OET Listening Sub-Test

The OET Listening sub-test is a crucial phase lasting approximately 40 minutes. Consisting of three parts and a total of 42 question items, this segment assesses your ability to comprehend spoken English in a healthcare context. The topics, of generic healthcare interest, ensure accessibility for candidates across all professions.

Format:

Part A – Consultation Extracts (about 5 minutes each):

Listen to two recorded health professional-patient consultations. Complete the health professional’s notes using the information you hear.

Part B – Short Workplace Extracts (about 1 minute each):

Listen to six recorded extracts, such as team briefings or health professional-patient dialogues. Answer one multiple-choice question for each extract.

Part C – Presentation or Interview Extracts (about 5 minutes each):

Listen to two different extracts and answer six multiple-choice questions for each.

Key Skills Tested:

Identifying Specific Information:

Grasping details, opinions, and specific information in varied healthcare scenarios.

Gist and Purpose:

Understanding the main ideas and the speaker’s purpose in consultations, workplace interactions, and presentations.

Evaluation and Scoring:

Answers for OET Listening Part A:

Double-marked by qualified assessors against a predefined marking guide.

Answers for Part B and Part C:

Computer scanned and automatically scored.

Scoring and Assessment:

The sub-test evaluates a range of skills, including identifying specific information, details, gist, opinions, and the speaker’s purpose. The note-completion tasks and multiple-choice questions contribute to the assessment.

OET Reading Sub-Test

The OET Reading sub-test is a comprehensive assessment comprising three parts, encompassing a total of 42 questions. With a duration of 60 minutes, this sub-test evaluates your ability to comprehend written English in a healthcare context. The topics, of generic healthcare interest, ensure accessibility for candidates across all professions.

Format:

Part A – Expeditious Reading Task (15 minutes):

Read four short texts related to a single healthcare topic. Answer 20 questions involving matching, sentence completion, and short answer tasks.

Part B – Short Workplace Extracts:

Read six extracts, such as policy documents, hospital guidelines, manuals, or internal communications (emails or memos). Answer one multiple-choice question for each extract.

Part C – Longer Articles:

Read two articles representative of texts healthcare professionals encounter for professional development. Answer eight multiple-choice questions for each text.

Timing for Parts B and C is combined and is 45 minutes.

Key Skills Tested:

Skimming and Scanning:

Quickly identifying key information in texts.

Identifying Detail, Gist, and Main Point:

Grasping details, main ideas, and explicit or implied meanings in healthcare-related articles.

Attitude or Opinion Recognition:

Understanding the attitude or opinion conveyed in the written material.

Evaluation and Scoring:

Answers for OET Reading Part A:

Double-marked by qualified assessors against an established marking guide.

Answers for Part B and Part C:

Computer scanned and automatically scored.

Scoring and Assessment:

This sub-test evaluates a range of skills, including skimming, scanning, identifying details, gist, main points, and attitudes or opinions. These skills are assessed through matching, sentence completion, short answer, and multiple-choice questions.

OET Writing Sub-Test

The OET Writing sub-test is a pivotal segment that requires a profession-specific approach, taking 45 minutes to complete. Tailored to each profession, this sub-test presents a task based on a typical workplace situation and the specific demands of the profession. Whether you’re a nurse, dentist, or another healthcare professional, the task is uniquely crafted for your field.

Format:

Task Type:

Write a letter, typically a referral letter. Depending on the profession, alternative letter types may include a letter of transfer, a discharge letter, a letter to advise or inform a patient, carer, or group, or a letter responding to a complaint.

Timing:

Five minutes reading time to review case notes and/or related documentation.

40 minutes writing time to complete the letter.

Key Features:

Profession-Specific Focus:

The task is intricately designed to mirror real-life scenarios encountered in your profession, ensuring relevance and authenticity.

Letter Types:

Tasks may involve crafting various types of letters, such as referral letters, discharge letters, letters of transfer, or letters to advise or inform patients, carers, or groups.

Assessment Criteria:

The Writing sub-test is designed to evaluate six criteria, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of your writing proficiency. 

These are, 

• Purpose 
• Content 
• Conciseness & Clarity 
• Genre & Style 
• Organisation & Layout 
• Language

Scoring and Evaluation:

Double-Marking Process:

Answers for the Writing sub-test undergo a rigorous double-marking process by qualified assessors, adhering to the specified assessment criteria.

OET Speaking Sub-Test

The OET Speaking sub-test, lasting around 20 minutes, is a profession-specific assessment tailored to the unique demands of healthcare professionals. This segment comprises two role-play tasks, each rooted in typical workplace situations relevant to your specific profession. Whether you’re a nurse, pharmacist, or in Veterinary Science, the scenarios are crafted to mimic real-life interactions.

Format:

Task Type:

Two role-play tasks, where the candidate assumes the role of the professional (e.g., nurse, pharmacist), and the interlocutor portrays a patient, client, patient’s relative or carer. In Veterinary Science, the interlocutor embodies the role of the animal’s owner or carer.

Timing:

Short warm-up conversation with the interlocutor before the assessment.

Three minutes to read the role-play card.

Five minutes for the role-play task.

Role-Play Details:

Both the candidate and interlocutor receive role-play cards with identical background information and prompts to guide the conversation for five minutes.

Assessment Criteria:

The Speaking sub-test is designed to evaluate four linguistic criteria and five clinical communication criteria, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of both language proficiency and clinical communication skills.

Linguistic criteria

• Intelligibility 
• Fluency 
• Appropriateness of Language 
• Resources of Grammar and Expression

Clinical communication criteria

• Indicators of relationship building 
• Indicators of understanding & incorporating the patient’s perspective 
• Indicators of providing structure. 
• Indicators for information gathering 
• Indicators for information-giving.

Scoring and Evaluation:

Recording and Double-Marking:

Role-plays are recorded by the interlocutor, and these recordings undergo a thorough double-marking process by qualified assessors. The interlocutor, while actively participating, plays no role in the assessment.