State Department Launches New Foreign Service Officer Test; Retakes Required
The State Department is launching a new version of the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), and those who have passed the prior version and are waiting to be hired, must retake the test.
The revamped test will be administered for the first time October 18-25, 2025. Added is a new logic and reasoning section which is replacing the situational judgment section. Logic and reasoning will assess making inferences, justifying conclusions, finding logical flaws, and identifying assumptions.
Also, job knowledge and English expression questions have been more closely aligned with job requirements. For instance, job knowledge will only have questions on U.S. government, history, and society; world history and geography; economics; and math and statistics, while English expression was revised to include reading comprehension.
Also gone is the requirement for personal narrative essays.
“These updates better align the FSOT with the skills and expertise needed to successfully represent the interests of the American people,” stated the State Department.
And a senior State Department official told the Daily Caller that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “restoring a system where talent, not affirmative action, drives opportunities” and administers a test that is not “riddled” with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles.
Retakes Unfair: AFSA
However, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) says the requirement that those who already passed the test take it again is unfair.
“This abrupt, retroactive change — framed as modernization — abandons merit-based principles while putting an unfair burden on those who have already satisfied all the requirements to get into the service,” said AFSA in a statement.
The revamped FSOT is not the only change to the foreign service career path.
In July, the State Department announced that "fidelity" to the Trump Administration’s policies would be part of the criteria for promotions for along with communication, leadership, management and knowledge.
