Friday, October 22, 2010

2011 PMF Assessment Preparation: Open Thread

The PMF application period for 2011 is closed, although schools still have until October 31 to send in nomination forms. As of 10/22/2010, over 9100 applications had been received (not all of these will turn into nominations). That's a 4.5% increase over last year's figures (8700).

Now that the application period has closed, it's open season for assessment preparation. I am intending that this article be used to gather materials and resources to help people prepare for the assessment process.

This year's program brings with it some adjustments to the assessment process. In prior years, the assessment was a one-step process consisting of a proctored exam with three sections: 1) Critical Thinking (like a logic test), 2) Life Experience, and 3) Writing (wherein the tester is given some passages to revise and some grammar questions). This year, the assessment apparently has been broken up into two phases, an online (unproctored) exam and an in-person interview phase (though I need some confirmation of this). Further, online assessment has been altered to a new format and now consists of the following parts (described more fully below): 1) Situational Judgment, 2) Life Experience, and 3) Writing Sample. The combination of these changes represents a larger shift in methodology for the PMF program, at least in my short history with it. I will leave it to my audience to speculate on the impact of these changes to the rigor and prestige of the program, as well as its ability to meet some stated goals (diversity, namely). First let's look at what the assessment restructuring looks like. Since I don't have any additional information yet, I am drawing this from the contents of the PMF Program Office's latest preparation guide.

  • Situational Judgment: These questions pose scenarios drawn from real-life situations that a PMF may encounter on the job and asks the tester to select a response from the given choices. The response is supposed to be what the tester would actually do in the given scenario, not what he/she thinks the right answer should be. The preparation guide gives some sample questions that presumably prepare one for the kinds of things that appear on the actual test. No special knowledge is needed to succeed on this portion.
  • Life Experience: This is not different from the same portion in previous years. Like the previous section, there is not really a set of right or wrong answers, so you are encouraged to be honest about your experiences here. Again the sample questions provide an indication of what to expect.
  • Writing Sample: The final section is the writing sample. This has not appeared in the last few assessment cycles, so I couldn't say whether or not it's ever been included. Instead of presenting the tester with passages in need of correction, this year testers are expected to write on a given topic. The writing sample assessment concentrates on written communication skills; consequently, testers will be judged on clarity of writing, coherence and organization of ideas, and proper use of grammar. As far as I can tell, the actual content is not graded (I could be wrong).
The second phase consists of in-person interviews, presumably for those who have achieved some minimum score. I need confirmation of this, so if you can point to any information on it, let me know. Until I have such confirmation, everything I write about the interview is highly speculative. Also, having never been through this particular interview, I could only guess at its structure. It has analogs in other programs (United Nations National Competitive Recruitment Exam and the Foreign Service Officer Test come to mind), but I simply don't know enough about the PMF version to provide meaningful advice.

Since the format is greatly altered this year, materials that were helpful in previous years may have limited utility this year. Specifically, the shift from the Critical Thinking assessment to the Situational Judgment assessment means that guides like the DHS Manual of Job Related Thinking Skills is probably no longer suitable. Does anyone know of other exams that have sections comparable to the Situational Judgment assessment? Any other materials you'd like to share? Comments are always welcome.

75 comments:

  1. The second phase in-person interview will be a return to the assessment process from (I think) 7 years ago. According to my career counselor (who apparently went to an info session on the changes) they plan to pass 20% of those who take the online assessment to the semi-finalist stage, the in person assessment. This is allegedly comprised of an individual interview (what many would consider a "normal" interview), an individual presentation (given a prompt and, I think, 25 minutes to prepare 5-minute spoken response), and a group situation/case style assessment with other semi-finalists (here it is unclear if the small group actually presents a response or if they are just interested in observing your teamwork behaviors). This is what I heard from my career adviser and that this process is very similar to how it was done years ago. I hope I'm not starting rumors, I cannot be 100% certain any of this is correct as they were told that the process had not been 100% nailed down. Also, they intend to pass about half (ultimately 10% of all applicants) of the semi-finalists on to be finalists. Hope this helps!

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  2. The like to the preparation guide does not seem to be working. Is there a way that I could get this?

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  3. @whitknee48 - My apologies. The document I had shared from Google Docs somehow lost its sharing settings. Please try again.

    @Amanda - That is helpful, but I would love to see some published information that confirms it. I should note that the PMF web site has updated FAQs that indicate the inclusion of the in-person interview, but it gives no details about what happens there.

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  4. The list of those that were nominated by their programs is now online in the How To Apply section of pmf.gov

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  5. @v404 - Thanks, I've been away from the computer today, so I hadn't had time to check. When I get some time, I will analyze the data and see if there are interesting things that show up. One thing to note is that of the more than 9100 applicants, 7482 were ultimately nominated.

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  6. If you dont complete the 150 word minimum of the written section are you automatically disqualified??

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  7. Same as Nicole, I was on word 148 when time was up (my last words were something like "that is why nfosvas'spv").

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  8. I have the same concern as Nicole and Ed.

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  9. I'm not sure what the answer is to the 150 word minimum on the written section. Does anyone know what the instructions said? I've not seen the online assessment, so I am completely blind on this one.

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  10. The preparation guide says the time allotted is 10 to 15 minutes, but did not mention anything about 150 word minimum. You don't find out until you begin the test. I was given 10 minutes. The section is not assessed if you do not achieve the minimum. The GRE Analytical Writing section gives you 45 min for the task issue and 30 min for argument issue. The GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) gives you two separate writing tasks—Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. You are allowed 30 minutes to complete each one. The SAT I essay-writing portion is 25 minutes. While the LSAT give you 30 minutes to complete the brief writing exercise. The GED Part II Writing Test gives 45 minutes to plan, write, and proofread the essay. The WorkKey even gives you 45 minutes to complete its writing section. I'm wondering are they looking for communication skills or typing speed? The PMF already had problems with the selection process last year with diversity and diversity by location. I wondering is this the same trend again. I don't mind a honest weed out process, but at least make it look convincing.

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  11. Anyone know how the sections are weighted? I also wasn't able to complete the writing task (due to connectivity issues :( )

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  12. @pmfellow:
    The instructions stated that essays that do not reach the 150 word minimum will not be assessed/graded. They did not say an applicant is automatically disqualified, but it certainly implies a zero score on the written assessment portion.

    @marcus1703:
    I doubt the writing test was designed to 'weed-out' applicants for diversity purposes. Honestly, I don't even know how a 150 word limit would accomplish that goal.

    It is more likely that the limit was designed to either:
    1) test an applicant's skill writing under pressure,
    2) provide a very short time period to test an applicant's actual ability to write well (assuming most graduate students could write a perfect essay if given enough time to edit),
    or
    3) include an additional 'psychological' examination because quick responses are likely to be more truthful than pre-planned B.S.

    If there is a nefarious reason for the word limit I would assume those who designed the test did not realize a word limit would be such a difficult hurdle. However, I doubt this is the case.

    One could assume that not reaching the word limit does not necessarily dash all hopes of moving to the next round. Conceivably one could score high enough on the other sections to overcome a zero score on the writing assessment. This is even more likely if a huge number of applicants fail to reach the 150 word minimum. Although this scenario is not likely, it may be some small glimmer of hope.

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  13. Please note pmfhopeful:

    I did not say “‘weed-out' applicants for diversity purposes." I said “The PMF already had problems with the selection process last year with diversity and diversity by location." But, I certainly do appreciate your words of encouragement. I still think the 10 minute limit was just poor judgment.

    Thank You.

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  14. It will be interesting to see how the computer, yes, the computer, will grade the essays!

    Does anyone know how many people out of the nominees ended up taking the assessment?

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  15. I consider myself a very fast typer and excellent writer based on previous test scores, papers, etc and still thought the 10 minute limit was a bit short. I gave myself the first 3 minutes to plan out my essay and found myself furiously trying to beat the buzzer at the end. I made it, and even had time to glance over for typos before it cut me off, but I'm sure there are many qualified applicants who didn't. v404 makes a good point though -- if a computer is grading the essay can they really be looking for more than good grammar and spelling?

    I personally was more disturbed by a lot of the "life experience" questions, particularly the ones that related to high school! I mean how can the number of social events I attended per month when I was 17 possibly say anything about what sort of government employee I will be now, MANY years later??

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  16. I agree about the high school questions. First, I do not remember all of my math grades, etc. so I really had no idea what my scores are, but I was nervous to say I got A's on average if perhaps I had gotten an extra B or something. I also thought some of the work questions were silly, because most people would follow company policy-- which varies from place to place. I mean, if my boss had a rule about interrupting meetings, I would never interrupt a meeting. On the other hand, I've had bosses that wanted to be interrupted to get situations resolved.

    Finally, based on previous years, it sounds like they only take about 20-40% of the people who do the online assessment; so I'd guess that if you didn't finish the writing section you will not be continuing. I hate to sound harsh, but a typing speed of 15 words a minute could be done when texting.Yes, you want to have a coherent sentence and good grammar, but add an extra "further, finally, etc." if you are running out of time; they did have a timer for warning.
    Also, many tests use computer scoring for the first assessment and personal graders after, but usually it means they look for connecting sentences, a thesis statement, and use of words from the prompt.

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  17. I thought 15 minutes would have been great, but somehow missed the 10 minute part. I still managed to meet the 150 word requirement. However, I was definitely cut off mid-sentence. I'm hoping this won't have too much of an impact on the overall result. My essay could have been so much worse. Luckily, I wrote an essay on a similar topic just a month or so ago for a scholarship program. Best of luck to all the posters. We'll find out our fates soon enough.

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  18. I made it to the 150 word minimum but still felt the time limit/word limit was too harsh. It's not a typing test (if it were 15 words a minute would be easy). The test was described as measuring applicants' ability to write coherently and with correct grammar, leading many people to believe the best approach was to plan a mini-essay introducing and developing a couple of themes. For most people this means carefully reading the prompt, thinking about an answer, and planning a structure before typing. Writers that do not do this are most often stream-of-consciousness writers who do not organize their writing very well. Once an answer was properly planned under these conditions, the time remaining made it very difficult to write out the actual essay, let alone write it well and correct for grammar. The writing assessment was either poorly designed or intended to measure something beside writing ability (perhaps ability to work under pressure or an assessment of one's personality). I simply don't think this test measured one's ability to write well. It was the equivalent of telling a track star to prepare for the high jump, but once he starts his little trot the line judge yells at him to do the 50 yard dash instead. If you want to see who is good at the 50 yard dash you should let everyone know that is what they will be doing.

    As far as the other portions of the test, I believe the first section was an assessment of applicants' skills handling work situations (which is vaguely indicated by calling it a 'situational judgment' assessment). I believe these questions had correct responses, and mirror the way the program would want an individual to act in certain situations, whether dealing with co-workers, other employees, or a heavy work load. Many of them were tricky, but I believe if we were provided with an answer key explaining the correct answers they would make sense (perhaps explaining that answer A was better than B because it actually addressed the customer's issue or displayed the ability to work with others or showed a desire and ability to appropriately take the lead when necessary).

    Finally, I believe the second section was simply a personality test given a misleading name. By asking how you have reacted in certain situations this kind of personality test measures your "personality in action" as opposed to straightforward questions asking if you are introverted. If you went to a lot of social events in high school you are probably more out-going and if you got good grades in math you are probably a diligent worker (unlike humanities classes where you can read the books the night before and figure out what you need for the test, math classes tend to require steady work that is progressively more difficult because the more difficult concepts later in the course require mastery of the early lessons, re: it's much harder to wait until the last minute).

    Overall I think the first two sections were tough yet fair, but the written assessment simply did not seem like an actual assessment of one's ability to write. Even another 5 minutes would have been enough to re-read the essay, and make changes that display one's ability to write clearly, coherently, and with correct grammar. I can't think of any real world situation where one's ability to write is measured so strictly by the speed with which a piece is written. Perhaps taking 2 hours for a 15 minute assignment is too much, but we don't judge Melville based on how long it took to write Moby Dick and a judge doesn't ask how long it took an attorney to write a brief before deciding whether it is persuasive.

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  19. Can anyone contrast the writing assessment portion of the PMF assessment with the one that appears on the Foreign Service Officer Test? I took that recently, and it was computerized. As far as I could tell, there was no issue at all with time, in that I didn't really feel rushed. Also, the FSOT has a character limit instead of a minimum word count, which changes the dynamic somewhat. I'd be interested to know how other professional assessments stack up.

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  20. I took the FSOT and passed; also just took the PMF assessment. The FSOT's time limit is signicantly longer than the one for the PMF. The FSOT writing segment asks you to analyze an issue and the PMF asks you to talk about yourself. 10 minutes versus 30-45 is a huge difference.

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  21. I think in some situations, one might have to quickly jot down talking points for a superior. I've certainly had to draft memos for my Exec Director under short notice (not 10 minutes though). However, I see the benefit of hiring someone who can write a coherent passage in a short amount of time.

    For me, the essay was much like an interview question. If someone were to ask you that same question during an interview, you should be able to verbalize a complete, concise response within 2-3 minutes. I think composing a solid essay within 10 minutes is possible.

    However, my issue is that the instructions noted "10-15" minutes, when they should have just stated that it would be 10. Did anyone at all experience a 15 minute time limit?

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  22. One of the things that struck me in taking the assessment was that it seemed to be particularly interested in honesty. If I recall, there were questions in the first section that seemed to be asked in a slightly different way on the next section --presumably to make sure you were telling the truth. I think the question about "changing your mind" was an example of this. I think on the whole, the test seemed to be representative of more or less, a psychological test. The writing portion was definitely a surprise, which was obviously on purpose, and would probably be another attempt to perhaps validate the honesty with which participants may have answered the previous sections, i.e. if you started listing a bunch of fictitious accomplishments, these might be validated by previous answers in the preceding sections. I'm sure there were other things the test was interested in measuring, but I think that Integrity and honesty were certainly very important factors in isolating participants. Consistency throughout the test in my view will probably be the most highly weighted factor in deciding who moves on to the next phase.

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  23. Any idea of when the semi-finalist list will be released? Mid-December is vague . . .

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  24. @pmfhopeful - I'm not so sure that "stream-of-consciousness writers," as you say, are any worse off than writers who like to plan everything out when it comes to very short essays like this one. 150 words is really short - shorter than the average email for sure, and one fourth the length of your most recent post. I'm sure that most of us haven't sketched out a plan for our posts on this blog before actually forming written word, and yet we've all managed to write in coherent, complete sentences without many obvious spelling or grammatical errors. IMHO, and not to be mean, but if someone can't write a half paragraph about themselves in under 10 minutes, especially in this era of texting and social media, they're probably not the caliber of student the PMF program is looking for. So I actually think it was a good test of ability, much more so than the other two sections which really just measured personality traits.

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  25. The PMF site said around December 6 that it would be about 2-3 weeks. I would look for results the week of the 20th (which is a short week anyway). The week after that is possible, but I wouldn't consider it likely given the holidays.

    I'm just guessing though.

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  26. I ended up writing a little over 500 words. I type pretty fast, but I'm surprised more people did not write drafts. After applying for a few government fellowships, the theme is pretty much the same, what are your strengths, weaknesses, background and how is it relevant to this job.

    I pulled out essays I used for my nomination requirement on why I felt like I would be a good candidate for the PMF and another essay I used for another govt fellowship on the same topic in regards to that agency. So I combined the best parts, printed it, then I put it in front of me just in case they would ask that question.

    Lo and behold, they did. So I started typing what I had said making adjustments to fit the question and the time limit. I also had other paragraphs for other things like "what was the most significant moment in my life", "who was the most influential person in my life" or "what obstacles have I had to overcome" etc... It's all a matter of being prepared.

    That being said, I felt like I was a little too honest on some of the questions on the previous section that might come back to bite me in the arse. Like find moderate joy in something the govt would frown on, lol. Oh well...at least I was honest...

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  27. @ last anonymous:

    Don't you consider your 'strategy' cheating? The instructions clearly said not to cut and paste, and the test was supposed to measure your writing ability in the given parameters. You clearly stepped outside of the boundaries imposed by the test by using pre-written material. If this doesn't violate the letter of the rules, it certainly violates their spirit. I find it laughable that you end your post by saying "oh well...at least I was honest..."

    If I were you I'd be afraid the 500 words you wrote would be a red flag because, at least from the comments here, most people didn't make it to 200 words, let alone 500. It seems reasonable that anyone noticing this disparity would assume you cheated.

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  28. I disagree. I don't think it's cheating. I think it's smart prep work. We prepare for tests and interviews, why not this, too? I wish I would have thought to do it myself... But even without the prep work, I wrote almost 300 words. Whether or not those 300 words are coherent is another matter. :-)

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  29. I think it is totally fine to do some mental prep work by thinking about the types of questions they are likely to ask and perhaps even to write some "sample" essays beforehand to get ready. I'm sure we all went through that exercise for whatever LSAT/GRE/GMAT practice exams we took to get into graduate school. It is something *entirely* different to pull those "sample" questions back out and look at them while you are constructing your essay DURING the exam!! You state that you "started typing what I had said making adjustments to fit the question and the time limit." I assume that means you were typing word for word what you wrote previously in some parts. You used an outside resource to help you construct your essay -- that is *totally* cheating. You are a big fat cheater. My only hope is that by writing 500 words you will be flagged in some way and questioned later about it (will you be so honest when asked a direct question about how you took the exam?), or that someone from the PMF program is monitoring this website and searching for your IP address right now.

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  30. We prepare for interviews and tests because you are supposed to prepare for them. This test was designed to measure how well one could write in this situation with these limitations. Pre-planning an answer meant avoiding the test criteria and pre-planning does not adequately measure the writing ability of anyone who had a pre-planned answer. Whether or not it is 'cheating' depends on the rules, but even if it is not cheating it certainly was a way of providing an answer that did not measure what the test was supposed to measure.

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  31. Couple of things.

    First, it may very well be considered cheating to use outside resources to construct responses during an exam. That said, the test was unproctored and relied on the test-takers to maintain the integrity of the assessment. My hope is that this scenario has been anticipated (because it's reasonable) to such an extent that scoring methods account for it (like noticing when someone submits 500 words when everyone else got 150-200). I guess some people will find out whenever the semi-finalist list comes out.

    Second, this blog is completely independent of the PMF program, and I take great care to make sure it stays that way, especially in terms of perception. I'm not logging IP addresses or otherwise collecting enough information to identify anyone here. I don't plan to.

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  32. pmfellow - I am sure you are correct that they have anticipated this scenario. I hope that the vast major of candidates are honest individuals or at least have enough common sense not to pull such a stunt.

    Perhaps a good way to identify potential cheaters would be to conduct typing tests on semi-finalists at the in-person assessment. I have a feeling that most people type much faster when copying material than when coming up with original material. For example, I type about 90 wpm on timed typing tests, but more like 30-40 wpm when I'm constructing my own material for manuscripts, exams, etc. So someone who can type at least 50 wpm (in order to get 500 words written in the 10 minute time limit) when composing original thoughts should be capable of scoring much higher on a standard typing test. If 50 wpm is closer to their max on a standard typing test, that might flag them as someone to be questioned about their integrity during the exam process. It would be interesting to see the results of a test like that.

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  33. In practice, though, I hate typing tests. Any apparent typing skill I've developed over the years has been gained simply by sitting at a keyboard for most of my day.

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  34. ...a bit off topic, but I dare anyone to call the PMF office ((202)606-5277) and ask when the list of semi-finalists will be out...I suggest having some pretext about a minor issue (like my cell phone was stolen and I have a new number, how do I change the number for the PMF program) and then say "since I have you here anyway...when will semi-finalists be notified?"...

    Obviously this is stupid and juvenile, but anyone who does this and posts the results will receive a small measure of gratitude from the rest of us.

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  35. Last year they received notices on December 18 - the equivalent to this Friday. However, they did not have the assessment to "grade" at this point last year. I've convinced myself that they will try to stick to as much of the last year's time as they can, since that would be the most logical thing to do. :)

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  36. Go to the PMF website and type 2011 Semi-Finalists in the search box then click on the link that appears. It confirms much of what the first commenter on here wrote. According to this Acrobat Reader document there will be 1500 semi-finalists and from that 750 to 800 finalists will be selected. There will NOT be a regular interview for semi-finalist instead there will be a group exercise, an individual presentation and a proctored writing assessment. You will be evaluated by a three person panel. I hope this helps :-)

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  37. Thanks, Anonymous @6:52 AM. For anyone who is interested, the link in question leads to a proposal included on the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Council site (warning: PDF): http://www.chcoc.gov/Documents/Attachments/Document65.pdf

    It looks like something I should probably summarize in a writeup, assuming they stick to what's in the proposal. It's hard to tell if it's approved or not, so best not to pin your hopes on what it contains.

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  38. First off, I just heard of this blog through a fellow classmate and there's a lot of useful information. Thanks! That last pdf was great, nice to know how stringent the numbers will be. But now I'm worried! My nomination requirement was also an essay that was along the same lines saying why should the school nominate me, how am i a strong candidate for the pmf, strengths, weaknesses and the like. And i've heard worse stories. Someone knew a few that used voice recognition software so it would be even faster than typing. Just this week a few people who are back home on break told me their school's (one in Baltimore, Mass, Michigan and 3 in DC) pmf person, through back channels, sent out hints on the prompt before and midway during the test time and these are schools that must have had 100+ nominees. Do they even reject people at these schools? Mine had a little over 20 including the law school. So, I almost got 300 words...i think *A LOT* of people must have had beaten the 500 word barrier.

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  39. Status on applicationmanager.gov changed from "pending" to "complete" overnight. Has anyone received email/other notification about their status?

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  40. Anonymous @ 9:15 AM: Glad to be of service. Some schools don't really have formal nomination processes, and some do. My guess (I have no evidence of this) is that those with formal nomination processes have more experience with the program than those who don't.

    I have no idea how the scoring is done or will turn out.

    ---

    Anonymous @ 9:20 AM: It's possible they are queuing up to send out messages in batches over the weekend. Historically they've done these kinds of notifications in last-name grouped batches.

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  41. First, I wanted to say that my applicationmanager status has been complete since I turned in my application. However, the written assessment is still listed as ungraded.

    On a note about people saying there was cheating. While, I agree using the exact words of a previous essay defeats what I hope is the point of the essay prompt, to see people be coherent in a short time frame, many students were told to have the PMF assessment guide, their application (essay to their school), their resume, etc. in front of them for reference during the test. If a school gave a prompt that was the exact same, it really isn't someone's fault for having a good essay and answer.

    Further, I hope PMF does not disqualify people for high word counts, as some people may have legitimately written 500 words without a former essay. I got to over 350 words without having any type of previously written work and had 2 minutes left over to review what I wrote. So, I would guess if I had kept writing, I may have gotten to that limit. Also, I've often needed to write something very quickly for a boss and I would assume working in government is no different.

    Honestly, in the next round, when they have to think on their feet and prepare a presentation quickly, they may not do very well and be weeded out later.

    As to the PMF coordinators, any information given to students by their coordinator is not a student's fault. Have the coordinator's been told not to do this? Or, is it just that some schools do not have coordinators who are interested? I'm not sure, but maybe that process needs to be made more clear to the coordinators. Also, for the schools with hundreds of nominees, it doesn't mean they aren't rejecting people, but they could have a lot of qualified people or be a very large school.

    I think the PMF group has done a good job at creating a new process that has a lot of room for them to test many different abilities at different points in the process.

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  42. Your application should have said "Awaiting results" for a while after taking the Assessment. Mine also switched to Complete.

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  43. I took the test back on the 22'nd of November and yet my written test still says No Results Yet. This may confirm pmffellow's earlier statement about the results being released by last name since my last name is more than halfway down the alphabet.

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  44. I took the test on 3rd of December and my written test shows No Results Yet and my last name is at start of alphabet.

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  45. Another possibility is that different staff were assigned the different bundles of names. Under this scenario for instance say Mary has last names A-D, John has E-J etc. Perhaps John has more experience or is better at this sort of thing than Mary so John's stack went out first. This is based on real life scenarios I've experienced before but is pure conjecture.

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  46. more conjecture: those who have switched to 'complete' are those who are/are not moving on...for my sake I hope they are, I'm middle alphabet, took the test on 12/4, and I switched to complete this morning.

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  47. Just seen this posted on PMF site. Guess we will still have to wait

    The PMF Program Office now estimates that the notice of results for all nominees in the PMF Class of 2011 on whether or not selected as semi-finalists are projected to be sent via email the week of December 20-24, 2010. Once the official list of semi-finalists is ready, a copy will be posted to the PMF website. Thank you!

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  48. Your scenario regarding complete/not complete actually sounds far more likely than mine...I wonder if this is linked to acceptance in some way now...

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  49. The waiting is driving me a little bit crazy... but I guess incessantly checking email and application manager isn't helping. Haha. This is so weird because on this test, I feel as though you have NO idea on whether or not you performed "well". So, we can only speculate until there's official notice. At least with the Foreign Service Exam, you pretty much know how you did on some aspects of the test. Same thing with GRE or LSAT...

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  50. http://www.pmf.gov/news-events/selection-of-pmf-class-of-2011-semi-finalists.aspx

    Must see link...semi-finalists will be announced next week!

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  51. I just checked application manager right before I looked at this. I got switched to Complete and now I don't know if I'm on the "winning or losing" side, but I'm on a side. G'luck everyone! Don't cut off good candidates just to meet a quota, PMF officials. If you have a lot of high-speed candidates, then let us all show it in the next round.

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  52. There are two Written Test entries in the Assessments section on application manager, right? The bottom one says complete for me and has the date I took the online assessment, the top one says no results yet. Which one are you guys talking about?

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  53. My theory is that they're just marking the "written test" box as "complete" as they finish scoring each test. Eventually everyone will have a complete for the written test, just like everyone has a "complete" for the assessment questionnaire, regardless of whether you passed or failed.

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  54. It's exactly the same for me, 6:59.

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  55. I'm sure not everyone who was eligible to take the exam actually took it - maybe some people decided against the program after being nominated, maybe some people forgot, maybe some had technical difficulties that never got resolved. So perhaps we have two "written test" boxes because one is to mark that we actually took the test (that would be the one that says "complete") and one is a placeholder for whether it's been scored or not. Or maybe for the score itself. I don't think it's an indication of whether you passed or failed at all.

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  56. Makes sense @ 8:30.

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  57. Does anyone else have two written tests under assessments in application manager? There are two for me, one of which was completed and the other is not...I'm just glad we'll know next week.

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  58. I have the same thing. I think the first written test that says complete is just verifying that you completed the written test. Once it is actually graded, the second written test will say complete too.

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  59. actually, there is another test the second 'written test' could refer to: the testing that takes place for semi-finalists at an in-person testing center...my fear is that if you are 'complete' now it means you won't be taking that test (that is, your file is complete because you haven't moved on)

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  60. I also have one written test completed and one marked "no results yet". However, I would be surprised if I continue onto the next round as my written section was quite the disaster. I had a moment of writers block which caused me have one spelling error and only 150 words (on the dot). However, let's just say the content of my written section was pretty weak. Unless they only graded based on grammar, I probably fell in the bottom of end of the curve.

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  61. I think that Written Test #2 is the one that is taken at the oral assessment. Since none of us has taken it yet, we should all have a "No results yet" status for that item.

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  62. Hey people, check out the recently updated Assessment Prep Guide posted on the PMF website (pdf posted here: http://www.pmf.gov/become-a-pmf/assessment-process.aspx). It now includes info on the in-person assessment, which will indeed include another written assessment. This time the lucky semi-finalists will have 45 minutes to complete the exercise, and the use of a pocket dictionary will be permitted. This makes me think that the written portion of the online assessment was a test of basic grammar/spelling/typing skills, and that your actual writing skills will be assessed at the semi-finalist stage.

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  63. My friend was selected. He says he just got an email.

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  64. Hey. I just got my notification letter from opm! It was sent 5:30pm EST. My last name starts with a "C."

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  65. Just got mine. Unfortunately I didn't make the cut. Onto the next thing.

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  66. Could anyone selected let us know how they did on the written section? Number of words etc...

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  67. I just got my acceptance at about 6:30 pacific time and my last name starts with "H". And my friend just the denial notification as well. Her last name starts with I.

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  68. Just got the email. Sadly, I didn't make the cut. I typed 226 words on the written assessment, and answered as honestly as I possibly could. I attended a small school in the mid-west. I was the only nominee from my school. I was not a public policy or law student. My last name begins with "T". Probably sour grapes at this point, but this whole process just felt incredibly convoluted and arbitrary.

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  69. I was selected late last night. I answered honestly on everything and got about 370 words. But law school racehorse exams do that to you. Good luck everyone!

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  70. I was selected late last night. I also answered honestly on every part of the test and I wrote about 200 words on the written assessment. I made sure to include an opening thesis if that makes a difference. That's what Psychology papers do to me. lol

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  71. I posted my acceptance on the 20th @ 3:11pm.

    I don't remember how many words I wrote for the written section, but it was well over 150. I remember writing three paragraphs. Like the comment above, I wrote an opening thesis in the first paragraph; wrote my qualifications in the second paragraph; and closed everything in the third paragraph. I also wrote other comments about the assessment in another section of the blog, focusing on what I thought of the whole assessment.

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  72. Hello. I also received a rejection notice. I typed well over 200 words and answered very honestly on all questions. I am disappointed with the process. My belief is that the online assessment battery cannot begin to identify those with real potential. My background includes a top tier engineering degree, ten years of service as an Army officer and current work in a quality MBA program. I rarely fail to be a top performer in any group. Regardless of my feelings about the process, it was an honor to partake in the PMF program. I will always love our country and work for a bright future for our children. Thanks to all participating in the PMF program. I wish everyone the very best.

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  73. I got accepted around 9pm Eastern time last night.

    On the writing section, I probably managed about 300 words. I tried a mini-essay structure of 3 paragraphs instead of one big paragraph but cut the conclusion short to proofread the rest.

    I answered all questions honestly.

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  74. @ Anonymous 10:36 am

    Hey thanks for your service. Did you apply your Vet preferance?

    Too late now, but take a look at GE's Junior Officer Leadership Program. They are specifically looking for ex-military officers to put through a management training program for management positions in GE. They have positions all over the country and world.
    http://www.ge.com/careers/veterans/jolp/index.html
    Good luck

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  75. Does anyone know how the 3 sections of the in-person assessment are weighted?

    Also, how do the 5pts. given for veteran's preference correlate with the points for the in-person assessment?

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