Happy Birthday to the United States of America! Today she is 239 years into her glorious existence. To those who gave her birth and those who now keep her free, Thank You & God Bless America

In related news, I just this week received my scores for the Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT), which is the first step in a long process to work for the United States State Department. This was my third attempt. The first time in 2011 was successful, but last year I failed because of my low score on the essay section. This time I passed.

Last year:
Biographic Questionnaire: 42.65
English Expression: 59.56
Job Knowledge: 61.7
Multiple Choice Total: 163.91

Essay Score: 5

This year:
Biographic Questionnaire: 57.78
English Expression: 59.67
Job Knowledge: 56.43
Multiple Choice Total: 173.88

Essay Score: 8

As you can see, I did much better at the Biographic section with an increase of 15 points. In the English section, I barely budged – 0.11 points increase. I thought the English section was extremely easy and felt that I should have done much better in this category. The job knowledge section was a severe blow, because this is usually my highest area and for some reason I blew it. I decreased by over 5 points. I was going for a 180 total, but was unsuccessful.

To have your essay graded, you needed to score at least 154 on the multiple choice. I thought that my essay was pretty poor when I finished, but it looks like the ones giving the score had mercy on me. This was my actual best, since I scored a 7 on the one in 2011. (You need a 6 to pass to the next step.) I still don’t think it was that great, but I will take the victory. The next step is the Personal Narrative Questions (PNQs) which are due July 23rd.