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OET Reading strategies

26/1/2014

The OET Reading test Part A is a test of several things:
1. Can you skim a text for important information (key terms) without reading the whole text?
2. Can you scan the text for only the information you need to answer a question?
3. Can you use different forms of a word? E.g. A word in the text is given as a verb but you have to use the noun form in the answer.
4. Can you understand statistics and use words to describe what the numbers say?

I have made three YouTube clips which give some advice on answering Part A. I have gone through each question on the Answer Booklet to explain the type of question and reason for the answer. The transcript of the videos is available as a single pdf on this website.

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The OET is shaping up well

19/1/2014

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The OET is undergoing an overhaul so that it becomes not only a test you have to do to be able to work in a healthcare area but also a good indication of how you will function when you start working in your new job. This is because the OET is specific to your medical area and concentrates on testing your ability to communicate effectively. And, safely.

Lately, I have had some interesting conversations with candidates who have had a different experience of nursing from my own. The kinds of conversations they have with patients are sometimes quite different from the conversations they will have when they work in Australia, New Zealand, the UK etc. Sometimes, they do not have any experience of communication strategies like persuading a patient to accept a treatment or reassuring a patient. This is part of a wider style of communicating and includes what we refer to as 'intercultural communication'.

The speaking section of the test often confuses some candidates and so, rather than answer the individual emails I receive, I decided to make a short YouTube video dealing with some of the issues of the role play. You can find the YouTube video along with a transcript of the video on this website.

The most important feature of the OET is the concentration on assessing the language competence of each candidate. Whilst it may be disappointing for a candidate to receive a mark below the essential B grade, it's important to remember that this may indicate that the candidate cannot communicate effectively enough to be a safe practitioner. The healthcare area, be it physiotherapy, podiatry,dentistry, nursing or medicine is all about safe practice. Unlike other ESP areas, communication in healthcare must be safe and accurate. This is where the OET has the potential to be not just an entrance exam but a test of ongoing ability. The need to read medical information is always there - at the workplace, in research, during continuing professional development. The need to be able to communicate in a variety of situations is ongoing - giving bad news, dealing with aggressive patients, managing difficult situations etc. These communication skills are developed with experience but can be practised using the kinds of role plays found in the OET.

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New YouTube video - OET Speaking: the structure of the role play.

6/1/2014

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I have just recorded a short youtube video which deals with the structure of the role play. As with the role play, it is important to develop your own structures for writing referral letters and later for writing patient notes.

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Preparing to read OET materials

2/1/2014

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You will need to be able to read medical texts for the reading and the speaking tests. For the speaking test, there may be common medical abbreviations as well as medical terms.
Therefore,you should spend some time revising (or learning) some of the following:

medical terminology for symptoms, diseases and conditions
medical abbreviations
everyday equivalent terms (especially for the speaking test)

The reading task is the same for all professions, so you may need to be familiar with a wide range of topics. Despite this, you should start with the 'basics'. It's a good idea to build up your own glossary of terms in the following areas:

each body system e.g. cardiovascular, renal,reproductive
common medical problems e.g. eczema, dementia,IBS, dental caries, sports' injuries
common equipment used in your profession e.g. CT scan, MRI

The speaking test is specific to each profession so you should think about the kinds of situations which may arise within your scope of practice. For example, in a speaking test for doctors a role play about Alzheimer's Disease may deal with explaining the assessment test (the 'mini mental' MMSE test) and explaining the medication which can be prescribed for AD. A role play for nurses may include assessment of personal care needs and talk about respite care for carers.

The reading task is often presented as three to four short texts about the same topic. The information may be expressed in different ways so you will need to understand equivalent terms. By predicting the terms you are likely to be reading, you can scan for important information much easier. For example, if the text is about the brain you may expect to read terms like cognitive function, cerebral, ischaemia, frontal lobe, carotid artery etc. A text about the prostate may include terms like TURP, benign prostatic hypertrophy, PSA, hesitancy,empty the bladder and so on.

By developing a glossary of terms (and adding to it as you read more) you start training your brain to expect to see certain terms within a topic. Try to learn related medical prefixes and suffixes as well as this helps you to predict unknown words. For instance, if you are unsure of the term 'hypertrophy' in benign prostatic hypertrophy but you know that 'hyper' means 'increase',then you could make a guess that 'hypertrophy' means an increase of some sort (in this case, the prostate).

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OET Reading strategies

The OET is shaping up well

New YouTube video - OET Speaking: the structure of the role play.

Preparing to read OET materials

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