Civil service fast stream 2014/2015

I sent parity a message about it and they are having a bit of a delay but they hope for next week sometime.

Anyone know roughly when the FSBs for DS will be? I previously read 'early march' somewhere but i've heard April floated around..

Wishful thinking as I've been amber banded for DS but I'd rather be prepared as I'm in Switzerland for some of March.

Anyone know roughly when the FSBs for DS will be? I previously read 'early march' somewhere but i've heard April floated around..

Wishful thinking as I've been amber banded for DS but I'd rather be prepared as I'm in Switzerland for some of March.

Just had my FSAC a couple of days ago... I felt I was doing alright until I came to the final exercise of the day which was the policy recommendation one. I only managed to write 2 pages in total - most of it very vague, failed to incorporate any averages and stats.

I was just too tired to be able to concentrate to my potential. I'm not sure how they will take this, but I'm almost certain I have failed the day.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? What are the chances of success given the circumstances? Has anyone felt they absolutely tanked on one exercise but still passed/amber banded?

For the policy recommendation exercise I advise candidates to first fully understand what is asked of them which will allow you to plan and structure your piece. I would then read as much as possible, picking up relevant information regarding the question.

Practice speed reading, but also make sure you eat well on the day and stay hydrated. I found having a chocolate bar before the leadership exercise really helped me.

For anyone that's been to FSAC, how many pages of sources/docs are you given for the leadership/policy recommendation exercise? I want to know the volume of speed reading that's needed.

Also is data given/is a calculator ever needed?

Many thanks in advance! and good luck to those all waiting

Hi Smokes90,

Sorry you had a difficult time with the policy exercise. I know exactly what you mean - it was the last one of the day for me too and you're getting really tired by the time you get to it. Hopefully you'll already have showed your ability on those competencies in some of the other exercises, and lots of the other candidates will be tired by the end as well, so perhaps you've done better than you thought - good luck and I hope you get through.

I think your advice for the policy exercise is really good. I'd recommend candidates work out their structure quite early (after the instructions / initial briefing) and then make notes under those headers as they go through the paperwork, so they don't have to go through and find the facts again later.

Cheers, Liz

I can't remember how many pages of documents there were. Quite a lot! It's more manageable for the leadership exercise and I was able to read everything and have time to plan, but there's a lot in the policy exercise and I only just made it through. I didn't speed read so much as skim through the policy material and pick what was worth reading in more detail.

They provide a calculator, pens etc and you aren't allowed to take your own into the room, so don't worry about taking anything (I was stressing about that beforehand too).

It usually changes to 'awaiting results' in a week or two, mine was 3 days later. How long after then you get your result is hard to say - if your FSAC score is very high or low then you will hear pretty quickly (with a week or so).

If you have a score close to last year's cut off you enter the Amber Band (basically limbo). They don't know the precise cut-off score for this year until pretty much everyone has done their FSACs - that's why only very high/low scores hear quickly as it is very unlikely the cut-off location will affect their outcome. If you are in the Amber Band it could take several weeks or months to hear (but I imagine most people will know by the end of March in time for FSBs in April). It is also scheme dependent - look into when FSBs for your scheme (if they apply) will be as you should hear at least a few weeks before those. Good luck!

Where did you hear end of Feb?

Thank you very much for this long reply I was under the impression some people on this thread had been receiving their results within a few hours/day of their status changing to 'awaiting results'. Have I totally made that up or is it just very rare?