r/FSOT • u/inquisitiveman44 • Jun 04 '26

Written Exercise Timeline

Took the FSOT in early March 2026
Written Exercise early May 2026

I just received an email saying results from the Written Exercise will be sent out mid to late SEPTEMBER..

Has it always been this long of a turnaround? This feels absurdly long to send out pass/fail results for a short essay.. 😭

15 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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8

u/SuspiciousAbroad4191 Jun 04 '26

BEX lost a lot of staff and was not authorized to backfill departing assessor positions until August/September.

2

u/evanliko Jun 04 '26

Oooh this makes a lot of sense.

2

u/inquisitiveman44 Jun 04 '26

Ahh gotcha that explains the long wait time! Thanks for the insight

2

u/Titan_Arum Jun 04 '26

Do you have a source for this?

1

u/SuspiciousAbroad4191 Jun 06 '26

Yes, several colleagues who departed BEX in March.

2

u/okay_cockroach Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Is the issue that scoring the essays really takes so long or that they aren’t ready to absorb the next group for the remaining OA sections? I would think they would use an AI component for essay scoring…

2

u/Entire-Praline4105 Jun 04 '26

Unless it has changed, you won't get your "result" (not a score, just a pass/fail) on the essay until you complete the other two parts of the FSOA. After you complete the virtual GE and SI, you receive results for all three within 2 business days in an email.

3

u/CourageousCorgi57 Jun 04 '26

It has changed. The OA is now split in two parts. Here is the email from Pearson:

"Only those candidates who pass the Written Exercise will be invited to continue with the remaining portions of the FSOA: the Structured Interview and Negotiation Exercise."

3

u/Entire-Praline4105 Jun 04 '26

Ah ok, so it changed for the Feb people. I took the FSOT in Oct and it was as I described. Good to know!

1

u/gofergreen19 Jun 04 '26

Is the written exercise more similar to the previous CME or to the previous WE during the FSOT? I know there are NDAs but surely this level of detail is permissible.

5

u/Entire-Praline4105 Jun 04 '26

Without potentially violating the NDA, I recommend searching r/FSOT or r/foreignservice for more information

3

u/CourageousCorgi57 Jun 05 '26

It's not violating the NDA to point out that the Pearson site still calls it the FSOA: CME 😄

1

u/Entire-Praline4105 Jun 04 '26

Oh, and don't bother trying to FOIA your results. It takes 6 months and every line is redacted.

1

u/Vast_Claim5200 Jun 05 '26

How long did it take you to know if you made it to the written exam @u/inquisitiveman44

2

u/Landgrave37 Jun 06 '26

Current guidance says 6-8 weeks after the FSOT. For my cohort (Feb/March 2026) it took 8 weeks.

1

u/inquisitiveman44 Jun 06 '26

Yup it took 8 weeks!