What is the OET? A complete guide to the Occupational English Test

Who takes the OET?

OET is open to twelve healthcare professions: medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, optometry, podiatry, radiography, speech pathology, veterinary science, and dietetics. Within each profession the test follows the same format, but the Writing and Speaking tasks use profession-specific scenarios — a nurse writes a nursing discharge letter, a doctor writes a specialist referral, a dentist writes to a periodontist.

The two largest cohorts by far are nurses and doctors. If you belong to one of these groups, see our dedicated guides:

The four OET sub-tests

OET consists of four sub-tests taken on the same day: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The Listening, Reading, and Writing sub-tests are profession-neutral for Listening and Reading (all candidates sit the same paper), while Writing and Speaking are profession-specific.

Listening (~50 minutes)

Three parts covering healthcare consultations, workplace discussions, and recorded presentations. You complete note-taking, short-answer, and multiple-choice questions while listening once to each recording.

Reading (60 minutes)

Part A is a 15-minute rapid information-location task across four short healthcare texts. Parts B and C are 45 minutes of multiple-choice comprehension using clinical guidelines, policy documents, and research-style articles.

Writing (45 minutes)

A single profession-specific letter — typically a referral, discharge, or transfer letter — based on case notes you receive at the start of the sub-test. You have five minutes to read the notes before the 40-minute writing window opens. Your letter is scored on six criteria: Purpose, Content, Conciseness and Clarity, Genre and Style, Organisation and Layout, and Language.

OETgo's AI Writing Coach scores your practice letters against all six criteria in under a minute, which makes it the fastest way to iterate on your Writing sub-test skills.

Speaking (~20 minutes)

Two role-plays with an interlocutor playing a patient, relative, or carer. You receive two role-play cards with a short preparation period before each. Speaking is scored on nine criteria including intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language, and clinician skills such as relationship building and patient education.

OET scoring explained

Each sub-test is scored on a numerical scale of 0-500 and mapped to a letter grade from A to E. Most regulators require a grade B (350-440) in every sub-test, though a growing number accept a C+ (300-340) in one or more sub-tests.

Which regulators accept OET?

OET is accepted by more than 40 healthcare regulators and councils worldwide. The most common destinations are:

• United Kingdom — GMC (doctors), NMC (nurses and midwives), GDC (dentists), GPhC (pharmacists), HCPC (allied health)
• Australia — AHPRA boards covering medicine (AMC), nursing (NMBA), dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and more
• New Zealand — MCNZ, NZNC, Dental Council of New Zealand
• Ireland — Medical Council, NMBI, Dental Council of Ireland, PSI
• Singapore — Singapore Medical Council, Singapore Nursing Board, SDC, SPC
• United Arab Emirates — DHA (Dubai), DOH (Abu Dhabi), MOHAP
• Namibia — Health Professions Councils of Namibia

Minimum score requirements vary by regulator and profession — always verify against the official source before booking a test.

OET vs IELTS Academic: which is right for you?

Both OET and IELTS Academic are accepted by most healthcare regulators, but they differ meaningfully in content. IELTS uses general-academic topics — history, climate science, architecture. OET uses only healthcare topics — triage notes, medication counselling, discharge planning. For a clinician who already thinks in medical vocabulary, OET removes the cognitive overhead of switching to unfamiliar domains.

IELTS may be a better fit if you have already prepared for it, if you are applying to both healthcare registration and a non-healthcare visa category, or if OET test centres are not available near you. Otherwise, most candidates choose OET for its clinical relevance.

How to prepare for the OET

A realistic preparation plan runs 8 to 16 weeks depending on your baseline English level. The highest-leverage activities are:

1. Build medical vocabulary breadth. Read clinical guidelines, patient information leaflets, and case reports in your field. Learn specialty-specific terminology in sets of 10-20 words rather than isolated lists.
2. Practise one full Writing letter per week. Timed, from case notes, scored against the six official criteria. Iteration speed matters more than volume.
3. Do Speaking role-plays aloud. The exam rewards patient-centred language — empathy statements, open questions, signposting. Recording yourself or working with a partner beats silent reading.
4. Take at least two full mock tests. Stamina is underrated. A full OET runs about three hours; you want the fourth sub-test of the day to be familiar, not novel.

OETgo is built around the first three of these: curated medical vocabulary flashcards with native-language translations, an AI Writing Coach that scores letters in under a minute, and spelling practice for exam-critical terms.

Frequently asked questions