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Occupational English Test or OET as more commonly known is a healthcare-specific English language test that is specially designed for practitioners that need to test their English language skills in a healthcare-specific context. It assesses the language skills of healthcare professionals who wish to practice in an English-speaking environment. This has made OET more preferred to medical professionals than any other English language test like IELTS and TOEFL. The OET is available for 12 medical professions including dentistry dietetics medicine nursing occupational therapy optometry pharmacy physiotherapy podiatry radiography speech pathology and veterinary science. The Past and Present The OET was first designed in the late 1980s by Professor Tim McNamara under the guidance of the Australian National Office for Overseas Skills Recognition. Ever since it has been researched upon and developed to ensure that it keeps up with the current theories and practice in language assessment. Today the OET is recognized by regulatory healthcare boards and councils in Australia New Zealand Singapore Ireland UK Namibia Ukraine and Dubai as a proof of a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively in a demanding healthcare environment. So if you wish to study further in your medical profession or aspire to work in a medical institution or facility in any of the aforementioned countries you ought to take the OET test.

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The exam structure The OET exam is divided into four categories – listening 45 minutes reading 60 minutes writing 45 minutes and speaking 20 minutes – each category assessing the individual language skills of a candidate. Whatever the section each emphasizes specifically on communication in medical and healthcare settings. Listening – In this section candidates are required to show that they can understand a range of health-related spoken materials like patient consultations and lectures. Reading – Candidates are required here to show that they can read and understand different types of texts on health-related subjects. Writing – Here the task involves writing a letter related to patient referral letter of transfer letter of discharge and the like. Speaking – This section has candidates being involved in role-plays where they are supposed to take up the role of a doctor nurse or pharmacist and converse with the examiner who plays the role of a patient patient’s relative or client. The scoring pattern Each of the four sections mentioned above are scored on a numerical scale from 0-500 in 10-point increments. The numeric score is then mapped to a separate letter grade ranging from A to E with A being the highest grade and E being the lowest. There is no overall grade for OET so you cannot score less in one section and compensate for it by scoring higher in the other sections. Thus you need to practice equally well for every section to score an A in each. And for this you will require the guidance of one of the professional OET training institutes in India.  Grade A 450-500 points depicts that the candidate can communicate very fluently and effectively using proper tone and lexis meaning complete understanding of the English language.  Grade B 350-440 points depicts that the candidate can communicate effectively using proper tone and lexis with occasional inaccuracies and hesitations meaning good understanding of a range of clinical contexts.  Grades C 200-290 points and C+ 300-340 points depicts that the candidate can maintain the interaction in a relevant healthcare environment despite of the occasional errors and lapses meaning a normal understanding of the English language.  Grade D 100-190 points depicts that the candidate can maintain some interactions and understand straightforward factual information in the field with frequent errors and inaccuracies meaning only a limited understanding of the English language.

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 Grade E 0-90 points depicts that the candidate can manage simple interaction on familiar topics and simple messages but with high density errors and misuse of the language meaning poor understanding of the English language. How to prepare for the OET While there is a lot that you can do on your own to prepare for the OET exam we would always suggest that you take up assistance from a professional. Avigna Learning Academy is one of the best OET training institutes in India where you can get enrolled to get the best quality coaching with essential skills and test taking strategies required to successfully complete the OET with best scores. For more information visit: https://avignalearning.com/