OET Coaching

The Reading sub-test is the same for all professions and consists of 3 parts with 42 questions:

• Part A — Expeditious Reading (15 minutes): Read and extract specific information quickly from 4 short texts related to a single healthcare topic. 20 questions testing skimming and scanning skills.
• Part B — Careful Reading (45 minutes): Read 2 longer texts on healthcare workplace topics. Part B1 has 6 questions on the first text, and Part B2 has 8 questions on the second text. Tests comprehension of healthcare opinions, recommendations, and clinical arguments.
• Part C — Global Purpose/Detail (included): Read a longer passage and answer 8 questions. Tests understanding of the writer's purpose, opinions, and attitude in healthcare-related texts.

Our Approach: Practice with medical journal articles, clinical guidelines, patient information leaflets, and healthcare policy documents.

The Writing sub-test is profession-specific. You will write a letter (usually a referral, discharge, or transfer letter) based on case notes provided. The task simulates real workplace writing that healthcare professionals do on a daily basis.

• You receive case notes about a patient and must write an appropriate letter (180-200 words)
• Letter types include: referral letter, discharge summary, transfer letter, letter to a GP
• You must select relevant information from the case notes and organize it logically
• Clinical accuracy and appropriate register are essential

Assessment Criteria: Overall task fulfilment, appropriateness of content, comprehension of stimulus, conciseness and clarity, genre and style, organization and layout, language (grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation).

Our Approach: Extensive practice with profession-specific letter templates, case note analysis, medical writing conventions, and feedback from healthcare English specialists.

The Speaking sub-test is profession-specific and consists of 2 role-plays, each approximately 5 minutes long. There is a warm-up interview of 2-3 minutes before the role-plays begin.

• You play the role of a healthcare professional (your profession), and the examiner plays the patient/client/relative
• Role-play cards provide context, clinical information, and the task to perform
• Scenarios are realistic — explaining a diagnosis, discussing treatment options, providing post-surgery instructions, etc.
• You get 2-3 minutes to review the role-play card before each scenario begins

Assessment Criteria: Linguistic criteria (intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language, comprehension) and clinical communication criteria (relationship building, understanding and incorporating the patient's perspective, providing structure, information gathering/giving).

Our Approach: Simulated role-plays with trained interlocutors, clinical communication frameworks, empathy and rapport-building techniques, and profession-specific vocabulary development.