Originally Posted by
Squawk_5543
I'm doing my CFII as initial. Ride is with the FSDO next week.

Well then in that case be prepared for FOI. From what a FAA examiner told me a few years ago, the CFII initial is likely going to be quite a bit more thorough than just a CFI or MEI initial.
My examiner for my CFI initial wasn't concerned with lesson plans all that much, even though I had a binder full of my own. He was just looking for a thorough knowledge of the maneuver that was to be taught.
FSDO practical tests are very subjective. Even though there are certain tasks they are required to test, every examiner has their own individual emphasis areas. The way one guy tests a task on a practical test may not necessarily mean that another examiner from the same FSDO will look at it the same way.
The best advice I have to offer is to relax and treat the oral as if you were carrying on a conversation with the examiner rather than an interrogation. Before we started the oral exam, I asked my examiner how he got to where he was as an FAA inspector/examiner. By now you should know that pilots like to talk about themselves. This helped me relax a little bit and get the conversation going.