FSOT second try

I took the Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT) for the second time today.

How to become an FSO (or, from the State Dept)

1. Take the FSOT, which includes four sections: job knowledge (think Trivial Pursuit), English expression (correcting grammar), biographic (tell us why you are so great), and an essay section. If you pass the first three sections, then your essay is graded. You need a score of 6 (out of 12) to pass the essay. It takes about three weeks to find out if you have passed.
2. If you pass the FSOT, then you are invited to submit short answers to six essay questions, called the Personal Narrative Questions (PNQ). No one except those that work for the State Department understand how this is graded. You get a letter about two months afterward that says either: "boo-hoo, try again next year" or "you pass." In the latter case, you are invited to the Oral Assessment (OA).
3. While the FSOT is usually administered somewhere in your home state (and in some foreign countries), you might have to travel to a metropolis to take the OA. The OA consists of three parts, one of which is a role playing exercise with several other job candidates. In another, you read a massive amount of material on a problem and write a summary, and the third is a formal interview (you answer questions from a panel of interviewers). You find out that day if you have passed.
4. Medical clearance. Your health must be good enough to live anywhere in the world.
5. Security clearance. Your past must be "clean" enough to pass a top-secret clearance check.
6. A final review panel looks over everything above. If they think you are a good fit, you will receive a score and be placed on the Register of FS candidates.
7. If your score is high enough, you will be offered a spot in the FS. You can increase your score by having foreign language skills or military service. THE OFFER means that you have a spot in the next A-100  class, which is a six-week-long training marathon in Washington D.C. for new foreign service officers. After A-100 is completed you are a diplomat!

The above process usually takes from seven months to two years.

In June 2013, I passed the FSOT, submitted my PNQ, and did not get invited to the OA. I waited the requisite year, and today took the FSOT again. No idea if I passed or not. Last year, I squeaked by with the lowest possible passing essay score, so I am particularly concerned that will be my downfall.