Foreign service exam question

JayFarrar · Oct 30, 2008

Anyone here ever take the foreign service exam?
A friend of mine asked for help on the test, on the communications and media portion, and I was at a loss.
I started doing some googling, and it looks very interesting.
The State Department says one of the best ways to prepare is to read a good daily newspaper eevry day.
So I was just curious.

PeteyPirate · Oct 30, 2008

I have not taken it, but plan to in about three years in preparation for a new career.

imjustagirl · Oct 30, 2008

I know somebody who took it. Probably the smartest person his age I've ever known. He didn't pass.

That thing is no joke.

Football_Bat · Oct 30, 2008

You have to know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff.

I took it in 1992. A lot of obscure questions about American culture. That was long before I entered the journalistic field. I think being a journalist would help a bit.

Norman Stansfield · Oct 30, 2008

Just cheat.

It worked for Emmett Fitz-Hume and Austin Millbarge.

NoOneLikesUs · Oct 30, 2008

I started filling out the application for it over the summer. Never finished.

It seems like an intimidating process and I'm, quite frankly, not completely sold on our country's foreign policy.

OTD · Oct 30, 2008

I knew a guy who took and passed the test about 25 years ago. I just Googled him. He's now the public affairs officer for an embassy in Europe.

Magic In The Night · Oct 31, 2008

I took this test a while ago when I lived in Florida. When I showed up to take it, a lot of the people who were waiting to go into the room seemed to know each other. I soon learned that they had all taken the test SEVERAL times before. It was really tough. I ended up passing all the sections except math but soon after that decided against going down that career path. I probably could have actually studied the next time and gone in and passed but believe me, I test well and that thing was damn hard.