I.

Qualifying Test

This exam is made by the Civil Service Commission and is said to be like the civil
service exam but only on steroids… lots of steroids. It contains mathematics (oh no,
not again!), reading comprehension, grammar, logic, and lots of other high-school and
basic college education stuff. This very lengthy half-day exam (usually 8am – 12nn)
seems to be designed not to be finished and you’ll be under tremendous time pressure.
A lot of people I know, myself included, had to rely on the old “shotgun” method for
quite of number questions since there wasn’t enough time to answer them all. It seems
to be as much of a test of mental tenacity as it is ability.

By the way, I haven’t taken the civil service exam. You don’t need to take the civil
service exam to be a foreign service officer.

Since the exam is made by the Civil Service Commission and is said to be like the
civil service exam, it would be logical to prepare for the Qualifying Test the same you
would prepare for the civil service exam. There are lots of excellent civil service
reviewers available in bookstores and online so I suggest getting a whole lot of them
and trying them all out.

Most people get hacked away (fail) during this part of the FSO exam so prepare for it
well. More on this later.

II. Preliminary Interview

As a disclaimer, I did not take the Preliminary Interview part of the FSO Exam since
it was introduced just very shortly after I had taken the exam at 2007. But I of course
went through all the other parts of the FSO Exam.

This is what I hear from people who’ve been through the interview and from
colleagues who themselves have been panelists. The panelists in the interview will be
active officers in the foreign service corps. Three panelists will conduct the interview
and will ask you questions to get a better sense of your background, what you know
and what skills or knowledge you can contribute to the foreign service. Being
essentially a job interview, the panelists will try determine whether or not you’re good
fit for the work that lies ahead. And just like any job interview, they may ask your
personal life, your professional life, and everything in between. Sans waiting time, the
interview is said to take around 20 minutes or less.
Be ready to answer questions like: “What do you do in your current job?” or “What
can you contribute to the DFA?” But you can also be asked stumpers like “What can
be done to ensure a meritocracy in DFA?”

Meritocracy - government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their
ability Meritocracy is a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are
vested in individual people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or
social class

III. Written Test

The Written Test is a three day essay-type exam, with each day lasting from 8am –
4pm. If the Qualifying Test is made by the Civil Service Commission, and the
Preliminary Interview is done by officers in the foreign service corps, the Written Test
is made by the academe.

And indeed the questions can get very academic, such as “Define and discuss the
relevance to the Philippines of the following: AFTA, NAFTA, LAFTA, EU, APEC,
and EAEC.” or “Define Realpolitik and describe how this principle is evident in the
strategies of Otto Von Bismarck and Camillo di Cavour.”

Over the three days, the Written Test will test your mettle on the following: English
(20%), Filipino (5%), Philippine Political, Economic and Cultural Conditions (30%),
International Affairs (20%), World History (20%), Foreign Language (5%).

Here is a bunch of the questions that came out in a previous Written Test that
someone posted on Scribd a few years back.

IV. Psychological Test

This test is done at the Philippine Mental Health Association, usually in small batches
or pairs in one day from 8 am to 3 pm. You’ll be evaluated both on your mental
abilities and your psychiatric health. If you’ve made it this far, I assume your mental
abilities would be up to par. The assessment your psychiatric health however is
another matter. This test is meant to weed out those who are not psychologically fit to
endure the pressures of serving abroad in high-profile situations.

You’ll be put through a battery of psychiatric tests, which may be familiar to many of
you. For example, you have to complete sentences that go something like “When I am
upset about a situation I have no control over ________” or ask you’ll be asked to
draw a picture of a person.

In the last part, you have a brief talk with a psychiatrist.

While not everyone will take this test seriously, let it be known that there are people
who get axed at this point. In one batch, it was reported that 12 out of 24 people didn’t
pass the Psychological Test.

Now how do you prepare for such an test? I had a colleague who said one shouldn’t
worry about the Psychological Test so much. All you have to do is just answer the
questions of the psychiatrist as any normal person would. For example, if asked to fill
in the blanks “My father is ______.” just say what a normal, rational man would.
Something like “My father is a good man” or “My father loved us very much”.

But then I retorted “But what if you have the urge to say something crazy like ‘My
father is a monkey.’ or ‘My father is an alien from outer space.’?”

She said “Well, if you really are crazy, then you wouldn’t know ‘My father is a
monkey’ is something crazy to say.”

So in short, don’t worry, be yourself and be natural (or at least try your best to
suppress those voices in your head and/or feelings of infinite, consuming despair on
that day… hehe, kidding).

V. Oral Test

This test is divided into three main parts given over two or three days. The panel
interview, group dynamics, and the formal dinner. The Oral Test is where you finally
face the big bosses of the metaphorical video game. The panelists in the Oral Test will
mostly likely be a mix of retired ambassadors, top-level officials from the Department
of Foreign Affairs, big time officials from other branches of the Philippine
bureaucracy, such as the Department of Trade and Industry and Department of
Education, and other top honchos.

Before the Oral Test, you would have been asked to submit an answer sheet in so
many copies where your fill out your basic information, educational and work
background, awards and honors, and other such stuff you’d put in a curriculum vitae.
You’ll also be asked to write essays on your current employment, greatest
achievement, your weaknesses, problem resolution methods, and so on. But remember
the Miranda rights – that thing what the cops on TV say when they go busting down
doors to arrest the bad guys, “anything you say can and will be used against you”,
except when test time comes around you will not have the right to remain silent.

During the panel interview you will be interviewed by perhaps 8-10 panelists for
anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes. Entering the interview room with the entire panel
staring you down with there serious-looking, grizzled faces, like ravenous wolves
sizing you up for dinner, can be very intimidating. It’s a nerve-wracking experience,
and though it might just last a few minutes, it can feel like it lasted for hours.

Be prepared for no-holds-barred, all hell breaks loose kinds of questions. “Are you
married?” “Why not?” “Are you gay?” “Are you willing to sacrifice being with your
family for your career?” They may ask you about your work experiences. They may
ask you about current international affairs. They will test your knowledge. They may
talk to you about politics. Anything goes. Some of the panelists may intentionally try
to belittle and unnerve you. Keep your calm.

They’ll try poke holes in the curriculum vitae and essays which you submitted. For
example, if you wrote down you spoke French, be prepared in case one of the retired
ambassadors in the panel who was once assigned to a Francophone country starts
talking to you in French.

Not all is dark and dreary. I found out that the panelists can also save you. I entered
my panel interview planning to highlight my work in the corporate world since I
noticed that very few of my fellow examinees had corporate jobs or experience.
However, just as I expected my Physical Education degree stood out too well and it
was attacked by the panelist. They threw in the customary jokes on how martial arts
can be used when things go wrong in diplomacy. Somewhere along the way, because
the panelists started asking me about Judo (I’m a two-time collegiate [UAAP] Judo
champion), the name Vladimir Putin tumbled out of my mouth as an example of
statesman that was also very good in Judo. And as you can imagine, that didn’t go so
well. I tried my best to stand my ground but I was met with disapproving looks and
more condescending questions. However, one of the panelists, who I found out later
on was a DFA Undersecretary, perhaps seeing I was being picked on, suddenly made
a pivot and addressed the panel in my defense. He gave a short talk on “Sports
Diplomacy” and gave the example of the Ping-pong Diplomacy between the US and
China during the height of the Cold War. God bless his soul.

After the panel interview is the Group Dynamics part. The examinees are divided
into small groups and are given topics which they are suppose to discuss or debate on.
During my time, one of the topics given to us was how to improve the Philippine
Education system, which was tricky considering a high-ranking Department of
Education official was in the panel. I remember one of the panelist telling us how
much he hated lawyers in the DFA since “they’re nitpickers and nothing gets done”
and he wanted us to discuss whether or not lawyers should be allowed in the foreign
service. I later found out he was a lawyer himself. At another time, a panelist asked
me out of the blue “Do you jog?”

Once the Panel Interview and the Group Dynamics are done, it’s time for the Formal
Dinner. Ah! Attending a classy party, the quintessential work of a diplomat! (Aside
from from writing reports and other humdrum stuff which most diplomats/foreign
service officers do 98% of the time.)

This exciting part is the culmination of the FSO Exam. The Formal Dinner is usually
held in a five star hotel, such as the Diamond Hotel in Manila. The whole exercise is
meant to be a field test on how you will do in a super formal social event and so they
try to make everything as close as possible to a real thing, but only perhaps the
pressure on the examinees to put a good impression on people is a million times over
than what you’ll normally feel. Everyone will be dressed up in their best barongs and
Filipiniana gowns and you will feel the pageantry in the air. You’ll be graded on how
well you make small talk and hold conversations, your table etiquette including the
proper use of silverware, how well you ‘win friends and influence people’ and other
diplomaty things diplomats do.

I’ll share my experience with the formal dinner. Like in a real life formal event, it
started with a reception. The examinees filed into the reception room for cocktails.
The panelists were there waiting for us. The examinees, perhaps the panelists too,
tried their best to look relaxed. Some examinees immediately pounced on the
opportunity to cozy up to the panelists and began engaging them in
conversation meant to display their intellect. I felt it was too early in the evening and
tried to keep a low profile.

Then, it was announced dinner was ready to be served and we were led to the dining
room where we had assigned seats. Each table had panelists/examiners mixed in.
Reviewing your table etiquette, such as which utensil to use and when, will save you a
lot of stress and imitating people who seem to know what they are doing. Put your
best foot forward when chatting with your tablemates.

And finally towards the end part of the dinner, the coup de grâce, the
dreaded impromptu speech. When your turn comes, you have to randomly pick out a
topic from the fishbowl/receptacle. You’re given a minute or two to prepare, then
you’re thrust onstage to give an impromptu speech. It may vary, but expect being
given a five-minute time limit.

You might be asked to make a speech promoting of Philippine soap operas overseas.
You might be asked to give a speech on Piracy and Maritime Security. In many of the
of the topics you will be asked to play the role of a diplomat in a certain situation and
you are asked to deliver a speech appropriate to it. For example, you are asked to
pretend your are the Philippine Ambassador to Japan and you will address the
business community on JPEPA. Some of topics will just blow your mind. “Discuss
track two and track three diplomacy.” or “Discuss repercussions of LAFTA on the
Philippines.” Be prepared in case you end up a fish out of water, for example you are
asked to discuss the life and works of a national artist you’ve never heard of before.

The topic I randomly picked out of the fish bowl was something like “You are the
Philippine Ambassador in Stockholm hosting a reception celebrating the anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Give a short speech.”

I mentioned that Sweden and the Philippines are vastly different countries with very
different economies, geographies and cultures. One is landlocked and mountainous,
with a cold, temperate climate. Meanwhile, the other is a lush archipelago in the warm
tropical seas. This makes both countries complementary. To make a good marriage
opposites are need. The relationship between Sweden and the Philippines is like a
marriage between a man and a woman. Because both countries have very different
strengths, weaknesses and products, there is much potential for trade and cooperation.
I ended with a joke “I hope that this marriage between the Philippines and Sweden
will produce many children.” The audience laughed. Ding! I felt I struck my mark.