How difficult is the FS Hiring Process

Some brief comments I jotted in response to an email inquiry:

The FSOT (which was the FSWE when I joined the FS) is not, per se, difficult.  Doing 100 pushups, swimming a mile, or running a marathon is difficult.  

But I'm being somewhat coy:  what's difficult is doing well on the FSOT.  The top 20 percent (or thereabouts) scorers are skimmed-off to advance to the next step, which is currently the QEP.  The QEP was instituted subsequent to my entry into the FS so it's something of a mystery to me.   

As for the FSOA or "Oral Examination," that is, like the FSOT, not particularly "difficult" but it is difficult to do very well.  By the time an FS candidate advances to the FSOA, they are competing at a level where very minimal differences in their "performance" will make drastic differences in their ultimate FSOA score.  In other words, all the Lake Woebegoners are above average.  So the relative differences, despite what the scores might suggest, are going to be pretty marginal.