Below is our free online FSOT practice test which was designed by a previous Foreign Service Officer.
100%-85% This is a superb score showing your ability to do well on this basic practice test. However, you'll want to make sure you have a good grasp of every test section and its contents to maintain this level of achievement during the real FSOT 70% - 84% This score range shows you definitely have some knowledge, but also have some gaps to work on. Spending time with more in-depth practice material is a great way to improve on this score range. 55% - 69% While you have some ability to answer these types of questions, you have major gaps in your knowledge which absolutely must be addressed before taking the real test. > / > Next
Although your score on this pretest is by no means a guaranteed representation of what you should expect when taking the official FSOT exam, it is, however, a strong indication of where you lie in your FSO study program. Once finished with our pretest, we recommend that you follow the below steps so as to improve your score and help guarantee you a position as a Foreign Service Officer.
If we were to just take the advice of the State Department, then you would be in line to read of 100,000's of pages from textbooks and spend an extra year or two enrolling in specialized courses that would go above and beyond college level programs. However, no one has that kind of time or money, and must, therefore, perform study "triage." It is for this reason alone that your best bet in maximizing your study efficiency and effectiveness is through an FSOT Study Guide. The below guides will not "teach" you the subject matter, but help to give you tips and test secrets so as to help steer your studies. Each one has been vetted by myself and my colleagues and comes with our highest recommendation:
The Complete FSOT Study Guide: Practice Tests and Test Preparation Guide for the Written Exam and Oral Assessment" />
The Complete FSOT Study Guide is by far my #1 choice. For starters, it is the only I feel was written by an FSO. You can get great inside information from the author on not only how to prepare but also how to respond. Also, the practice test is decent and is probably a better representation of the questions you'll see on the real test. For most of the other FSOT practice tests that other book offer, they seemed too easy and would potentially give a false sense of security.
One caveat I have though is that this one is a bit outdated. Robert Clark talks about a section that is no longer in the exam. However, this isn't really a problem since there are still some excellent recommendations that can be used in the
So, this gets my #1 because of its cost, the fact that it is was written by a FSO, I felt provided real concrete recommendations and had a representative FSOT practice test.
The FSOT Exam Prep 2020-2021 gets second because of two things. First, its not offered as an ebook but only a physical book. Second it's written by a group called Newstone Foreign Service Test Team. I've been in the industry for years and have never heard of them. Furthermore, doing a Google search, I can't find them anywhere. This therefore leads me to believe that it is a made up group and that it's probably a self-publisher who isn't a FSO.
Normally I would completely walk away from this sort of book. However, I still gave it a try and bought it so as to test it. It gets second and even a mention because I loved that it had two full practice tests in it. They were a bit too easy and could give false confidence, however, it did serve as a great reminder of the extent of the test's scope.
It's recommendations and test taking prep work was very basic though. I feel like they used general test taking practices and put it in this book. There was nothing specific to an FSO's process.
So, in the end, I'd recommend that you get the Complete FSOT (our #1) first, and if you want more FSOT practice test questions, then also get the FSOT Exam Prep.
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Just like the the FSOT Exam Prep (#2), the FSOT Study Guide Review seems to be made by a self-publisher, and not an FSO. The author name (not publisher) is "Test Prep Books." Looking at their other books it is clear that they make a mass amount of study guides in the industry, and judging by what shoppers have said, they are not a top standard in the industry.
Furthermore, many previous buyers question some of what other shoppers have said. Now, at first I really didn't want to check it out based on these things. However, I still picked it up and it has some good points. It discussed the exam very well, and did have a large amount of practice test questions - however, again, on the easy side.
In the end though, I'd only recommend purchasing the Complete FSOT Study Guide, and perhaps the FSOT Exam Prep if you wanted more questions to practice on.
Sadly, there are a lot of practice tests out there that aren't worth your time or your money. Here is a couple that we have found that you should avoid if possible.
Here are some more resources and areas to find information on the test and subsequence test questions you can practice on:
While you were taking our FSOT Practice test, you probably noticed certain categories for each question. That is because the most important result you can look for in taking a pretest is the categorical result and not just the final score. By knowing your lowest categorical score, you can discover which area you are weakest on and can hopefully structure your studies so as to improve in that category. Furthermore, you can access our recommendations on top free and paid materials in each section and can hopefully prepare yourself adequately. Once you feel as though you are prepared again and have taken our recommendations for that category, then you should take another one of our practice tests.
When taking the above practice quiz or any of the Study Guide tests, make sure that you keep the following in mind:
Although no FSOT practice quiz can ultimately prepare you for the test, no matter how many you take. However, what does help is learning from your mistakes and using your time wisely as you prepare for the next step in your FSO selection process.
However, there are some free ones out there that if you haven't checked, then you definitely should. I've tested each of these can say that each was carefully crafted and worth the free price as well as a couple of minutes (or hours) that it would take to finish them:
Our FSOT Practice test was designed for you, so if you see anything or would like any more information, please let us know by either contacting us or by posting on our message board below.
