Civil Service Faststream

I took it today. The Bristol centre is a bit of a pain to get to so plan ahead if you're using public transport.

The actual tests went pretty well. It's hard to manage your time in the e-tray as you can't go back to change emails you have already answered so I ended up being ahead of schedule with spare time on questions which were straight forward. The final written test is a little tricky but it is only assessed if you pass the e-tray at the next round.

The retests were straight forward and actually contained a number of questions from the original online tests. Pity I couldn't remember what I wrote!

andrew,

from the faststream website:

"Being successful at this event is determined entirely by the email multiple choice responses which generate an overall score. The scores from the Verbal and Numerical Retests are to establish a score under “invigilated” conditions and are only used to compare with your previous test scores. If, having been successful in the e-Tray multiple choice section, the retest results vary by a substantial margin from your earlier scores (i.e. are considerably lower), the Cabinet Office will review your application and this may result in your elimination from the competition. The written response is only assessed if you are successful at e-Tray and forms part of the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC) process"

The written test consisted of 2 equal sections:

1 a written ministerial briefing summarising the rational for the introduction of the proposed government scheme which you have been researching in part 1 of the e-tray exercise.

2 a blue skies thinking exercise where you were encouraged to develop as many creative ideas as possible in order to address an area of the proposed scheme that had given cause for concern

Hope this helps, when have you got yours?

Good luck

Do they ask you to retake the personality questionnaire? Is there even any point in it?

Is it worth making notes during the etray? And it says that you can't use your own calculator during the numerical reasoning, I can't really see why?

The civil service has always appealed to me as a career as has the NGDP for Local Government since it seems to allow more movement throughout the country as well as more contact with the public but it seems like I don't hear as much about this scheme. Does anyone have any information about it/ anyone been through the application process?

See http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=9946904&highlight=local+government#post9946904

People tend to get too hung up on the "glamourous" Fast Stream postings in the FCO, MoD and Treasury. Given the way things are going in Whitehall, you are much better off starting in another Government department (or in local government) before moving sideways. You'll be surprised how valued experiences of other parts of the government machine are.

I started off in as a very junior admin officer in a regional government office. If someone said that within 4 years I'd end up as a policy advisor on climate change I'd have laughed at them. But that's what happened. Various doors opened, opportunities arose and I took advantage of them.

Hi forrestgump1083,
I've just got back from an assessment centre - there are a few basic things which might help.
The interview at this stage is quite general - they don't expect you to know all about them at this stage.
The only bad part is policy recommendation - the example book you're sent is rubbish - you'll actually be given about 10X as much information (if not more). Also, don't worry about typing errors - you won't have time to proof read and spell check is disabled.
Overall, it's not too bad and should be enjoyable whether you pass or not.