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I'm still waiting for my score, too, but I've heard the same as Skobb.

I think Consular required a 161, Management a 164, Economics a 168, and Political a 169. You can confirm this on the Yahoo board. I have no idea how many points were possible, but someone on the Yahoo board threw out 200 as a possibility. These are probably not raw scores, of course. It's more likely that they're using some impossibly difficult mathematical formula that we'll never crack. So it's hard to say what it means to miss the cutoff by 14 points ...

As for the essay: I'm pretty sure that the passing score for all cones was 6 out of 12.

jv might have seen this, but someone on the Yahoo boards called ACT to ask how the scoring was done and received some response about t-scores and vectors and medians and means and blah blah blah.

I don't think I ever posted this, but I got my test results. I passed all of the multiple choice sections pretty easily and missed the essay by one point. I have requested a rescore on the essay, but I've heard that no one ever has their score improved. Maybe I'll be the first.

Any of you passers have your oral coming up soon?

Hey Skobb...this is Paul also from Providence, RI! I just took the Oral Exam on Sep. 27th and passed with a 5.3, like yourself. Have you thought about learning another language to help boost your score while you're still on the Register list??

I figure a 5.3 probably won't get me an offer...so I'm considering taking Chinese classes at night for the next 6 months...and then hopefully get that big .4 bonus.
I'm not sure how long the Register list is for Economics track, what's your track btw?

Thanks,
Paul

Providence? You're stealing my thunder, man? And I thought I was unique on here...

Congratulations on passing the assessment. I "think" there are around 40-some people on the econ Register right now. Get on that security and medical work and try to get cleared as fast as possible.

To be honest, I'm not working on language too much right now. I did some self-guided work on Mandarin for a while and although I picked up some basics, I don't feel I could learn enough to actually pass the phone test for the bonus points. However, if you find some good night classes, definitely go for it. A .4 boost to your score would make you as close to a sure thing as possible.

I'm in the Management track and last I knew I was 51. I'm feeling cautiously optomistic about my chances for the May class. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If you haven't yet, you might want to join the Yahoo A-100 group. There's a lot of great information available there.

Yeah good advice...I already joined the A-100 group, and I plan on taking a Mandarin night class for about 10 weeks to see how much I can improve in that time.

Best of luck getting into the May class!!
-Paul

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but I requested a rescore of my essay since I missed passing the whole thing by one point on the essay. I had asked on the Yahoo group if anyone ever had thier score raised after a rescore and no one has ever heard of it happening.

Well, it didn't happen with me either. I essentially got a letter that, in my mind, read something like,

"Thanks for sending us $30. We think we scored it right the first time. Thank you. Come again."

- Love, The State Department

Has anyone else taken their oral assessment? The calls for the January class should begin very soon.

Hi Guys,

I am new on here and planning to take the Oral Assessment in November. This will be my first time taking it, and wait a minute, aren't they giving everyone that passes this year an ICO? Even if you get this, if your score is too low you still won't get a job? I am seriously overwhelmed and discouraged at this point...

Thanks.

That's essentially accurate. Everyone who passes with a 5.25 or higher receives an Immediate Conditional Offer and the State Department will begin a background investigation.

As to whether you have a chance at ever getting a job with a 5.3-5.5 or so really depends on which career track you selected. Realistically, it'll be tough to get in if you are in the Political track and maybe Public Diplomacy. However, I think you have a good shot in Management, Consular or Economics. There are so many factors it's really hard to predict, but right now many of the registers are severely depleted. There aren't currently enough people on some of the registers to fill the classes for this spring if they hire like they did last year.

I only have a 5.3 and I'm quite hopeful so don't get too down. Of course, just get a 5.8 at your assessment and it'll all be a moot point.

Hey,

Thanks for the advice... I am in the management track too and am trying to stay optimistic. Okay, so, lets say I pass with a 5.3 and get and ICO AND they need people as you predict so then I will get in the A-100 class this spring? Then I can quit my job?

Thanks for your help, I joined the FSOA group on Yahoo and its just confusing me more.

If you pass then you will begin your background investigation and medical clearance. These can take anywhere from 2 or 3 months to complete to up to a year.

So assuming you pass in November and have a really quick turn around on your clearances you might, just might, be on the register in time for the June class, but it'll be pushing it.

I wouldn't quit your job until you actually get a call from the State Department inviting you to A-100.

hey there-
i've just been called up for the january a-100 class and am hoping to get in touch with others who will be in training. let me know if anyone on here is heading to dc as well.

Hey, that's great. What is your cone and score?

my cone is public diplomacy and my score was 5.5

so january 9th must be the pd class because i've heard of other people getting called up for later in january.

I'm fairly certain, nearly positive, that all cones actually start on the same day. You should see everyone there on January 9.

Have a great time. Hopefully, we'll cross paths at some point.

So, how do you get started with this? I think it sounds pretty cool.

I would start by going to the State Department's website and reading more about the position. This is for the generalist position that we're all talking about, but they also have specialist positions that you may be interested in.

Sometime around January they will open up registration for the Written Exam. You'll go online and sign up to take the test which will probably be held in April. The written test is given in thousands of places around the world so there shouldn't be any trouble finding some place near you.

I can't believe it's been a year, but it's time to bump this thread again. The Department of State will soon be opening the registration for the Foreign Service Written Exam. They aren't currently accepting applications yet, but will be starting in "mid-January" so keep your eyes open. I'll post here when I see it. I am on the register, but not counting on my score to get me in so I plan on re-taking the written again.

You can read more about it here.

2006 Foreign Written Service Exam is now open. Go here to register. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by skobb:
2006 Foreign Written Service Exam is now open. Go here to register. Good luck.

Yep I'm a masochist, I just registered all over again. I did get the score for my last exam and found out that I was 5 points off the passing mark for the Political Cone, so it's spurred me to work a little harder this time.