PMF Assessment Advice
December 8, 2008 8:23 AM Subscribe
I am taking the Presidential Management Fellowship Assessment in January. Any advice on preparation/studying? I've started with the government's prep guide.
there is a PMF alumni organization, search for "PMF alumni". My friends who are current PMF say the test is like the practice test. What's harder is the moving between offices that comes later.
posted by parmanparman at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2008
posted by parmanparman at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2008
Well, congrats on making it this far.
I did the PMF - assessment was January of 2005. Not sure if it has changed since then, but I don't recall studying at all. I talked to a few people who successfully navigated the assessment day from the year before and they gave me some tips. Not saying you shouldn't study if the day has changed since 2005. I did basically prepare an essay on why I wanted to work in government - that ended up being my essay topic so it worked out well.
In general, though, PMFs tend to be confident and articulate; I'm sure there is a correlation between that confidence and how successful PMFs presented themselves at the assessment day. I don't recall there being right or wrong answers; it seemed to be more about how we handled the questions/situations.
And good luck!
posted by semacd at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2008
I did the PMF - assessment was January of 2005. Not sure if it has changed since then, but I don't recall studying at all. I talked to a few people who successfully navigated the assessment day from the year before and they gave me some tips. Not saying you shouldn't study if the day has changed since 2005. I did basically prepare an essay on why I wanted to work in government - that ended up being my essay topic so it worked out well.
In general, though, PMFs tend to be confident and articulate; I'm sure there is a correlation between that confidence and how successful PMFs presented themselves at the assessment day. I don't recall there being right or wrong answers; it seemed to be more about how we handled the questions/situations.
And good luck!
posted by semacd at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2008
@semacd: The test has changed. In 2006, because of budget cuts, OPM got rid of the oral assessment and went to a multiple-choice test. (They also got rid of the 10% nomination cap from each university as well).
A MC test is not a good way to choose creative and comitted public servants, obviously. But between the general ability of people in graduate programs and the hurdle of the multiple choice test, the selections still come out pretty good.
posted by waylaid at 12:03 PM on December 8, 2008
A MC test is not a good way to choose creative and comitted public servants, obviously. But between the general ability of people in graduate programs and the hurdle of the multiple choice test, the selections still come out pretty good.
posted by waylaid at 12:03 PM on December 8, 2008
Response by poster: I took the test yesterday. One writing passage was almost identical to the prep guide sample. I don't believe the questions were the same though. I used an LSAT logic guide book to prepare as well, but the LSAT techniques are very specific to how that test is formatted. Still the exercise it gave me was useful and helped me to prepare for the critical thinking portion of the exam. I'll have to wait until March to find the results.
posted by pithy comment at 10:39 AM on January 23, 2009
posted by pithy comment at 10:39 AM on January 23, 2009
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posted by waylaid at 8:40 AM on December 8, 2008