Maybe some of you know that I’ve expressed interest in becoming a Foreign Service Officer. The process is a long one–a path which many have pursued for several years before finally being placed on the register. In most cases, a Consular Fellow has identical duties to a Foreign Service Consular Officer. The difference is in the hiring authority: CF’s are on limited appointment which can last no longer than 5 years. I should also add that CF’s are generally language-designated, meaning that you must be proficient in a high-need language to apply. 

The internet contains fantastic information out there on the CF and FSO hiring process, so I won’t bore you here; this post is just a quick post about my impressions, and some differences between it and the general foreign service exam (FSOT). The State Department website provides frustratingly little information about what to expect on the CFPT exam, so I thought it would be helpful to write about it, without, of course, violating that NDA. I’ve taken and  passed the FSOT and CFPT a combination of 3 times, so I feel pretty familiar with these tests. If you’re curious, my rusty Spanish wasn’t up to snuff, so my application did not advance. 

First off, at 90 minutes, the test is shorter than the FSOT. You’ll immediately notice a time crunch, so it’s likely-even expected- that you won’t get to all the questions. There’s even a screen that says something like “Do not worry. Complete as many questions as you can within the time limit.” I probably only got through half of the questions and I still passed, so yes, do not worry. 

Comprehending Regulations- 15 minutes

There isn’t really a way to prepare for this, as this sections measures how well you can apply regulations from an official document. It’s a lot like reading a legal document and determining what is permissible under the law and what is not. Considering the exam is a consular test, you can probably use your imagination as to which pieces of law you will have to interpret and apply.  Just pay attention to negations in this section: they will ask you question about what is possible as well is what is NOT possible under a certain rule. Link to practice tests

General Knowledge- 70 questions in 30 minutes:

This section is a lot like the FSOT, with the familiar American history and politics questions. I stand by my advice of going through an AP U.S. History study guide cover-to-cover. This is what I did, and I continue to do well on this section. The questions are broad, but not deep. Honestly, any high school level history book should do. In my opinion, the required reading on the State website is too specific, wordy, and frankly, no fun to read. Do yourself a favor and read the Spark Notes version of US History. There really is no need to have a deep understanding of foreign policy and international relations. Know all your amendments, know generally how Congress works (watch how a bill becomes a law again if you need to), brush up on your world geography, know the basics on the most popular landmark cases, and you should be just fine. 

English Expression -15 minutes

This part is tricky, and a little different from what you’re used to because of the way the questions are worded. You will read a passage which many sentence underlined. It will then ask you to select what the problem is with sentence x. For example, does sentence x have a) improper word choice b) a misspelling c) improper capitalization d) improper pluralization verb agreement. The test will not ask you to actually correct the mistake. I found this section to be unnecessarily complicated because you need to first find the error and then categorize that error. It’s a small thing, but it adds an extra step for no reason. I can only assume the test-writers were trying to save time by just having the same answer choices for everything. 

Situational Judgment -50 questions 30 minutes

This sections asks you to choose the BEST response to a situation, followed by the WORST. For example, Fred really wants a hamburger, but his new friends decide to order him chicken nuggets instead. Fred hates chicken, but he doesn’t want to seem ungrateful for the nice gesture shown by his new friends. What should he do? a) Refuse the food and say that he actually wanted a hamburger b) Accept the food but secretly get back at them later c) Happily accept the nice gesture and let it go d) Pretend to be allergic to chicken and demand that they exchange his meal for a hamburger. 

As you can see, it maybe hard to choose what would truly be the worst answer. Maybe they are all equally bad.  This section is not cut and dry, and you might also see responses that all seem like understandable options. Bringing it back to the context of the State Dept., the best answers tend to be ones that respect authority and that reflect an understanding of protocol or rule-following. The worst answers tend to be ones where you go behind someone’s back and act alone without consulting anyone. Try to think through these with the lens of teamwork and respect for rules, and you should be just fine. 

That was a short review of what to expect on the CFPT, with the details that I can recall. The most important thing to remember is that you must keep moving in order to answer all the questions. Do not linger on one passage too long because you’ll be missing out on questions ahead that may be easier. 

Also, the CFPT is pass/fail. You will know that same day whether you passed or not, but they won’t reveal your scores on each section. Have you ever taken the CFPT or FSOT? Let me know how it went.