Occupational English Test Preparation
  • NEW
    • Home >
      • SLC: Alexandra
      • SLC: Anju
      • SLC: Bernadette
      • FAQ
      • Books
      • Contact
  • Reading
    • Reading: Breast Cancer Mortality Statistics
    • Malaria
    • Australian Children Activity
    • Reading: HIV in Queensland >
      • Insomnia: Reading Comprehension
      • HIV Testing and Treatment
      • Dialogue: Generic and Brand Names
    • Reading: E-Cigarettes >
      • E-Cigarettes v Cigarettes (2/18)
    • Reading: Statins and Heart Disease >
      • Blood Pressure and Pulse
    • Reading: Insomnia >
      • Reading: Spray on Wound Care
      • Sleep Terms
    • Reading: Eczema Cases Soar >
      • Medical Terms: Eczema >
        • Dialogue: Bedwetting
    • Treating Animal Bites
  • Speaking
    • OET Speaking: Dentists
    • OET Speaking: Nurses >
      • Dialogue: Dialysis
      • Fractured Clavicle
      • Dog Bite >
        • Dialogue: Dog Bite
    • OET Speaking: Pharmacy >
      • Dialogue: Discussing Statins
      • Dialogue: Acne Treatment >
        • Medical Terms: Acne
  • Listening
    • What is the OET Listening test like?
    • Listening in the Workplace >
      • Listening:Handovers
    • Developing Listening Skills
    • Liver Terms
  • Writing
    • Medical English: Spelling >
      • Spelling Silent C
      • Spelling Silent gh
      • Spelling: Silent 'g'
      • Verbs Used in Patient Care >
        • Verbs used in patient care: Activities
        • Palliative Care
  • Medical Terms
    • Medical Terms: Dentistry >
      • Mouth
      • Medical Terms: Dental
    • Medical Terms: OT >
      • Medical Terms: Occupational Therapy >
        • Occupational Therapy: Activities
        • OT: Hand and Writing Terms >
          • Hand and Writing Terms: Activities
    • Medical Terms: Obstetrics and Gyne >
      • Hysterectomy
      • Obstetric Terms
    • Medical Terms: Diseases >
      • Blindness
      • Patient's Condition >
        • Vomiting Terms
      • Describing Disease >
        • Illnesses: Easy
      • Anaemia
      • Parasite Diseases
    • Prefixes and Suffixes >
      • Colour Prefixes
      • Medical Prefix: dys
    • Medical Terms: The Elderly >
      • Falls Prevention >
        • Falls Prevention: Activity
      • Dementia
      • Pressure Area Care
      • Headache Terms >
        • Headache Terms: Activities
      • Toileting Terms
    • Medical Terms: Parts of the Body >
      • Ear
      • Head, Brain & Hair >
        • Hair, Skin and Nails >
          • Skin Disorders
          • Skin Disorders 2
        • Medical Terms: Kidney Function >
          • Kidney Function: Activities
          • Prostatitis >
            • Prostatitis Terms
        • Respiratory Secretions
    • Medical Terms: Pharmacy >
      • Medication with the Prefix 'anti-'
      • Types of Medication >
        • Types of Medication: Activities
      • Day and Night >
        • Day and Night: Activities

Is the OET different for each profession?

9/4/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Now that the OET is accepted in the UK, Ireland and Ukraine, many people are contacting us (Specialist Language Courses) to ask about our online OET courses. First timers are often confused about the structure of the OET and wonder, if each profession sits a different course. 
The answer is 'Yes' and 'No'.

How is this so?

The OET is a medical English test which is offered for 12 healthcare professions in some countries (e.g. Australia and New Zealand). This means that people within the professions of optometry, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy etc are able to sit for the OET Optometry, OET Occupational Therapy and OET Physiotherapy and so on.

However, in the UK and Ireland for example, only nurses and doctors can use the OET as proof of their language competence, when registering as a healthcare professional in these countries.

Even though there are 12 OET tests (or OET available for 12 professionals),
the test should be thought of as one test with slight variations in two sub-tests. The other two sub-tests are common to all professions.

Reading and Listening

These are the same for all professions. This means that in Reading, everyone will read texts of a general medical nature. The same is true for Listening. The dialogues (Listening A) and short talks (Listening B) all relate to a medical topic.
What does this mean for candidates?
1. You all need to read widely about medical topics, e.g. current research, recent health issues, cross professional topics (think of dental (tooth caries) and surgery (patient has a history of Rheumatic Fever).
2. Any course which covers Reading and Listening practice is relevant for any of the professions.


Speaking
Speaking is profession-specific, so doctors will perform a role play dealing with a situation they may be expected to manage in real life. Nurses will do the same and so on.
What does this mean for candidates?
1.Whilst the role plays are profession-specific, the communication strategies used are often similar.
For instance:
asking for information
providing advice/ making suggestions
empathising and persuading
and so on
Any course or book which helps you to practise these skills will be useful. 

2. Role plays often follow a similar 'flow of conversation', e.g.
 ask the reason for the conversation
find out more information
explain what will happen/ treatment/ 'the next step'
clarify information / persuade a reluctant patient
summarise the conversation

What does this mean for candidates?
Candidates may find examples of role plays which are not in their profession, but which they can easily modify to suit.
For example,nurse role plays in which medication is explained to patients is easily transferable to a doctor role play with minor modification (doctors talk about prescribing medication, where nurses may explain why a doctor has prescribed a certain medication).

Writing
The Writing sub-test is the writing of a letter (referral, discharge letter or informational letter) which is tailored to each profession.
Again, there are many similarities:
  • need to extract relevant information from the Case Notes 
  • need to structure a letter of 180-200 which is relevant to the task.
  • need to use appropriate language for the person you are writing to (colleague, parent of a child, parents and carers in general about a health issue)
  • need to use clear and concise language, when writing sentences which convey information correctly.
  What does this mean for candidates?
 1. Any course / practice materials which help you to structure a letter in a logical and appropriate format will be useful.
  2. Grammar practice which helps you write meaningful sentences will be useful
 3. An understanding of a range of common abbreviations and acronyms used in Case Notes will be useful


Above all, candidates should keep in mind that they need to practise communication skills, rather than demonstrate clinical competence.


1 Comment

    Author

    I am a medical English author of books and online courses. I have a particular interest in  OET preparation and am an OET premium preparation provider with my colleagues at Specialist Language Courses. I am based in the UK.

    Archives

    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    September 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    Dentists
    Listening Skills
    Medical Terminology
    Occupational English Test
    Oet
    OET For Dentists
    OET Listening
    OET Writing Subtest
    Readiness For OET
    Reading Skills
    Signposting Words
    Skimming
    Speaking Skills
    The Free Dictionary
    Youtube

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly