OET at Four Skills

LISTENING

• Practice in Prediction, Paraphrasing and Different accents
• Identify Synonyms and Antonyms
• Analyze and Understand Different Types of Questions
• Find out Key Words and Distractors
• Simultaneous Listening and Writing
• Understanding Meaning

READING

• Identify Key Words
• Find out Answers even without Reading the Text
• Skimming and Scanning Strategies
• Techniques in Reading Questions and Recognizing Paragraph Structures
• Identify Synonyms and Relevant Information
• Understanding the Writer’s Views and Arguments
• Eliminating the Odd Ones

WRITING

• Exclusive Orientation Session
• Identify the Different Types of Tasks
• Detailed Explanation with Examples for each Assessment Criteria.
• Guaranteed Grammar Classes for Scoring B+ in OET.

SPEAKING

• Four Skills’ special techniques for building confidence
• Taking part in Pair Practice
• Organizing Notes on Speaking Topic
• Story Building
• Taking Part in Pair Practice
• Taking Part in Discussion and Expressing Opinions
• Understanding Common Speaking Errors and Pronunciation
• Techniques to Build Confidence in Speaking
• Time Management Skills in Examination

The Listening sub-test structure

Part A – consultation extracts (about 5 minutes each)

Part A assesses your ability to identify specific information during a consultation. You will listen to two recorded health professional-patient consultations and you will complete the health professional’s notes using the information you hear.

Part B – short workplace extracts (about 1 minute each)

Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist, opinion or purpose of short extracts from the healthcare workplace. You will listen to six recorded extracts (e.g. team briefings, handovers, or health professional-patient dialogues) and you will answer one multiple-choice question for each extract.

Part C – presentation extracts (about 5 minutes each)

Part C assesses your ability to follow a recorded presentation or interview on a range of accessible healthcare topics. You will listen to two different extracts and you will answer six multiple-choice questions for each extract.

The Reading sub-test consists of three parts and a total of 42 question items. All three parts take a total of 60 minutes to complete. The topics are of generic healthcare interest and are therefore accessible to candidates across all professions.

The Reading sub-test structure

Part A – expeditious reading task (15 minutes)

Part A assesses your ability to locate specific information from four short texts in a quick and efficient manner. The four short texts relate to a single healthcare topic, and you must answer 20 questions in the allocated time period. The 20 questions consist of matching, sentence completion and short answer questions.

Part B and Part C – careful reading tasks (45 minutes)

Part B assesses your ability to identify the detail, gist or main point of six short texts sourced from the healthcare workplace (100-150 words each). The texts might consist of extracts from policy documents, hospital guidelines, manuals or internal communications, such as emails or memos. For each text, there is one three-option multiple-choice question.

Part C assesses your ability to identify detailed meaning and opinion in two texts on topics of interest to healthcare professionals (800 words each). For each text, you must answer eight four-option multiple choice questions.

The Writing sub-test structure

• The task is to write a letter, usually a referral letter. Sometimes a different type of letter is required: e.g. a letter of transfer or discharge, or a letter to advise or inform a patient, career, or group.
• Along with the task instructions, you will receive stimulus material (case notes and/or other related documentation) which includes information to use in your response.

How is writing ability assessed in OET?

Your performance on the Writing sub-test is marked independently by a minimum of two trained Assessors. Neither Assessor knows what scores the other has given you, or what scores you have achieved on any of the other sub-tests.

Your performance is scored against five criteria and receives a band score for each criterion:

• Overall Task Fulfillment
• Appropriateness of Language
• Comprehension of Stimulus
• Linguistic Features (grammar and cohesion)
• Presentation Features (spelling, punctuation, layout)

The Speaking sub-test is delivered individually and takes around 20 minutes. This part of OET uses materials specifically designed for your profession. In each role-play, you take your professional role (for example, as a nurse or as a pharmacist) while the interlocutor plays a patient, a client, or a patient’s relative or carer. For veterinary science, the interlocutor is the owner or carer of the animal.

The Speaking sub-test structure

In each Speaking test, your identity and profession are checked by the interlocutor and there is a short warm-up conversation about your professional background. Then the role-plays are introduced one by one and you have three minutes to prepare for each. The role-plays take about five minutes each.

Role-plays

You receive information for each role-play on a card that you keep while you do the role-play. The card explains the situation and what you are required to do. You may write notes on the card if you want. If you have any questions about the content of the role-play or how a role-play works, you can ask them during the preparation time.

The role-plays are based on typical workplace situations and reflect the demands made on a health professional in those situations. The interlocutor follows a script so that the Speaking test structure is similar for each candidate. The interlocutor also has detailed information to use in each role-play. Different role-plays are used for different candidates at the same test administration.

• Free Placement Test at the very outset to assess Current Level
• Highly Qualified and Experienced Trainers
• Effective Initial Orientation Sessions with Tips and Strategies
• Individual Writing Correction and Speaking Session
• Weekly Mock Tests during the Training Period
• Latest Materials from OET –CBLA -( Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment Trust )
• Small Class Size with Individual Attention
• Weekdays and Weekends Classes
• Special Training in English Grammar