FSWE Study Guide

The Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE) offered by the U.S. Department of State allows a successful test taker to become a Foreign Service Officer (FSO). The U.S. has diplomats in over 165 different countries throughout the world; the U.S. Foreign Service Office position begins the journey for all diplomats. A Foreign Officer may choose a career track in management, consular services, political and economic reporting, and public diplomacy. As you can imagine, the political and diplomacy tracks are very popular for those wishing to become public politicians as part of their career. However, the economic reporting careers do not have nearly as many candidates, so they can be filled much easier.

At the time of applying for the FSWE the candidate chooses the career path that works for them. This should not be taken lightly. The career track cannot be changed later. Even after successfully completing the written exam, candidates must stick to the path they chose.

To register for the exam, applicants need to visit the government website to fill out background information on them. All candidates must be between 20 and 59 years of age, a citizen of the U.S. and available for worldwide assignment. More than 5,000 candidates take the exam during each available window. Less than 10% move on to take the oral assessment exam, so candidates should prepare well in advance and know their topic areas inside and out.

After acceptance, candidates receive an email informing them of how to take the written exam. It is typically administered at various locations throughout the U.S. The test consists of job knowledge questions, like world affairs, U.S. history, psychology, management theory, finance and economy. The test mostly contains multiple choice questions, but a half hour time frame will be given to complete an essay on a given topic.

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FSWE Study Guide

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