Days Away, Last Minute Preparations for the Oral Assessment

In exactly seven days, I'll be in DC, taking the Oral Assessment for the second time. I alternate between feeling composed and optimistic to being frazzled and terrified. Up, down, up, down. Every small accomplishment makes me feel better: like successfully completing a practice Case Management exercise, or coming up with a new story for the Structured Interview, or practicing those stories with my son. His feedback has been sharp and encouraging.

Earlier this week, I took another look at my Statement of Interest. Last year, the assessor gave it back to me with a warm smile and said, "You might want to use this again." I took it as a  compliment, an indication that he found the essay worthy and convincing.

Fast forward one year, I take a look at the same essay and realize that it won't do. Why? Because it was very clearly tailored for the Public Diplomacy cone. This time around, I'm applying for Consular. Now, the prompt given on the Statement of Interest form does not ask  you to explain your reasons for your choice of a cone; it merely (merely?) asks you to explain why you want to join the Foreign Service. However, common wisdom holds that you can -- and should -- use this essay to demonstrate a strong knowledge of and affinity for the responsibilities you would hold as an officer in that cone.

So, I faced the choice of making the essay general, which would be fine as I'm applying as a "generalist," (as opposed to a "specialist"). But I couldn't resist the temptation to again make it as strong as possible in terms of focusing on my cone.

I thought I did a good job, but then I took another look at it and well ... doubt crept in. So I'll be taking another look at it today, and probably tomorrow, too! ;-)

I spent a good part of the morning freshening up on high school math. Believe it or not, I never studied statistics -- mean, median and mode. A question involving central tendencies is the one kind of math problem that appears on the practice FSOT that State hands out and now I've realized why.

Last year, I bombed the CM exercise, which, as Digger pointed out in advance to me, is the only exercise where you have the opportunity to demonstrate quantitative skills. I thought the essay was all about writing and management and finding solutions under pressure with few resources. Well, it is. But a significant part of that is providing a qualitative description of the problem and a quantitative analysis of the data to back it all up. My impression? No quantitative analysis = no passing score. So, while I'm still worried about the writing part of it, I'm even more concerned about the quantitative part. Hence, I've been studying, studying, studying -- percentages and ratios and basic methods of statistical analysis. No matter what happens, I'll feel inoculated against any guilt at not having adequately prepared for that aspect of the CM.

I spoke to another one of my former study group members yesterday. She took her OA earlier this month, and had some excellent advice: find some alone time if you need it. Like me, she's an introvert, so she was exhausted after a day of constant, non-stop social interaction. She needed time to herself, but felt too polite to take it. There's a lot of waiting around during the OA, so that even when you're not in the middle of an exercise, you're still "on." She felt compelled to stay with her group, she said, rather than do what she really wanted to, which was to go off by herself and maybe review her notes, or even just close her eyes and take a deep breath. I remember last year, also wishing I could just get away for a while and tank up. But I was at Annex 1 and we weren't allowed to leave the building or go anywhere inside it without escort (with the exception of using the facilities, of course). One of the reasons I've been looking forward to testing at Annex 44 is the possibility of going outside. I'll do that, and, if I need to (and I probably will), I'll take some time alone.

She also reminded me of how the assessors will inevitably come up with a question for which you've no prepared answer. That prompted me to dig out my notes from last year, notes I made directly after the OA. There were at least five -- yes, five -- questions for which I had no prepared response. No, actually, there were six. (And I had some 20 stories memorized, believe it or not). What happened? I answered the questions, all six of them, with an agility that surprised me. I wasn't sure  they were the best answers, but they were all I had, and I guess the assessors found them okay. I scored well on the SI overall.

Anyway, I went back, found those notes, remembered the stories I'd used and polished them up. I also came up with one or two new ones. I still don't know how good the stories are, but they're mine and they're honest, if humble. There are, of course, questions for which I still don't have any answer at all. I just hope that now with more than 25 prepared stories, the laws of probability will be working in my favor and I'll have few if any unexpected questions.

As for the hypotheticals, I spent some time last week reading the FAM sections on consular work. Excellent information -- too much information, actually -- about how to prepare for a crisis, what to do in the event of one, how to handle arrests, deaths, etc. I don't expect to remember ANY of it during the OA, but I do hope that the logic, the approach that's laid down in the FAM will remain. If one or two details actually come to mind, then believe me, I'll grasp them like a life raft.

I'll be heading down to DC on Tuesday, will follow forum advice to get there two days early so you have time to relax, find and view the test site, etc. I decided not to buy a new suit for the OA, partly because of a lack of funds, but also partly -- and this reveals my superstitious nature -- I don't believe it's good to wear new clothes to something where you're nervous. I'd prefer something that's stood me in good stead in the past, a suit that has "been there" for me. Silly, huh? But there's some pragmatic sense to it, too. People almost always look uncomfortable in their "new" Sunday best. I want to look comfortable. No matter how badly my insides churn, I want to look relaxed and confident. What's that old line? Fake it till you make it?

Which brings me to my last strategy-cum-advice about preparing for the OA: find a way to laugh. I love crime shows, but over the next few days I will stay away from anything that's dark and sad and/or fatalistic. I intend to switch to comedy and read a good many dumb jokes. I want to fight the fear with humor and joy. I intend to feel light and bright and radiate warmth when I go to the OA. I think a laugh cure is a good way to do that.

OK, so back to means and median and modes and range and all that other good stuff.

P.S. Here, by the way, are the websites I'm using to relearn basic math concepts (recommended if you're as math-challenged as I am):

Purple Math.com
Regents Prep.org
Webster.edu
Jumbo Tests.com

P.S.S. About staying away from anything dark: I got a free ticket to see the movie Buried tonight, about an American journalist who finds himself buried alive in Iraq. Talk about being in the dark, literally! However, I'm trusting that the journalist gets out. Therefore, I will see this movie as one of resurrection, of someone bursting into the light! Yes, yes, yes!

P.S.S.S. So I just came back from seeing Buried. Um ... not the best movie for sometime determined to stay light. Miserable, depressing ....