OET - Occupational English Test
The full form of OET is Occupational English Test which is specially designed for healthcare professionals. Healthcare Professionals who are willing to work or study in the healthcare sector in countries like the UK, Australia, etc. can apply for this exam. By taking this exam, candidates can improve their level of English Proficiency for delivering good healthcare services.
Test Format For OET
1. Listening :
With a total duration of 45 minutes, the listening subtest consists of a total of 42 questions, which are divided into 3 parts. Candidates would hear the recorded speech once and answer the questions as they did so. The overall duration of the exam would cover topics of general health concern in all health professions..
Part A (advice excerpts)
For the first task, health professionals would need to gather specific information during a consultation. Candidates would have to fill in the health care professional’s notes from hearing the two recorded consultations between health care professionals and patients.
Part B (short workplace excerpts)
For the second task, the candidates would have to listen to several recorded excerpts, which can range from team meetings, handovers to discussions between doctor and patient, and answer a multiple-choice question for each excerpt. In the second part, the candidate is tested for identifying details from brief excerpts from the health workplace.
Part C (excerpts from the presentation)
The third and final task of the listening section would require candidates to listen to multiple pre-recorded presentations or interviews on a range of accessible health topics and answer multiple choice questions for each extract.
2. Reading :
With a total duration of 60 minutes, the reading section consists of 42 questions, which are divided into 3 parts. Candidates would have to answer the question about generic health-related topics.
Part A (Quick Reading)
For the first task, candidates would have to read four short essays and find specific information from the texts. The essays made available to candidates relate to general health topics. Questions can vary from matching the following, sentence completion, to questions with short answers.
Part B (Careful Reading)
For the second task, candidates would receive several short texts on general health topics, and candidates would be asked to identify key points and answer multiple choice questions. The essays can cover topics ranging from guidelines, hospital guides, manuals, emails, memos to internal communication.
Part C (Identify Meaning)
For the third and final task, related to the “Reading” section, candidates would need to identify the detailed meaning of the topic provided to them and answer several questions about it.
3. Writing :
With a total duration of 45 minutes, the Writing section requires a letter from the candidate, usually a reference letter in his / her area of expertise. The candidate receives background information on their assignment, which they may or may not include in their reference letter. This particular job is job specific so while a nurse would have to write a special letter for nursing, a dentist would have to write a special letter for dentistry.
4. Speaking :
With a total duration of 20 minutes, the candidates have to individually re-enact their professional role in real scenarios in a professional health environment. In a job-specific exercise, the candidates have to role-play their job, while the panelist plays a patient in the first part and the roles are reversed in the latter. Candidates have 3 minutes to prepare for each page before the start of each act. The role-playing games are essentially based on simulated workplace situations that reflect the mood of the healthcare sector. Candidates would be given enough background information to prepare for their role-playing games.