The June 2014 State Magazine has a great article on page 9, titled "Country X".

This very interesting article gives a description of the process the State Department undertakes to create new fictional countries and case studies for the Group Exercise.
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The article reads:

Recent Foreign Service officer (FSO) candidates who survived the day long oral assessment may recall a testing scenario based on the fictional nation of Sythia, a multi ethnic, aspiring NATO-member country with a serious drug-trafficking problem. Other candidates may have been “assigned” on test day to the fictional U.S. Embassy 
in Kuman, a poor, former Soviet client in the Third World with an authoritarian government and nascent democratic movement that was struggling to attract investment by American oil companies.

Some of those candidates are now FSOs, and they are helping the Board of Examiners (BEX) develop the next fictional country, known so far only as “Country X.” BEX will use this country in future versions of its famed group exercise, a key component of the oral assessment and a challenging FSO rite of passage.  

“We regularly update our testing materials with new fictional countries,” explained BEX Staff Director Woody Staeben. “Our materials should describe a place that could be a plausible imaginary country but should not be recognizable as any actual country.”  BEX staff developing the characteristics of Country X based on their years of experience serving at posts overseas—plus a generous dose of imagination—recently invited new FSOs to play the role of oral assessment candidates in a mock group exercise designed to test the utility of Country X. The FSO “candidates” had to defend fictional projects the embassy might implement in Country X and then, since the scenario dictates limited resources, reach consensus on the projects to support or discard. 

As part of the oral assessment, the exercise tests prospective Foreign Service officers’ planning and organizing skills, interpersonal skills, leadership, judgment, oral communication and composure.  BEX staffers observed the mock exercise and debriefed the role players, asking such questions as whether the features of the new fictional country were plausible and whether the projects proposed made sense, given the country’s geography, economy and political climate.

“Feedback from our role players helps refine our picture of Country X and the group exercise projects,” said Mary Kruger, the senior BEX assessor who coordinates development of the new country for the board. “BEX officers are now revising the projects they drafted based on that input.”
[...]
The entire process of developing a new Country X can take more than one year. Before Country X is used in a real group exercise, it must receive a name. Kruger also oversees this process and receives plenty of novel suggestions from colleagues. When Country X finally comes into use for assessments, it might have a name such as Andruvia, Bajukistan or Chomlandia. 

The latest (July/August 2014) issue of State Magazine has an inspirational article that we found very interesting for candidates trying to learn about their potential careers as FSOs.  This article shows the positive impact that the Embassy has on a country with terrible political and economic problems, and we think you will enjoy it.

From magazine (page 9)
In May, a team of seven young Zimbabweans ranging from 19 to 24 years old won a startup competition by creating a device that allows any conductive object to be transformed into a musical instrument.  

The team won $78,000 in prizes at Startup Weekend Harare, an event that launched 11 viable startups in just 48 hours. Startup Weekend is an American nonprofit that helps organize events that bring together entrepreneurs
to pitch ideas, form teams, develop a minimum viable product and compete for prizes during a single weekend.
Zimbabwe’s first competition of this type began with a Friday night event where nearly 50 of the 90 participants gave a 60-second pitch about their proposed business. Pitches described the core idea and team needs, such as software developers, social media strategists and marketing professionals. Participants then voted for their favorites, formed 11 teams based on skill and interest, and worked with mentors from the technology, media and business worlds to refine their ideas. By Sunday afternoon, the teams had developed working websites, mobile apps and hardware, which they presented to a panel of judges.

The weekend was a collaborative effort, with Mercy Corps Zimbabwe providing logistical support and funding and a Harare-based technology and innovation center called Hypercube Hub (launched with Department of State funding) providing a venue and logistical and technical support.  Three Embassy Harare staff members served on the organizing committee, and the embassy facilitated corporate sponsorship from American and local companies and provided much of the equipment for the competition.  Using the Bureau of International Information Programs speaker program, the embassy also brought American entrepreneur Fahad Hassan, CEO and founder of Always Prepped, as a keynote speaker and roving team mentor. He provided participants with advice about financial models, marketing techniques, pricing and pitching ideas to investors.

Although Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is estimated at over 80 percent, the country has a powerful combination of intellectual capital, infrastructure and English language capability, and events like Startup Weekend show that Zimbabweans are poised to drive an African tech boom. “The U.S. Embassy supports entrepreneurship programs like Startup Weekend because we know that Zimbabweans can launch new products, build new enterprises and contribute to Zimbabwe’s economic development through entrepreneurship,” Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton said.

Last week I received a supplement in the Wall Street Journal that included a survey of the "100 Most Attractive Employers".  The survey included 75,000 college and MBA students and it included lists of most attractive employers for students of different disciplines.  The survey's results can be found at http://universumglobal.com/ideal-employer-rankings/student-surveys/usa/

Some time ago I read a blog post from a woman who, after a long candidacy, was finally accepted to the A-100 class.  She decided against joining the Foreign Service because by that time she was married and it would have interfered with her husband's career.  I am assuming that this is not an uncommon situation.

Actually, there has been a significant increase in the number of Tandem Couples over the last few years.  Tandem couples are couples in which the two spouses work in the Foreign Service.  This could include members of the Department of State, USAID, Department of Commerce, etc.

While becoming a Tandem Couple has its difficulties, we think this is something that all married candidates should consider.  We believe that the positives (more meaningful work and compensation for the spouse) more than offset the negatives.

Over the last five years, the number of Tandem Couples has increased from just over 650 in 2007 to almost 950 by 2012.  That's an increase of over 40% in five years!  This reflects interest from FSOs as well as the success that the Department of State has had in its efforts to improve the life of Tandem Couples.

While the Department of State will try to assign the tandem couple to the same location, this is not always possible. While assignment to the same location works out in many instances, a tandem couple must be prepared to have separate assignments. Tandem couples must be willing to serve worldwide – the same as other Foreign Service employees.

A post written by an FSO who is in a tandem couple (State.gov forum) said:  "The Department has been great at assigning us to the same locations, but we've made it easy on the Department by coordinating our bidding and being ready to take on the hardship posts, positions we hadn't really considered. It takes some advance planning and flexibility (the name of the game in the Foreign Service), but it is possible to have two great parallel careers, with kids in tow, and be posted together.  The officers who have a dream path and stick to that path will find tandem assignments much more difficult. So flexibility and communication -- and doing your fair share of hardship or difficult posts -- are the keys."

We recommend that married couples take the FSOT (and hopefully the FSOA) at the same time so that they can hopefully start in the same A-100 class and have well-coordinated tours.  You should also consider applying for different tracks, which would make it easier for you to be able to be assigned to the same post.

If you are interested in learning more about tandem couples, read the article on page 14 of the May 2013 issue of State Magazine.  Click here

Secretary of State Kerry gave a speech at the University of Virginia in February.  The speech was titled Investing in a Strong Foreign Policy.  I quoted a few passages on how the Foreign Service helps American businesses which I thought would interest Economic Career Track candidates.  I included a couple of other comments Secretary Kerry made about the foreign affairs budget and the Marshall Plan that I thought were interesting.

On the size of the foreign affairs budget:
" Not so long ago, someone polled the American people and asked, “How big is our international affairs budget?” Most pegged it at 25 percent of our national budget, and they thought it ought to be pared way back to ten percent of our national budget. [...] In fact, our whole foreign policy budget is just over one percent of our national budget. Think about it a little bit. Over one percent, a little bit more, funds all of our civilian and foreign affairs efforts – every embassy, every program that saves a child from dirty drinking water, or from AIDS, or reaches out to build a village, and bring America’s values, every person. We’re not talking about pennies on the dollar; we’re talking about one penny plus a bit, on a single dollar."

On the value of the Foreign Service to Businesses:
"[...] telling the story of how we stand up for American jobs and businesses – pretty practical, pretty straightforward, and pretty real on a day-to-day basis. [...] When Jefferson expanded our consular posts precisely to promote trade, he never could have imagined the importance today."  Some examples are listed below:

• a company up near Dulles called Orbital Sciences Corporation. With the help of the persistent advocates of our Embassy in Bangkok, it beat out French and Russian competitors to build Thailand’s newest broadcast satellite. 
• State Department officers there got a local automotive firm to invest tens of millions of dollars in Michigan, where the American auto industry is now making a remarkable comeback.
• In Indonesia where, thanks to Embassy Jakarta, that nation’s largest privately run airline just placed an order for commercial aircraft, the largest order Boeing has ever been asked to fill. Meanwhile, the Indonesian state railroad is buying its locomotives from General Electric.
  
• In South Africa, [...] OPIC, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Export-Import Bank, and the Trade and Development Agency just opened an office to help close more investment deals between American companies and Africa’s booming energy and transportation sectors.
  
• In large part to the work of USAID, our exports to Vietnam increased by more than 700 percent.

On Africa:
"Seven of the ten fastest growing countries are on the African continent. And China, understanding that, is already investing more than we do there. Four of the five biggest oil and natural gas discoveries happened off the coast of Mozambique last year alone. Developing economies are the epicenters of growth, and they are open for business, and the United States needs to be at that table. [..] Eleven of our top 15 trading partners used to be the beneficiaries of U.S. foreign assistance."

On the Marshall Plan:
"When I was 12 years old, I had the privilege of living in Berlin, Germany, where my father, a Foreign Service officer, was called to duty. And one day, I visited the eastern side of Berlin, the part that hadn’t received any of the help from the United States and its courageous Marshall Plan.  The difference was undeniable. [...]  There were few people on the streets, few smiles on the faces of those who were there. I saw the difference between hope and despair, freedom and oppression, people who were given a chance to do something and people who weren’t. If the recovering western half of Europe was regaining its vibrant color, the place that I visited was still in black and white.  When I went back to West Berlin, two things happened. First, I was summarily grounded for having ventured without permission to the other side of the city.  And second, I started to pay special attention to the plaques on the buildings that recognized the United States of America for lending a hand in the rebuilding. And I was proud."

As many candidates, I did not pass the FSOT test the first time, even though I diligently studied U.S. History and Government, and took several sample ACT tests to prepare for the English Expression section.  I actually received a high score in these two sections, but failed because of the Biographical Information section.  I did not have time to complete Bio and couldn't think of examples under time pressure.  Thus, I ended up changing some multiple choice answers to avoid having to provide examples.  In some instances you only need to write examples when you answer that you have done something more than twice.  By changing an answer from 3 to 1, I could save time because I would not need to think of examples.  Of course, my score on the Bio section reflected these shortcuts and I received a score of 36.  The second time I took the test, I used the methods recommended in the Adar Review books and my score in Bio improved to 49.

My lack of preparation in Bio made me waste 12 months because the Department of State makes you wait one year before registering to take the FSOT again.  The long wait meant that I had to study the history and government sections all over again.

I was intrigued to find out how long other people have studied for the test and whether they were successful.  We noticed that many candidates seem overconfident and take the test after preparing for only a couple of weeks.  See blog http://www.jeremyoldfather.com/backpack/2011/09/studying-for-the-fsot-10-day-guide-part-1/ in which the author discusses his plan to prepare for the FSOT in only 10 days.  Of course, a few months later he added a comment stating that he did not pass the FSOT.  This was not a problem for him -- he seemed proud that he only failed "by 5 points".

For most serious candidates, failing the FSOT is a big problem because it delays the start of your career in the Foreign Service by twelve months.

ADAR Review recommends that candidates prepare for at least six months, that you start studying before you register to take the test, and that you only take the test once you are prepared and confident that you will pass.  Also, I would add that you should not underestimate the Biographical Information and essay sections.

We would like to hear your opinions about how long you studied and whether you passed the test.