Written Exam Score Breakdown Request
The Written Exam is scored using "T-scores." You will normally just receive a letter saying whether you passed through the QEP process or not but you are entitled to request a categorized breakdown of your score from ACT.
According to the State Department, "Your request must be in writing and show your full name, your date of birth, the date that you took the FSOT, the test site location, and your mailing address. You may fax your request to ACT, Inc. at (319) 337-1122 or mail it to: ACT, Inc., P.O. Box 4070, Foreign Service Officer Test (82), Iowa City, Iowa 52243-4070."
You can also use this form: FSOT-Breakdown-Request.doc.
In order to pass on to a QEP review you must achieve a certain score on the FSOT multiple choice. and achieve a certain score on the essay. This score varies by round depending on how many people they need to pass on to the orals and ultimately how many positions they need to fill.
Tscores are extremely complicated. You shouldn't worry too much about them but know that you are competing against other test-takers and the numbers reported on your score breakdown demonstrate where you placed compared to other test-takers who took the same test. This makes things a bit tricky because if the FSOT is too easy, the same percentage of people will pass even if they only answered one extra question right.
Oral Exam FOIA Score Request
According to the State Department, "Assessors observe the candidate's performance closely, taking notes during the testing module. At the end of each exercise, assessors individually enter their scores into a computer. The average of the exercise scores determines a candidate's overall score. The Oral Assessment cut-off score to continue a candidacy is 5.25 out of a possible 7. For this cycle, each exercise and each component of each exercise have equal weight. The Group Exercise, Structured Interview, and Case Management Study each count for one-third of the total grade. Within the Structured Interview, the Experience and Motivation, Hypothetical and Past Behavior modules are equally weighted. Overall scoring is on a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 representing poor performance and 7 representing an outstanding performance. In the 2006-07 cycle, roughly one out of five candidates passed the oral assessment."
While individual results are not available, The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) enables you to request any personnel records the State Department has on you. This process can take a long time and yields mixed results but if you want to know exactly how you did on each part of the oral exam, it might be your only option.
You can initiate your FOIA request with this template: FSOA-FOIA-Request.doc.
