defibrillators, x-ray capabilities, etc. There often would be no blood bank or medical supplies or medications available locally. Because of political instability, security could be a concern.
Candidates should be aware that these posts are not few in number nor confined to a specific geographic region. Also, there are numerous other posts — in Asia and Europe for example — where conditions appear similar to that of the U.S. but which also feature some of these prohibitive characteristics.
As a result of these characteristics of a post, the stress level among employees might be very high. Given these concerns, the Department of State would only assign employees with unrestricted medical clearances to such posts (of which there are many), and is unable to hire new employees without such clearances.
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9. Candidates with Disabilities
The Department of State provides reasonable accommodation to Foreign Service candidates with disabilities throughout the pre-employment process. For qualified candidates who will require accommodation upon appointment, the Office of Employee Relations is responsible for determining reasonable accommodations. In order to be considered qualified, a candidate must meet all requirements for appointment to the Foreign Service. This includes having received an unlimited medical clearance from the Office of Medical Services or a waiver of the worldwide availability requirement from the Director General or his/her designee.
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10. Final Review
Upon completion of the background investigation, a Final Review Panel will review the completed file to determine the candidate's suitability for employment with the Foreign Service.
The attainment of U.S. foreign policy objectives depends substantially on the confidence of the public (both American and foreign) in the individuals selected to serve in the Foreign Service. The Department of State, therefore, requires the highest standards of conduct by employees of the Foreign Service, including an especially high degree of integrity, reliability and prudence. Given the representational nature of employment in the Service, employees must observe standards at all times. The purpose of the Final Review is to determine, from the candidate's total record, whether the candidate is indeed suitable to represent the United States. The Final Review Panel has the authority to terminate a candidacy at this stage.
In evaluating suitability, the Final Review Panel takes into consideration the following factors:
- Misconduct in prior employment, including marginal performance or inability to interact effectively with others
- Criminal, dishonest, or disgraceful conduct
- Misrepresentation, including deception or fraud, in the application process
- Repeated or habitual use to excess of intoxicating beverages affecting the ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of the employee's position
- Trafficking in or abuse of narcotics or controlled substances
- Reasonable doubt as to loyalty to the U.S. Government
- Conduct which clearly shows poor judgment and or lack of discretion which may reasonably affect an individual or the agency's ability to carry out its responsibilities or mission
- Financial irresponsibility, including a history of not meeting financial obligations or an inability to satisfy debts
The most common grounds for a finding of unsuitability are a recent history of drug or alcohol abuse and delinquency in repaying debt or other evidence of financial irresponsibility. Candidates whose file indicates such issues are unlikely to be found suitable for the Foreign Service. Potential candidates should give some thought to these suitability factors and the likelihood of obtaining a positive decision from the Final Review Panel before starting the application process.
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11. Conditional Offer List and Register
The names of candidates who are successful at the Oral Assessment are placed on a conditional offer list, based on the career track they choose and the scores they received during the oral assessment. A candidate's rank may be raised by claiming veteran's preference and/or a demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language (see #5), as determined by the Department through a telephonic assessment. Extra points are given to candidates who pass language tests in Critical Needs languages, currently defined as: Arabic; Chinese (Cantonese and Standard/Mandarin); Indic languages (e.g.,Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali, Punjabi); Iranian languages (e.g. Farsi/Persian, Dari, Tajiki, Pashto); Korean; Russian; and Turkic Languages (e.g. Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek).
Once the clearance process has been completed, the candidate's name is then placed on the Register. Placement on the Register does not necessarily mean that that a job offer will be made. Hiring is dependent on the needs of the foreign service. One may remain on the Register for up to 18 months. If the candidate has not been offered employment during that time, his/her name will be removed from the Register. Candidates wishing to reapply would need to retake the written examination.
Click for Alternate Program information.
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