ASTRAL GLOBAL EDUCATION offers the best OET classes in India. With the high number of selections in the OET exams, Astral is consistently giving the top results. 

OET is not a difficult course, but you will need good coaching to understand the concepts better and get valuable guidance. And ASTRAL GLOBAL EDUCATION is one such OET Institute that understands the needs of the exam and the students.  

OET exam pattern: Healthcare professionals who are looking to work in the healthcare sector in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Maldives, Malta, Namibia, New Zealand, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America are required to appear for the OET exam to establish their proficiency in the English Language in a healthcare environment. 

Conducted by Cambridge Boxill Language Assessment (CBLA), the full form of OET is the Occupational English Test or more commonly referred to as OET and this English language test has been exclusively designed for health care professionals. In this article, we are going to talk about the OET exam pattern, OET Syllabus among other important topics related to the OET exam pattern. 

OET Exam Pattern  

OET Syllabus: Conducted by Cambridge Boxill Language Assessment Trust (CBLA), the OET exam pattern is divided into four sections, the OET Listening Section, the OET Reading Section, the OET Writing Section and the OET Speaking Section. 

OET Exam Pattern: Listening Section [45 minutes] 

The Listening Section or Listening Subtest is divided into three parts that consist of a total of 42 question types that need to be solved in 50 minutes. The OET listening section topics revolve around generic healthcare interests and are accessible to candidates across all professions. The total duration of the listening audio is about 40 minutes which includes recorded audio and pauses for candidates to utilize the time to write their answers. Candidates are required to listen to the recorded audio only once and write their answers during the pauses provided to them in between the audio.  

OET Syllabus: Listening Section Pattern 
The OET syllabus for the OET Listening Sub-section is divided into three parts, they are: 

  • 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 by listening to the two recorded health professional-patient consultations. [Duration: 5 minutes each] 
  • 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, 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. [Duration: 1 minute each] 
  • Part C – Presentation Extracts: The third and final task of the Listening section would require candidates to listen to multiple recorded presentations or interviews on a range of accessible healthcare topics and answer multiple-choice questions for each extract. [Duration: 5 minutes each] 

OET Exam Pattern: Reading Section [60 minutes] 

The Reading Sub-section is divided into three parts that consist of a total of 42 question types that need to be solved in 60 minutes. The OET Reading section topics revolve around generic healthcare interests and are accessible to candidates across all professions. The topics revolving around the section are as follows. 

OET Syllabus: Reading Section Pattern 

The OET syllabus for the OET Reading Sub-section is divided into three parts, they are: 

  • Part A – Expeditious Reading Task: For the first task, candidates would be required to read four short essays and locate specific information from the texts. The essays provided to the candidates would be related to general healthcare topics. The questions could vary from matching the following, sentence completion to short answer questions. [Duration: 15 minutes] 
  • Part B – Careful Reading: For the second task, candidates would be given multiple short texts related to generic healthcare topics and candidates would be required to identify the main points and answer multiple-choice questions. The essays can include topics ranging from policy guidelines, hospital guides, manuals, emails, memos to internal communication. 
  • Part C – Careful Reading: For the third and last task, pertaining to 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. [Part B and Part C Duration: 45 minutes]  

OET Exam Pattern: Writing Section [45 minutes] 

OET Syllabus: Writing Section Pattern: With a total duration of 45 minutes, the Writing section requires the candidate to write a letter, usually a letter of reference in his/her field of specialty. The candidate would be provided with background information to his task which he may or may not incorporate into his reference letter. This 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. 

OET Exam Pattern: Speaking Section [20 minutes] 

OET Syllabus: Speaking Section Pattern: With a total duration of 20 minutes, candidates are required to individually enact their professional role 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 for the first part, and the roles are reversed in the latter. Candidates are given 3 minutes to prepare for each side before the start of each act. The roleplays are 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. 

OET Exam Pattern  – Layout 

OET Exam Pattern Test Duration OET Description 
Listening 45 minutes The Listening subsection is divided into 3 parts that test the candidates’ listening capabilities in various formats. 
Reading 60 minutes The Reading subsection is divided into 3 parts that test the candidates reading capabilities in various formats. 
Writing 45 minutes The Writing subsection is profession-specific and requires candidates to write a letter of reference. 
Speaking 20 minutes The Writing subsection is profession-specific and requires candidates to enact a roleplay from the healthcare environment.