I took the FSOT over again in early February. It was my third time taking the test. I had a different approach to it this time. I barely studied at all. I looked over a few pages of notes I'd kept from my previous attempts while I was in the parking lot in the minutes before the exam. The experience of having passed twice before, in combination with my current disillusioned state with regards to my likely expiration from the register, gave me a bit of a ho-hum attitude. I am still committed to the job, but at a certain point, the need to preserve my self-respect forces me to adjust my thoughts.
The results came a few weeks later. I passed.
I've since turned in the personal narrative essays. The questions are basically the same as the other two times I passed, so I used the same essays. There was a new essay, but I was able to take a paragraph from my Statement of Interest from the OA and plug it in with a few modifications. This stage appears to be getting more selective. I know two people on the register who wanted to take the OA again to improve their scores, but they didn't make it through the narrative stage this time around. It's concerning, but thankfully, there's nothing I can do now. The essays are gone.
As much as I want this job, a small part of me would welcome the rejection. I'm pretty sick of living in State Department limbo.
The May A-100 class was cancelled. Congress is still bickering over the budget they were supposed to pass last September, and as a result, State is afraid/unable to hire. The latest continuing resolution expires on the 8th, but because of a three day waiting period on proposed legislation, the real deadline is tonight. There's no indication that an agreement is coming.
Without a class to pull people ahead of me off the list, I've fallen down the register to somewhere in the low 40s.
Van Halen video.
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5 comments:
I felt the same way when I submitted my PNQs this time around. I just want to hear back one way or the other. This constant state of limbo is absolutely maddening.
So glad to see this blog "reactivated" so to speak! Good look!
I wanted to see some more specifics on your experience at the Spanish immersion school that you went to...would you recommend it...pros/cons, etc. I am considering doing a 4 week or so immersion course overseas and there are just so many on the web that I don't know where to begin to start choosing one!!
Thanks,
Tracy
Tracy,
Pick the country you want to see, and study there. I'd never been to Guatemala, and had heard good things about the experience and prices for one on one lessons, so that's how I chose. I used the guatemala365.com website to rank my school options. I ended up with my second choice when my first choice was full.
I studied for 9 weeks or so at La Democracia in Xela and 1 week at San Pedro Spanish School. Xela was a better for me, and everyone in the street spoke Spanish, whereas San Pedro was a backpacking party town and there was a local dialect that was used most of the time on the street. Where ever you go, make sure Spanish is the language used in everyday conversation, otherwise the immersion won't be worth it.
Xela is a long way to go for 4 weeks of study, but if you're going to Guate, I'd recommend it.
Equally important as my time in Guatemala were the Skype lessons with Betty. Xela gave me a good overall understanding of grammar and built my vocabulary, but Betty gave me focus on how to use all that to pass the test.
Good luck to you in your decision.
I took it for the 3rd time last month as well, and like you, didn't study much, unlike the 2nd time. I didn't worry much either. Nothing to lose. I thought my essay was weak, but somehow I passed. Now on to the essays, which failed me last time. CONGRATS on finally getting in!
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