Reading Proficiency Exam

Created in the 1980s, FSI's Reading exam was based on existing research at the time and a survey of Foreign Service needs. Printed text was the basis for the Reading exam. Reading media have changed over time and printed newspapers are no longer the main source of local information. Foreign Service Officers browse the Internet, adjust fonts according to reading preferences, access social media and collect information using many different platforms and formats. The Department's direction to increase our Foreign Service presence abroad and improve its language capacity, together with two recent review studies of the FSI Reading test, as well as discussions with Foreign Service Officers, point to the need to update FSI's Reading exam.