Checked October 21, 2026. Medium. The English part's description comes from the State Department's 2025 practice instructions and its main practice-test instructions (modified Feb 18, 2026), both now read from archived copies because the live pages are offline. The 2025 instructions do not list the new part's item types.
On the State Department's practice test, the FSOT's English part kept its length and changed its name and content. Before October 2025 it was English Expression: 45 questions in 35 minutes on "grammar, spelling, and punctuation". Since the test of October 18-25, 2025 it is English Usage and Comprehension: on the State Department's practice test still 45 questions in 35 minutes, still grammar, spelling and punctuation, plus reading comprehension, "meaning understanding the content of a written passage". In the State Department's words, "The English Expression section has been revised to include reading comprehension questions, and it has been renamed the English Usage and Comprehension section." This guide sets the two descriptions side by side and shows how to prepare. It contains no practice questions; the practice test on this page does that, with one question free. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not affiliated with the US Department of State, its Board of Examiners or Pearson VUE, and nothing here is official. Every rule is quoted or summarised from State Department and Pearson VUE pages, and the Department decides every candidacy.
State Department practice instructions: English Expression (Aug 14, 2024) and English Usage and Comprehension (Sep 5, 2025).
Where other pages get this wrong
The FSOT English part is no longer only editing. Reading comprehension questions were added in October 2025.
Commonly published instead: The State Department's own 2016-17 FSOT Information Guide, still online, which gives English Expression 65 questions in 50 minutes and describes it as "English expression and language usage skills required for preparing or editing written reports".
The practice-test instructions (modified Feb 18, 2026) say the section was "revised to include reading comprehension questions". By August 2024 the State Department's own practice part was already 45 questions in 35 minutes.
Old and new, in the State Department's words
| Point | English Expression (practice instructions, Aug 2024) | English Usage and Comprehension (practice instructions, Sep 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Name | English Expression | English Usage and Comprehension (the practice test's own header says "English Understanding and Comprehension") |
| Length | 35 minutes, 45 questions | 35 minutes, 45 questions |
| What it measures | "English expression, including grammar, spelling, and punctuation" | "English usage, including grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It also measures reading comprehension, meaning understanding the content of a written passage" |
| Source texts | "documents similar to those you will be required to review and proofread on the job" | Same wording: "documents similar to those you will be required to review and proofread on the job" |
| Passages | "several of the questions have related passages" | "some of the questions use the same passages and those passages will be presented for each question to which they refer" |
| Guessing | No penalty | No penalty |
| Going back | Previous and Next within the part; no return after "View Results" | The same |
Both instruction pages are State Department practice-test pages, read from the Wayback Machine because the live pages are no longer online. They describe the practice test, which the Department says "simulates the length and the questions of the new test".
Minutes x 60 / questions, rounded. The pace has hardly moved in ten years; what moved is that some of those 47 seconds now go on reading a passage for meaning.
What "usage" covered before: the old item types
The most recent official description of English item types we found is in the FSOT Information Guide of 2016-17, whose sample section has four kinds of question. We describe them; we do not reproduce them. The 2025 instructions do not list item types, so whether each kind survives is not officially confirmed. The 2025 wording keeps "grammar, spelling, and punctuation" and "documents ... to review and proofread", which is the work these four kinds test.
| Old item type (2016-17 guide) | What the candidate did | Still described in 2025? |
|---|---|---|
| Passage revision | Read a passage with numbered, underlined parts and chose the wording that best fits standard written English and the passage's tone; some questions asked about a paragraph or the passage as a whole | Passages and editing language remain; item type not listed |
| Sentence Selection | Chose the one sentence of four that meets the requirements of standard written English | Not listed; "grammar, spelling, and punctuation" remain |
| Sentence Correction | Found the underlined word or phrase that must change, or the replacement for it, or said there was no error | Not listed; same skills named |
| Paragraph Organization | Chose the order of sentences that gives the clearest, best organized paragraph | Not listed |
| Reading comprehension | Not named as a type in the 2016-17 guide or the 2024 description | New: "understanding the content of a written passage" |
What reading comprehension adds
Editing questions ask whether a sentence is right. Comprehension questions ask what a passage says, and the 2025 instructions say several questions can share one passage, which "will be presented for each question to which they refer". The practical change is reading time: a passage you read once and answer three questions from is cheap; one you re-read for every question is not. The Logical Reasoning instructions add a rule worth borrowing here: "do not make any assumptions about information not provided in the scenario". Our reading: answer a comprehension question from the passage, not from what you know about the subject.
How to prepare, part by part (ours)
- Usage: the rules that decide most editing questions are few. Subject-verb agreement across long phrases, pronoun reference, parallel structure, modifiers, comma splices, apostrophes, and commonly confused words.
- Clarity: prefer the shortest option that keeps the meaning and fits the passage. The 2016-17 guide asked for the option "worded most consistently with the style and tone of the passage as a whole".
- Comprehension: read the passage once for its point and structure, then answer from it. Mark where each paragraph turns.
- Pace: 47 seconds a question on average. Passage questions will take longer, so bank time on short usage items.
- Do not skip it: there is no penalty for guessing, so a question you cannot finish still gets an answer.
The State Department's 2013 Suggested Reading List names the "Chicago Manual of Style" and Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" under English Usage.
Where to practise
| Practice | What it gives you | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| State Department online practice FSOT, Part 2 | 45 questions at the length the Department gives the part; feedback on which answers were right and wrong | Free; time it yourself, it has no timer |
| FSOT topic quizzes on ProSyllabus | English Usage: Grammar and Sentence Structure; English Usage: Clarity, Concision and Organization; English Comprehension: Reading Passages; 10 questions each with explanations | Our questions, not the State Department's |
| The timed practice test on this page, Part 2 | 45 questions in 35 minutes, usage and passage-based comprehension, a score per part | One question free; our questions |
For the part as a whole in the context of the test, see the FSOT format guide; for a week-by-week plan across all three parts, the six-week FSOT study guide.
What we could not confirm
- The item types of the new part. The 2025 instructions describe what is measured, not the question formats.
- How many of the 45 questions are comprehension and how many are usage.
- Whether the live test has exactly 45 questions in 35 minutes; the State Department says only that the practice test simulates the new test's length.
We do not reproduce any State Department practice question.
Nothing on this page is career or legal advice. For specific questions about the Foreign Service Officer Test, Pearson VUE gives the State Department address FSOTQuestions@state.gov.
Page history: first published October 21, 2026, verified against careers.state.gov (archived instruction pages) and Pearson VUE that day.
Frequently asked questions
Is the FSOT English Expression section still on the test?
Not by that name. The State Department revised it to include reading comprehension and renamed it English Usage and Comprehension, from the test first given October 18-25, 2025.
How many English questions are on the FSOT?
The State Department's practice test gives 45 questions in 35 minutes, the same as the English Expression practice part of 2024.
What does FSOT English Usage and Comprehension test?
In the State Department's words, English usage including grammar, spelling and punctuation, and reading comprehension, meaning understanding the content of a written passage.
Is there reading comprehension on the FSOT?
Yes, since October 2025. On the practice test some questions share a passage, which is shown again for each question that refers to it.
Are old English Expression practice questions still useful?
For grammar, punctuation and editing, largely yes, since those skills are still named. Our reading is that they were not built around reading comprehension, which the State Department added in 2025, although some old passage questions asked about a writer's purpose.
Is there a penalty for guessing in the English part?
No. The practice instructions say there is no penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
Does the FSOT still have an essay?
No. The State Department says there is no longer a written essay. Writing is assessed at the FSOA Written Exercise.
More in this series
- FSOT eligibility: citizenship and age
- FSOT sections, question counts and timing
- FSOT scoring and results
- FSO selection stages and the Register
- FSOT dates, registration and the 12-month rule
- Free FSOT practice test and test day
- FSOT Job Knowledge practice questions
- FSOT essay and Personal Narratives
- FSOA Written Exercise: guide and practice
- FSOA Structured Interview questions
- FSOA Negotiation Exercise guide
- FSOT Logical Reasoning section
- The QEP, and what happens after you pass the FSOT
- FSOT: what was removed and what replaced it
- FSOT study guide: a six-week plan
- The 13 dimensions, now 11 competencies
- FSOT math and statistics: topic map
- US FSOT notice board — official updates
Sources
- official — careers.state.gov — "INSTRUCTIONS – English Usage and Comprehension" (2025 practice test, page dated Sep 5, 2025), Wayback capture of Oct 6, 2025: 35 minutes, 45 questions; grammar, spelling and punctuation plus reading comprehension; shared passages
- official — careers.state.gov — "INSTRUCTIONS – English Expression" (the pre-October 2025 practice test, page dated Aug 14, 2024), Wayback capture of Mar 13, 2025: 35 minutes, 45 questions; grammar, spelling and punctuation; related passages
- official — careers.state.gov — "Instructions to the Online Practice FSOT" (page modified Feb 18, 2026), Wayback capture of Oct 7, 2026: the revised content of each part, "There is no longer a written essay", "the FSOT no longer has a passing score". The live page no longer exists (checked Oct 21, 2026)
- official — careers.state.gov — FSOT Information Guide PDF ("©2016 by HumRRO"; the 2016-17 guide to the OLD format, still at this address), Wayback copy of Dec 6, 2025, read Oct 21, 2026: the old knowledge areas, English Expression 65 questions in 50 minutes, Job Knowledge 60 in 40, the 13 dimensions and the exercises that scored them
- official — careers.state.gov — "INSTRUCTIONS – Logical Reasoning" (2025 practice test, page dated Sep 5, 2025), Wayback capture of Oct 6, 2025: 45 minutes, 30 questions; work-related scenarios; no knowledge of the Foreign Service needed
- official — State Department official online practice FSOT (Microsoft Form linked from careers.state.gov; pages 1-3 read Oct 14, 2026, nothing answered or sent): Part 1 Job Knowledge, 50 questions in 35 minutes, each with four options and one point
- official — careers.state.gov — Foreign Service Officer page (modified Oct 19, 2026, read Oct 21, 2026 through the site's REST API): the revamped FSOT first given October 18-25, 2025; logic and reasoning added, situational judgement discontinued
- official — US Department of State, Media Note "Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) Updates" (Sep 5, 2025): the revamped FSOT first given October 18-25, 2025
- official — Pearson VUE — Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) page, "Last updated 2026-09-25", read Oct 21, 2026: testing windows (October 10-31, 2026; January 30 - February 6, 2027, registration opens December 31, 2026), the score report that "indicates whether they passed or failed", closed-book rule and the items not allowed (calculators among them), one test in 12 months
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
The FSOT changed in October 2025. Practise the new test at full length.
125 original questions across Job Knowledge, English and the new Logical Reasoning part, at the lengths of the State Department's practice test. Check each answer and read the reasoning. Try one question free, below.
- 125questions
- 3timed parts
- 115minutes in all
- 125answers explained
Every answer comes with its reasoning, and every question was cross-checked before it went into the test.
Under the US Constitution, which body has the power to declare war?
The other 124 questions and the three timed runs are in the full test
- 125 questions: Job Knowledge 50 in 35 min · English 45 in 35 min · Logical Reasoning 30 in 45 min
- A timed run for each part with a clock, which the official practice test does not have
- Your score for each part and each skill, so you know where your marks are going
- The reasoning behind every answer, including why the tempting wrong option is wrong
Independent practice material. Not written or endorsed by the US Department of State; these are original questions, not items from the official practice test or the live FSOT.
