OET or more commonly referred to as the Occupational English Test is an exclusive English language test that has been designed for medical care experts. Since 2013, the OET exam has been conducted by CBLA or Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment which is a venture between Cambridge English and Boxhill Institute. Healthcare professionals who are hoping to work or study in the medical services area in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand are expected to apply for the OET to be capable of showing their degree of English proficiency to be able to deliver superior healthcare. The OET test has been explicitly intended for 12 healthcare professions including Occupational Therapy, Dentistry, Nursing, Radiography, Veterinary Science, Medicine, Speech Pathology, Physiotherapy, Dietetics, Podiatry, Pharmacy, and Optometry.

Who conducts the OET?

In1980s, under the direction of the Australian National Office for Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR) prof Tim McNamara, designed OET. Over the years, under the University of Melbourne’s Language Testing Research Centre and Cambridge Assessment English, OET has gone through several research and developments to keep pace with the current trends and since 2013, OET has been conducted and owned by Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment Trust (CBLA), a venture between Cambridge Assessment English and Box Hill Institute.

Who accepts OET?

Healthcare professionals who are looking to study or work in the healthcare sector in the  UK,  Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Dubai, Singapore, or Namibia are required to take the OET. As these are the countries that largely recognize the OET exam.

Why choose OET?

Professionals who are required to prove their English proficiency to be able to work or study in the healthcare sector in the  UK,  Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Dubai, Singapore, or Namibia are required to appear for the exam.

OET Eligibility

The OET exam is for healthcare professionals who are looking to work or study in the healthcare sector in the UK,  Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Dubai, Singapore or Namibia, hence, it is important that all applicants possess in-depth certification in similar fields. 

Conducted by CBLA, OET has been specifically designed for 12 healthcare professions including Occupational Therapy, Dentistry, Nursing, Radiography, Veterinary Science, Medicine, Speech Pathology, Physiotherapy, Dietetics, Podiatry, Pharmacy, and Optometry.

PATTERNS AND SYLLABUS

Healthcare professionals who are looking to work in the healthcare sector in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Dubai, and Singapore are required to appear for OET (Occupational English Test) in order to prove their proficiency in the English Language in a healthcare environment. For candidates to be able to effectively score well in their OET exam they would be required to know the OET Syllabus/ OET Exam Pattern.

Conducted by Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment Trust (CBLA), the latest OET Pattern is as follows.

The entire OET Exam is divided into four sections, the Listening Section, which is on 45 minutes in duration and is made up of 3 parts; the Reading Section, which is for 60 minutes and divided into 3 parts; the Writing Section, which is profession-specific and requires candidates to write a letter and finally the last section; the Speaking Section that requires the candidate to enact a setting from the healthcare environment.

OET Listening Section

With a total duration of 45 minutes, the Listening subtest consists of a total of 42 questions divided into 3 parts. Candidates would each hear the recorded speech once and would be expected to answer the questions while at it. The total duration of the exam would include dealing with topics of generic healthcare interests across all healthcare professions.

Part A (Consultation Extracts)

For the first task, healthcare professionals would be required to identify specific information during a consultation. Candidates would be required to complete the health professional notes from listening to the two recorded health professional-patient consultations.

Part B (Short Workplace Extracts)

For the second task, candidates would be required to listen to multiple recorded extracts that could range from team briefings, and handovers, to health professional-patient dialogues and answer one multiple-choice question for each extract. In the second part, the candidate is tested on identifying details of short extracts from the healthcare workplace.

Part C (Presentation Extracts)

The third and final task of the Listening section would require candidates to listen to 2 recorded presentations or interviews on a range of accessible healthcare topics and answer 6 multiple-choice questions for each extract.

OET Reading Section

With a total duration of 60 minutes, the Reading section is made up of 42 questions, divided into 3 parts.

Part A (Expeditious Reading Task)

For the first task, candidates would be required to read four short texts and locate specific information from them. The texts provided to the candidates would be related to general healthcare topics. There are 3 types of questions – matching the information, sentence completion, and short answer questions.

Part B (Careful Reading Task)

For the second task, candidates would be given 6 short texts related to general healthcare topics, and candidates would be required to identify the main points and answer multiple-choice questions. The extracts can include topics ranging from policy guidelines, hospital guides, manuals, emails, and memos to internal communication.

Part C (Careful Reading Task)

For the third and last task, in the Reading section, candidates would be required to identify the detailed meaning of the topic provided to them and answer multiple questions for the same.

Writing Section

With a total duration of 45 minutes, the Writing section requires the candidate to write a letter (a letter of referral, discharge, or for transferring a patient) in his/her field of specialty. The candidate would be provided with background information on his task which he may incorporate into his reference letter if appropriate. This particular task is profession-specific, hence while a nurse would have to write a letter specific to nursing a dentist would be required to write a reference letter specific to dentistry.

Speaking Section

With a total duration of 20 minutes, candidates are required to individually enact their professional roles in real-life scenarios in a professional healthcare environment. In a profession-specific exercise, candidates are required to roleplay their profession while the panelist plays a patient. Candidates are given 3 minutes to prepare before the start of the act. The roleplays are basically based on mock workplace situations that reflect the mood of the healthcare environment. The candidates would be given enough background information to prepare for their roleplay sessions. In a test, there will be two roleplays.

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