What is OET?

The Occupational English Test (OET) is a special test developed to assess the language proficiency of healthcare professionals needing to work in an English speaking country. The OET exam scores are accepted by international healthcare councils in 15+ countries including Australia, the UK, the USA, New Zealand, and Ireland.

Some of the notable councils accepting OET scores are:

UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
the Nursing and Midwifery Councils of New Zealand

The OET exam is also accepted by many top Australian universities, healthcare bodies, and the Australian Border and Immigration Protection.

OET for Health Professionals

Since its inception in the late 1980s, OET has been key eligibility for the healthcare professions such as:

Dentistry
Dietetics
Medicine
Nursing
Occupational Therapy
Optometry
Pharmacy
Veterinary Science
Physiotherapy
Podiatry
Radiography
Speech Pathology

OET Delivery Modes

OET exams are delivered by two modes:

OET on Paper at a Test Venue
OET on Computer at a Test Venue

Candidates who opt for OET on computer at a test venue can only take up Reading, Listening, and Writing at the test venue. Whereas the speaking test can be taken at home via Zoom on a tablet or computer.

Requirements for the OET Exam

A valid email address
A valid identification document (Passport or National ID)
Passport-sized photo that meets the OET photo requirements
Visa or Mastercard credit card

How to apply for OET Exam?

Step 1 - Click on the Book button on the official OET Website.

Step 2 - Choose the exam delivery mode, (i.e) OET on computer or OET on computer.

Step 3 - Submit email id, preferred name and country location.

Step 4 - On the “About You Section”, candidates are asked to fill in the gender, date of birth, first language and legal name (Legal name should match the name on the ID submitted on test day).

Step 5 - Specify the OET on computer, specify the month and select the test option (medicine or nursing).

Step 6 - Choose a location and find the test centres.

Step 7 - Upload id proof and process the payment (The OET Centre accepts Visa and MasterCard).

Step 8 - Candidates will receive a confirmation email with all the relevant information about the OET Exam.

ID proofs accepted by OET

Passport: a valid passport displaying your full name, photograph, date of birth, and expiry date.

National Government Issued ID: Any single form of identification issued by the national government in the country you are sitting the OET (this excludes driving license). ID must include their photograph, full name, and date of birth (DoB) - all these features must be recorded on one form of national ID.

OET Test Types

OET Reading
OET Writing
OET Listening
OET Speaking

OET Reading

The OET Reading exam comprises three parts (OET Reading Part A, OET Reading Part B, and OET Reading Part C) with 42 questions to answer. The time allocated to complete all parts of the reading exam is 60 minutes.

OET Reading Structure	OET Reading Syllabus and Tips
OET Reading Part A	OET Reading Part A Tips and Syllabus OET Reading Part A exam assesses the test taker’s ability to locate a piece of information from 4 mini texts efficiently. The four mini texts can be of a single healthcare topic, and candidates must complete all the 20 questions in the specified period. The other questions of part A including, sentence completion, matching, and short answer questions. Constantly reading a healthcare magazine can help quickly complete the OTE reading part on the stipulated time.
OET Reading Part B	OET Reading Part B Tips and Syllabus OET Reading Part B exam assesses the test takers’ ability to identify the core message or gist of 6 short texts, preferably from the healthcare workplace of 100 to 150 words each. The texts might have extracts from hospital guidelines, manuals, policy documents, or internal communications such as memos and emails.
OET Reading Part C	OET Reading Part C Tips and Syllabus OET Reading Part C assesses the test takers’ ability to examine the detailed concept of 2 long texts on healthcare topics (800 words each). The texts might have extracts from hospital guidelines, reports and manuals.

OET Writing

The OET writing test is customised and profession specific. For instance, the writing task will be based on a typical workspace situation and will vary from profession to profession. For instance, a nurse does the writing task based on her workplace situation and vice versa. The overall duration to complete the OET writing exam is 45 minutes.

OET Writing Exam structure

The OET writing task involves writing a variety of letters. Some different letter formats in the writing task including, a letter of discharge, a letter of transfer, a letter to inform or advise a patient, or a group.
The writing task varies from profession to profession. For instance, radiography professionals are tasked to respond to a written complaint.

The standard process involves 2 independent trainers assessing the OET writing performance, and the performance is measured by a band score against the following 6 criteria:

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

OET Listening

The OET Listening test comprises 3 parts with 42 questions to answer. All questions are derived from general healthcare topics. The total duration of the Listening test is about 40 minutes which includes, recorded speeches and pause to permit adequate time to complete writing the answers.

Note: Recordings will be played once, and candidates are expected to fill in their answers while listening to the recording.

OET Listening Structure	OET Listening Tips and Syllabus
OET Listening Part A	Extracts from Consultation- 5 minutes each OET listening part A assesses candidates’ ability to curate a specific piece of information during a consultation between a healthcare professional and a patient. In this part, candidates will listen to two recorded consultations, and they shall complete the notes with the aid of the information they hear.
OET Listening Part B	Healthcare workplace extracts- 1 min each OET listening part B assesses candidates’ ability to extract the gist, purpose, or opinion from workplace conversations. Candidates will listen to 6 recordings and answer a question (multi-choice) for each recording.
OET Listening Part C	A presentation extract - 5 minutes each OET listening part C assesses candidates’ ability to understand a recorded presentation or interviews of healthcare topics. Candidates will listen to 2 extracts and answer 6 questions (multiple-choice) for each presentation.

OET Speaking

The OET speaking test uses customised materials for each profession (nurse, pharmacist, and veterinary). Here, candidates will take up the professional role, and the interlocutor plays the role of either a client, patient, or relative. For veterinary science professionals, the interlocutor might play the role of a pet owner.

OET Speaking Test structure

In the OET speaking test, a candidate’s profession is verified by the interlocutor, followed by a warm-up conversation about their professional experience. Post which, the interlocular explains the role of both and gives a 3-minute duration to prepare for the OET speaking test. The speaking test will be of typical workplace conversation that reflects the situations faced by healthcare professions every day. The entire discussion of this role-play happens for about five minutes.

How is the OET Speaking Score Calculated?

The following are the criteria for calculating the OET speaking scores:

Intelligibility
Fluency
Appropriateness of Language
Resources of Grammar and Expression
Relationship-building
Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective
Providing structure
Information-gathering
Information-giving

OET Exam Fee in the Vietnam

To take all OET sub-tests: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking it costs around 1,00,16,654 Dong (AU $587) in Vietnam.

For taking up individual OET tests such as OET Reading or OET Listening, the following are the exam fee:

OET exam fee for all 4 tests	AU $587.00
OET exam fee for any 3 tests	AU $477.50
OET exam fee for any 2 tests	AU $339.00
OET exam fee for 1 test	AU $200.50

OET Scoring Guide

For each OET exam (writing, reading, speaking, and listening), the scores are calculated out of 500 and converted to grades. Given below is the OET score chart:

OET SCORE	OET GRADE
450-500	A
350-440	B
350-440	B
300-340	C+
200-290	C
100-190	D
0-90	E

OET Results

Steps to check your OET results:

Click on myOET profile to log in.
Select the result button on your dashboard to access the results.
View/download/print your OET results.
You can view your section-wise results under the tab “MY TEST HISTORY”.

Note: Enable pop-ups on your browser if you are unable to download your results.

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