OET DR Asif

OET : What is it?
How to prepare for it?

Dr Muhammad Asif
OET: General Information
• International English Language Test

• Assesses the language fluency of health care professionals seeking
to work/study in English-speaking countries.
• OET assesses listening, reading, writing and speaking.
• There is a separate sub-test for each skill area.
• The Listening and Reading sub-tests are designed to assess the
ability to understand spoken and written English in contexts related
to general health and medicine.
Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

OET: General Information
• The sub-tests for Listening and Reading are common to all

professions.
• The Writing and Speaking sub-tests are specific to each profession

and are designed to assess the ability to use English appropriately
in the relevant professional context.

Who can take OET?
• 12 health professionals
• Medicine, Nursing
• Dentistry
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Pharmacy
• Optometry, Dietetics, Podiatry
• Radiography, Speech Pathology and Veterinary Science

What is format of the exam?
Total test time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes
Sub test Time Tasks
Listening 40 minutes Listen and answer 42 questions
Reading 60 minutes Read and answer 42 questions
Writing 45 minutes One professional letter
Speaking 20 minutes Speak in 2 role plays

Listening Exam
• Listening (45 minutes)

• 3 tasks Common to all 12 professions
• You will be played a number of audio recordings from a hospital or
clinic. You will be expected to listen to the recording once only
and answer some questions
• Shows candidates can follow and understand a range of health-
related spoken materials such as patient consultations and
lectures.

The Listening Subtext
• The Listening sub-test consists of three parts, and a total

of 42 question items.
• You will hear each recording once and are expected to

write your answers while listening.
• All three parts take 45 minutes to complete.

Part A – consultation extracts
• Part A assesses your ability to identify specific

information during a consultation.
• You will listen to two five-minute health professional-

patient consultations and you will complete the health
professional’s notes using the information you hear.

Part B – short workplace extracts
• Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist, opinion or

purpose of short extracts from the healthcare workplace.
• You will listen to six one-minute extracts (e.g. team briefings,
handovers, or health professional-patient dialogues) and you will
answer one multiple-choice question for each extract.

Part C – presentation extracts
• Part C assesses your ability to follow a recorded presentation or

interview on a range of accessible healthcare topics.
• You will listen to two different five-minute extracts and you will
answer six multiple choice questions for each extract

Reading Exam
• Reading (60 minutes)

• 3 tasks Common to all 12 professions
• You will be given some healthcare academic texts to read and be
asked to answer some questions based on what you have read
• Shows candidates can read and understand different types of text
on health-related subjects.

Reading sub-test
• The Reading sub-test consists of three parts, with a total

of 42 question items.
• You are given 60 minutes to complete all three parts (15
minutes for Part A and 45 minutes for Part B and Part C).

Reading sub-test
Part A – expeditious reading task
• Part A assesses your ability to locate specific information from

four short texts in a quick and efficient manner.
• The four short texts relate to a single healthcare topic, and you
must answer 20 questions in the allocated time period.
• The 20 questions consist of matching, sentence completion and
short answer questions

Reading sub-test
Part B – careful reading tasks
• Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist or purpose

of six short texts sourced from the healthcare workplace (100-150
words each).
• The texts might consist of extracts from policy documents,
hospital guidelines, manuals or internal communications, such as
email or memos.
• For each text, there is one three-option multiple-choice question.

Reading sub-test
Part C – careful reading tasks
• Part C assesses your ability to identify detailed meaning

and opinion in two texts on a topic of interest to
healthcare professionals (800 words each).
• For each text, you must answer eight four-option
multiple choice questions

How is reading ability assessed in OET?
• Part A tests your ability to complete the task successfully, you will also
need to understand the conventions of different medical text types and
understand the presentation of numerical and textual information.
• Reading Part B tests your ability to understand the detail, gist or main
point of complex texts commonly found in the healthcare workplace. To
complete the task successfully, you will need to identify specific ideas at
sentence level.

How is reading ability assessed in OET?
• Reading Part C tests your ability to understand the explicit or

implied meaning as well as the attitude or opinion presented in a
longer text.
• To complete the task successfully, you will need to identify the
relationship between ideas at sentence and paragraph level.
• Part C also tests your ability to accurately understand lexical
references and complex phrases within the text.

Writing Exam
• Writing (45 minutes)

• 1 task Specific to each profession
• You will be given some case notes about a patient that you have
been caring for and you will be required to write a letter to
another healthcare professional to explain what has happened to
them.
• Shows candidates can write a letter in a clear and accurate way
which is relevant for the reader.

Writing sub-test
• The Writing sub-test consists of one profession specific

task based on a typical workplace situation.
• The writing test takes 45 minutes to complete - 40
minutes to write your letter and 5 minutes at the start to
read the case notes on which to base you writing.

Writing sub-test structure
• The task is to write a letter, usually a referral letter but

sometimes a different type of letter such as a letter of
transfer or discharge.
• Along with the task instructions, you will receive
stimulus material (case notes and/or other related
documentation) which includes information to use in
your response

How is writing ability assessed in OET?
 Purpose (Whether the purpose of the letter is immediately apparent to the

reader and sufficiently expanded in the course of the letter)
 Content (Whether all the necessary information is included and accurate
for the reader)
 Conciseness & Clarity (Whether unnecessary information is omitted so
that the letter is an effective summary for the reader)

How is writing ability assessed in OET?
 Genre & Style (Whether the register, tone and use of abbreviations are
appropriate for the reader)
 Organisation & Layout (Whether the letter is organised and well laid out
for the reader)
 Language (Whether the accuracy of the grammar, vocabulary, spelling and
punctuation communicates the necessary information to the reader)

Speaking Exam
• Speaking (20 minutes)

• 2 tasks Specific to each profession
• You will play the part of a nurse or doctor and you will be
expected to have a conversation with an examiner; answering
their questions and giving a medical consultation.
• Shows candidates can effectively communicate in a real-life
context through the use of role plays

Speaking sub-test
• The Speaking sub-test consists of two profession specific role-plays

and is delivered individually.
• It takes around 20 minutes to complete. In each role-play, you
take your professional role (for example, as a nurse or as a
pharmacist) while the interlocutor plays a patient, a client, or a
patient’s relative or carer.
• For veterinary science, the interlocutor is the owner or carer of
the animal.

Speaking sub-test structure
• In each Speaking test, your identity and profession are checked by

the interlocutor and there is a short warm-up conversation about
your professional background.
• Then the role-plays are introduced one by one and you have 3
minutes to prepare for each.
• The role-plays take about five minutes each.

• You receive information for each role-play on a card that you keep
while you do the role-play.
• The card explains the situation and what you are required to do.
You may write notes on the card if you want.
• If you have any questions about the content of the role-play or
how a role-play works, you can ask them during the preparation
time.

• The role-plays are based on typical workplace situations and

reflect the demands made on a health professional in those
situations.
• The interlocutor follows a script so that the Speaking test
structure is similar for each candidate.
• The interlocutor also has detailed information to use in each role-
play.
• Different role-plays are used for different candidates at the same
test administration.
How is speaking assessed in OET?
Linguistic Criteria:
• Intelligibility: The impact of your pronunciation, intonation and accent on

how clearly your listener can hear and understand what you’re saying
• Fluency: The impact of the speed and smoothness of your speech on your
listener’s understanding
• Appropriateness of Language: The impact of your language, tone and
professionalism on your listener’s understanding and comfort
• Resources of Grammar and Expression: The impact of your level of
grammatical accuracy and vocabulary choices on your listener’s
understanding.
How is speaking assessed in OET?
Clinical Communication Criteria:
• Relationship-building: The impact of your choice of opening to the conversation and

demonstration of empathy and respect on your listener’s comfort
• Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective: The impact of how fully
you involve the patient in the conversation on your listener’s understanding and comfort
• Providing structure: The impact of how you organise the information you provide and
introduce new topics for discussion on your listener’s understanding
• Information-gathering: The impact of the type of questions you ask and how you listen
to the responses on your listener’s understanding
• Information-giving: The impact of how you provide information and check this
information is being understood on your listener’s comfort and understanding.

How the test is scored: A
• OET Score: 450-480

• OET band descriptor: Can communicate very fluently and effectively with
patients and health professionals using appropriate register, tone and lexis.
Shows complete understanding of any kind of written or spoken language.
• IELTS equivalent band score 8.0 - 9.0
• IELTS band descriptor for 8: You have a fully operational command of the
language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriate
usage. You may misunderstand some things in unfamiliar situations. You handle
complex detailed argumentation well.
How the test is scored: B
• OET Score 350-440

• OET band descriptor: Can communicate effectively with patients and health
professionals using appropriate register, tone and lexis, with only occasional
inaccuracies and hesitations. Shows good understanding in a range of clinical
contexts.
• IELTS equivalent band score: 7.0 – 7.5
• IELTS band descriptor for 7: You have an operational command of the language,
though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings
in some situations. Generally you handle complex language well and understand
detailed reasoning.
How the test is scored: C+
• OET Score: 300-340
• OET band descriptor: Can maintain the interaction in a relevant
healthcare environment despite occasional errors and lapses, and follow
standard spoken language normally encountered in his/her field of
specialization
• IELTS equivalent band score: 6.5
• IELTS band descriptor for 6: Generally you have an effective command of
the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and
misunderstandings. You can use and understand fairly complex language,
particularly in familiar situations.
OET: How to succeed?
•Understanding the structure of OET
•Understanding the specific skills needed for each part of each Task
•Mastering specific linguistic skills for each section of every Task

What is needed to succeed in OET?
Linguistic Skills
•Each test requires specific language skill.

•Different grammar rules and sentence structures are needed for different skills
•Vocabulary
•Pronunciation
•Punctuation
•connectors, signposts
• English for social interaction/Relationship building
Clinical Communication skills
•Patient centered approach

•Understanding the context
•Quick diagnosis
•Interpreting patient case notes/history
•Ability to communicate medical condition of the patient in lay
person’s language
• Note: OET is primarily a test of proficiency in English.
How can you pass OET with confidence?
 Practice targeted grammar structures, vocabulary items.

 Master Advanced grammar structures and appropriate use of
punctuation can ensure A in writing task
 learn basics of each Task, especially from IELTS
 Letter format
 Interpret patient case notes

What do successful OET candidates do well that
others don’t?
•In the Listening subtest, they

 understand quickly main and supporting ideas in an audio.
 predict a lot of the vocabulary and language that might come up in
certain healthcare situations.
 listen and make short notes at the same time.
 write in note form, without changing the meaning of what they hear.
 connect ideas they hear in the audio and reach a reasonable conclusion.

others don’t?
•In the Reading subtest, they

 understand the different kinds of information found in different kinds
of texts (kinds of studies, case reports, article review and others)
 scan texts quickly, without reading in detail, and find the main ideas
 identify signal words that indicate more details including facts,
opinions, inference, attitude, and comparison.
 rephrase or paraphrase information without changing meaning.
 show very good basic grammar and spelling skills.
others don’t?
•In the Writing subtest, they

 understand the goal of the writing task and what information will
be important for the intended reader.
 show good basic grammar, vocabulary, spelling and formatting
skills.
 use the right tone for the exercise (including some standard phrases
like “Should you need any further information…”, for example.)
others don’t?
•In the Speaking subtest, they

 speak clearly so there is no confusion in their pronunciation or meaning
 guide the interview with the patient, without doing all the talking.
 listen to and address their patient’s concerns.
 deal with difficult patient emotions such as displeasure, anxiety and
uncertainty.
 use a mixture of technical and layman language their patient can
understand.
 Practicing targeted grammar structures

 vocabulary
 punctuation
 Mastering basics of each Task, especially from IELTS
 Letter format
 Interpreting patient case notes
 Pronunciation of basic medical terminology

 Watching OET Videos on YouTube
 Listening to Medical Podcasts
 Reading Medical Journals
 Extensive practice

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OET : What is it?

How to prepare for it?

• International English Language Test

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The sub-tests for Listening and Reading are common to all

• The Writing and Speaking sub-tests are specific to each profession

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

Sub test Time Tasks

Listening 40 minutes Listen and answer 42 questions

Reading 60 minutes Read and answer 42 questions

Writing 45 minutes One professional letter

Speaking 20 minutes Speak in 2 role plays

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Listening (45 minutes)

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The Listening sub-test consists of three parts, and a total

• You will hear each recording once and are expected to

• All three parts take 45 minutes to complete.

• Part A assesses your ability to identify specific

• You will listen to two five-minute health professional-

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist, opinion or

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Part C assesses your ability to follow a recorded presentation or

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Reading (60 minutes)

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The Reading sub-test consists of three parts, with a total

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Part A assesses your ability to locate specific information from

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist or purpose

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Part C assesses your ability to identify detailed meaning

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Reading Part C tests your ability to understand the explicit or

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Writing (45 minutes)

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The Writing sub-test consists of one profession specific

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The task is to write a letter, usually a referral letter but

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

 Purpose (Whether the purpose of the letter is immediately apparent to the

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• Speaking (20 minutes)

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The Speaking sub-test consists of two profession specific role-plays

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• In each Speaking test, your identity and profession are checked by

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

Dr Muhammad Asif masifshafee@yahoo.com

• The role-plays are based on typical workplace situations and

• Intelligibility: The impact of your pronunciation, intonation and accent on