Reading
The reading section also consists of three parts and a total of 42 question items. In each part, you are required to read a different text on a work-related topic. The texts are taken from sources such as informational leaflets, manuals, charts and graphs, journal articles, and emails. Candidates are given 60 minutes to complete the reading sub-test.
Part A – expeditious reading task (15 minutes)
Part A assesses your ability to locate specific information from four short texts quickly and efficiently. The four short texts relate to a single healthcare topic, and you must answer 20 questions in the allocated period. The 20 questions consist of matching, sentence completion, and short answer questions.
Part B and Part C – careful reading tasks (45 minutes)
Part B
assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist or main point 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 emails or memos. For each text, there is one three-option multiple-choice question.
Part C
assesses your ability to identify detailed meaning and opinion in two texts on topics of interest to healthcare professionals (800 words each). For each text, you must answer eight four-option multiple-choice questions.
Marks / Questions
PART A - 20
PART B - 6
PART C - 16
TOTAL - 42
Learning Resources for Reading
- ABC health newsletter
- New England Journal of Medicine
- Science Magazine for the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- British Medical Journal
- Journal of the American Medical Association
- Medical Journal of Australia
- Free Medical Journals
- OMICS International
Writing
The writing is specific to the profession and based on typical workplace situations. In the writing section, you are asked to write one workplace-related text. The task is to write a letter in which you may be asked to write a letter of referral or discharge.
To complete their letter, the candidates are given 45 minutes.
Your performance is scored against six criteria and receives a band score for each criterion:
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Purpose (Whether the purpose of the letter is immediately apparent to the reader and sufficiently expanded in the course of the letter)
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Content (Whether all the necessary information is included and accurate for the reader)
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Conciseness & Clarity (Whether unnecessary information is omitted so that the letter is an effective summary for the reader)
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Genre & Style (Whether the register, tone and use of abbreviations are appropriate for the reader)
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Organisation & Layout (Whether the letter is organised and well laid out for the reader)
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Language (Whether the accuracy of the grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation communicates the necessary information to the reader)
Listening
The listening section consists of three parts and a total of 42 question items. In each part, you hear a different extract from a work-related conversation or monologue. The conversations are between two healthcare professionals, such as doctors or nurses, or between a healthcare professional and a patient. The monologues are delivered by a single healthcare professional and are usually about his/her area of work. You are given some time to read each part before you listen, and you can listen to each conversation or monologue once only.
The listening content is the same for all healthcare professionals. The listening sub-test takes about 40-45 minutes.
Marks / Questions
PART A - 24
PART B - 6
PART C - 12
TOTAL - 42
Speaking
The speaking section is also specific to the profession, based on typical workplace situations. The speaking sub-test is delivered individually and takes around 20 minutes. This part of OET uses materials specifically designed for your profession. In each role-play, you take your professional role (for example, as a health professional, a nurse or a pharmacist) while the interlocutor plays a patient, a client, or a patient’s relative or carer.
Your performance on each of the two Speaking role-plays is scored against nine criteria and receives a band score for each criterion. The nine criteria are separated into two different segments: Linguistic and Clinical Communicative.
Linguistic Criteria:
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Intelligibility: The impact of your pronunciation, intonation and accent on how clearly your listener can hear and understand what you’re saying
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Fluency: The impact of the speed and smoothness of your speech on your listener’s understanding
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Appropriateness of Language:The impact of your language, tone and professionalism on your listener’s understanding and comfort
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Resources of Grammar and Expression:The impact of your level of grammatical accuracy and vocabulary choices on your listener’s understanding.
Clinical Communication Criteria:
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Relationship-building:The impact of your choice of opening to the conversation and demonstration of empathy and respect on your listener’s comfort
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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
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Providing structure:The impact of how you organise the information you provide and introduce new topics for discussion on your listener’s understanding
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Information-gathering:The impact of the type of questions you ask and how you listen to the responses on your listener’s understanding
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Information-giving:The impact of how you provide information and check this information is being understood on your listener’s comfort and understanding.
If you are a healthcare professional looking to register and practice in an English-speaking environment, OET can give you the confidence that your language skills are up to the task. With OET, you can show that you have the right level of English for your chosen career.
