The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

thing from going over these test questions? Maybe, but my percep- tion was that we got very little out of that approach. The courses were all geared to “passing the test” with no real learning going on. When test day came, some stu- dents would strut out of the exam room while others, such as me, would exit with shoulders bent and feeling demoralized. If you passed, you were “certified.” If you did not, you had a stamp upon your head, fig- uratively. Once everyone found out that you had not passed, nobody said much to you any more. You often had another chance to take the exam on Uncle Sam’s dime, but if you did not pass this second time, you had two stamps on your head. You felt that you wasted all your time studying every night and weekend, with nothing to show for it. I am sure I’m not the only IMSer who experienced this intense peer pressure, but I don’t understand why the teaching staff also went along with it. What I really needed the instruc- tors to provide, and they did not, was hands-on experience with the oper- ating systems I would be working on What I really needed the instructors to provide, and they did not, was hands-on experience with the operating systems I would be working on at post. M A Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 S P E A K I N G O U T u