The Test Results

UPDATE: The test I took was the US Foreign Service Officer Test. Only 20% of those who take it pass it. I don't know how many people took the test this time, but I know that every test taking facility around the world (as well as in the US) was full.

The test results will not be sent for 8-10 weeks.

But I am fairly confident that I did not pass. "Oh," you say, "I'm sure you passed! You are so smart! And you manage to accomplish everything you put your mind to!"

And I say, that last sentence of yours is just bad grammar. Hah! I kill me!

Anyway, very kind of you to say so, but while I may be able to kick your ass in Trivial Pursuit, it doesn't mean that the general "job knowledge" section was made up of TP questions.

I can't tell you what questions were on the test, not only because it's not allowed, but because I can't really remember any of them. Which makes it difficult to look them up to see if I answered correctly. But there was a general feeling of, "oh, good lord, how am I supposed to know THAT!?" and "Erm, I think it could be this." And last night I awoke with a feeling that one of the questions should have been answered with C and not A. Not that I could remember the exact wording of either the question or any of the answers, I just think one of them was C, not A. Drat.

But many people have to take the test multiple times, so I'll be in good company when I try again. I know I rocked the English and Essay sections (despite the piss poor grammar used in this blog, I can recognize that it's bad and if you give me a choice of four options, I can chose the correct one). They felt right and I rocked the English study test portion earlier. The biographic questionnaire was probably the hardest (but wait, didn't you just say you bombed the general knowledge section? yes, but when you either know or don't know the answers, you can do your best and move on) because you have to really think about who you are, how you behave, and how others may think of you.

There is also the short answer bits that are very very SHORT. I have spent the last 4 years working on being more verbose with my written word (see, look how well I've progressed in THAT aspect) and now I have to be short and concise? Should have taken this test 5 years ago. When I was still getting complaints about the brevity of my sentences.

So how will I study for the next time I take the test? Watch more National Geography channel and less History. Continue reading the newspapers (which I'm going to do anyway because I like to be more informed about current events than my journalist husband). Take more personality tests (so that I get used to answering questions about myself) and think of short SHORT short answer examples for each of the questions. And ask my husband to tell me more of what he thinks I'm like. (Which will probably include things like "butt-head" for being more up on current events.)