I had waited a year for to take my Foreign Service Oral Assessment. I knew what I had to do to pass.
I missed the cutoff score last year by only one-third of a point because I screwed up the Case Management memo section. I was distracted and ran out of time, turning in a hasty and inadequate memo. This year I was prepared and finished that section with a satisfactory memo and time to spare. That went as planned; unfortunately, my six months of traveling left me unprepared for one of the other two sections, the interview.
The interview was my favorite part last year. This year, after six months of travel and intentionally forgetting everything about having a job, I could not come up with examples for their questions about my work experience. I blacked it all out. I rambled and struggled, and became nervous because I knew I was biffing it. It was terrible—my worst interview performance ever in my life.
At the end of the nerve wracking day I ended up with almost exactly the same score, one quarter of a point short. It was disappointing because it was my own stupid fault for not mentally preparing. I could have easily done better and passed I think. On the positive side, I get to continue traveling as planned rather than jumping into a demanding job. I will try again next year. It will be better timing anyway. Maybe I didn't really want it this year. I don’t feel overly disappointed.
The best part of the OA process is meeting the other applicants. I have been very impressed both times with the intelligence, skills, and experience of the other people. Not surprisingly, the challenging nature of the FS draws very interesting people from all over the world. Lucky for us, the OA process is riddled with long breaks between tasks, allowing everyone to share their stories. It was a good, albeit nerve wracking, day.
