OET_SUPPORT

Listening
Prepared by Dr Mohamed Mansour

Format of the OET Listening sub-test

The Listening sub-test consists of two parts with approximately

20-28 tasks.
The topics are of general medical interest appropriate for all
health professionals.

Consultation between
PART 20-25
Dialogue healthcare professional and
A minutes
patient

PART 20-25 Talk or lecture by a healthcare

Monologue
B minutes professional
Part A
In Part A, you will listen to a professional-patient consultation.
The dialogue contains about 15 minutes of recorded speech and
you will need to take notes under headings while you listen.
After you have heard (and read) the Part A test instructions, you
will have 1 minute to look through the test paper. Then you will
be asked to look at an example question and sample response.
The recording will continue and you will need to start writing
information for Question 2.
You will hear the recording ONCE only. The recording contains
pauses to allow you time to write your answers.
Misspellings and grammar mistakes are not penalized provided
the meaning is clear.

Part B
In Part B of the listening test, you will listen to a talk by a health
professional on a health-related topic.
The test is designed to assess your ability to understand spoken
English, not your knowledge of the topic. For this reason, the
topic of the talk will be a general health-related issue which is
not necessarily taken from one of the twelve OET professions.
As you listen to the talk, you will need to complete a range of
tasks that may include:
 Flow-chart/diagram/table completion
 Sentence completion
 Summary completion
  Lecture notes completion
 Short answer questions
 Word replacement responses
 Matching responses
 Multiple choice questions
 Information card completion
Not all of the above question types will appear in every test.
There will be pauses during the talk, giving you time to complete
the listening tasks. In total, Part B includes about 15 minutes of
recorded speech and takes 20 to 25 minutes to complete. You
will only hear the recording ONCE.

In tasks where there is a maximum number of words to write for

each answer, keep to that limit.

Make sure that your answer fits the context given logically and
grammatically, and communicates what you heard.

There is a two-minute pause at the end of part B to allow you to

check your answers of the Listening test.
What to expect

PART A

 The answer sheet contains sections that look like this.

 Look at the headings and the number of lines.

 You need to write notes, not full sentences.

 Common abbreviations can be used.
PART B

 Part B contains many different types of questions.

 Here is an example of a Notes Completion question.

Here is an example of a Table Completion question.

Here is an example of an Information Card completion
question.

Here is an example of a summary completion question.

There are other types of Part B questions:
-Short answer
-Multiple Choice
-True / False
- Matching tasks
Tips for success on test day

Before the test

Practise listening to a wide variety of English materials and
listen in different ways, e.g. for overall gist, for specific
information and for the attitude expressed.

Do some practice tests beforehand so you know what it feels

like.

Understand the following things:

• the content of a health professional and patient
consultation
• how to take notes
• how to know the main ideas and important information
in a talk or lecture
• how to understand inferred meaning

On the day
Bring your ID and a pen.

Stay relaxed and ready to listen.

Once the test starts, scan the headings, questions and key
words so you know what to listen for.

Don’t write full sentences. Make notes and be sure you

write clearly. Common abbreviations and symbols are
acceptable.
Don’t jump ahead. The questions follow the sequence of
the recording.

Use the pauses between sections to finish writing and to

scan the next section.

Don’t leave any blanks. Marks are not deducted for an

incorrect answer.
Part A Preparation

Overview

Anticipating topic and sequence

On test day, you will have one minute to look over the test
paper.
Use this time wisely to:
 Look quickly through the headings (there will be 10 to
15 of them).
 Notice the sequence of the conversation.
 Take note of key words – can you identify the
patient’s medical problem?

You do not need to be familiar with the patient’s medical

problem to complete Part A of the Listening sub-test
successfully. Use your background knowledge of what takes
place during a consultation.
Anticipating information under headings

Once the test starts, you will have a little time (10-20
seconds) to study each heading before the patient-doctor
dialogue begins.
Use this time to:
 Notice how much information is required (1 bullet
point = 1 mark)
 Predict the type of information you will hear.

Describing the heartburn

• _______________________________________________________

• _______________________________________________________

• _______________________________________________________

• _______________________________________________________

• _______________________________________________________

From the heading ‘Describing the heartburn’, you should be

able to predict that the patient will describe his/her
symptoms.
The patient might describe:
 The type of pain (eg sharp, burning)
 How frequent the pain is (eg irregular, regular)
 Where the pain is (centre of chest, stomach)
 When it is most serious (eg after meals)
Your predictions may not be accurate – and it is important
you don’t assume they are – but they should help you ‘tune
in’ to the topic so you are ready to listen for relevant
information.

Remember that you do not need to be an expert in the

patient’s medical problem to complete the notes effectively.
ALL the information you need will be given in simple (non-
medical) language in the dialogue.

Identifying relevant details: guided practice

It can be difficult to identify relevant information. Common

barriers include:
 Repetition
 Backtracking
 Extra information
 Ignoring the section heading
 OET candidate problems Solution

The candidate hears the

speakers repeat some words
Don’t just listen for
and thinks they must be
individual words. Pay
important.
attention to the whole
Repetition e.g. 'We usually advise more
phrase or sentence before
exercise, as exercise promotes
you decide whether what
better overall health, but in
you’ve heard is relevant.
your current situation, exercise
is not the best idea.'

The speaker says one thing,

Don't write down the answer
then corrects themselves.
Backtracking until you are sure it is
e.g. 'Take two, no - three -
correct.
tablets with each meal.'

The speaker adds information

which goes beyond what's
required under the heading.
Suggested treatment:
Extra Focus on the central
e.g. 'So I need to tell you - and
information message, not every detail.
this is important because it will
affect the speed of recovery -
you must do the recommended
exercises 6 to 7 times a day.'

The candidate writes down

information that is not relevant
to the heading. Use the time before a
Ignoring the e.g. under 'Symptoms', the section starts to think about
heading candidate write down 'mother- the heading and predict
history of cancer'. (This is relevant information.
relevant to 'Family history', not
'Symptoms'.)
Patient language: synonyms

During a consultation, health professionals need to use

simple language to explain medical terms and procedures.
Likewise, the patient will use non-medical phrases to
describe their symptoms.

1. complaint, condition 6. vomit, throw up

It's a fairly common problem
2. flatulence
Have you had much wind?
3. surgery, procedure
The operation will take about
an hour.
4. sternum
Have you got any pain around
your breastbone?
5. Feeling queasy/nauseous
Have you been feeling sick?
I feel like I'm going to
be sick.
7. stomach, belly, abdomen
My tummy's been hurting.
8. painful, sore, throbbing, aching
Can you tell me where it is
hurting?
9. faeces, stools
I haven't noticed any blood in my
poo.
10. infection, virus
I think I've caught the bug
that's going round.

Keep a journal of medical terms and their ‘every day’ (non-

medical) equivalents. Make sure you note down any subtle
differences in meaning (e.g. the difference between “feeling
sick” and “being sick”). You will be able to use these phrases
in both the Listening and Speaking sub-tests.
Patient language: talking about pain

Types of pain
 ache
 sharp pain
 spasm
 stabbing pain
 burning
 tingling
 throbbing
 squeezing
Characteristics of pain
 nagging / persistent
 mild
 on and off / comes and goes
Patient language: collocations

Learning a range of common phrases will help you prepare

for the listening sub-test.
It helps you identify meaningful phrases (not just individual
words) as you listen. It’s also easier to note down what you
hear if the language is already familiar to you.

There are different types of collocations made from

combinations such as:
verb + noun e.g. to undergo surgery

e.g. a thumping headache, medical

adjective + noun
history

adverb + adjective e.g. fully conscious

noun + noun e.g. vitamin deficiency, drug addiction

Avoiding common errors: writing notes that are
too long

One of the most frequent mistakes OET candidates make is

to write notes that are too long and detailed.

Keep your notes short. Although long notes are not marked
incorrectly, there is simply not enough time. If you try to
write full sentences, you’ll miss important points that follow.

Avoiding common errors: writing notes that

are too short

Notes that are too short either don’t make sense or they
don’t give enough information.
Part B Preparation

Overview

Note-taking tasks: Identifying key words

You should listen for keywords – the content words which

convey meaning (generally nouns, also verbs and adjectives).
The other words are structure words which make the
sentence grammatically correct – they link the ideas
together – but they do not primarily convey the message.

Listen for sentence stress: keywords are usually given more

emphasis (i.e. spoken slightly more slowly and loudly).
As long as you have the keywords, you can construct the rest
of the sentence later. Think of a telegram that reads “COME
HOME, MOTHER ILL”. It is instantly understood even though
the structure words are missing: “ I think you should come
home straight away because your mother has been taken
very ill.”
Note-taking tasks: Using transition words

Speakers will use transition words and phrases to organise

information in their talks.
Transitional signal Example
Time order or process words First, …
Later, …
In the next stage, …
Then
Next, …
Finally, …
Listing words First
second
1, (2, 3 etc.)
One (way/reason etc.)
… another (way/reason etc.)
Addition words also
again
last of all
Classification words the first type/variety/group
the second
type/variety/group
Spatial order words beside
between
in front of
opposite
nearby
Note-taking tasks: Predicting

Prediction is a valuable strategy that we use constantly in our

first language because it makes listening easier. By
anticipating the missing information and guessing what it
might be, your listening will become more focused. Both
content and language can be predicted.

To predict content:
 Think about the topic.
 Concentrate on the information in front of you (title,
subheading, any partial notes or bullet points both
before and after the gap).
 Use your prior knowledge of the subject to make a
logical guess.


To predict language:
 Think about the type or class of word that will best fit
the gap – is it a noun (singular or plural), an adjective,
a verb or perhaps a number or phrase?
Note-taking tasks: Listening for paraphrase

Sometimes the words the speaker uses don’t exactly match

those you see on the page. You need to listen for paraphrase
(words of similar meaning).

Synonyms or paraphrases (words or phrases that have

similar meaning) are common in the Listening Test. For
example, foster (develop); strengthening the muscles (build
muscular strength).
Short answer questions

Target short answer: Strategies

Short answer questions: Predicting

In notes completion tasks, you need to fill the gaps in a set of

notes. Short answer questions are a little different in that you
answer direct questions, usually of the ‘wh’ type e.g. Who,
What, Where, Why, When, How (much/many) …?

Use the question word and any other key word(s) to predict
possible answers. When you know what you are listening for,
you will more readily recognise the answer when you hear it.

Short answer questions: Understanding paraphrase

Remember how important it is to recognise paraphrase. What

you see on the page may be expressed slightly differently in the
spoken text. Be aware of both synonyms (words of similar
meaning e.g. helpful = beneficial) and antonyms (words of
opposite meaning e.g. weaker than = not as robust as).
Multiple choice tasks: Strategies

Multiple choice questions: Identifying key words

In a multiple choice response, you either circle the correct

alternative from a list of three options (A, B or C) or check (tick)
a number of items in a list according to whether they are
mentioned in the recording. Always read the questions carefully,
underlining key words.
Always try to identify the key words in a test question so that
you know what to listen for.

Multiple choice questions: Listening for paraphrase

When you complete a task, the words in the answer options may
be expressed by a paraphrase in the recording. For example, the
speaker may describe ‘babies’ using different words such as
‘under-1’s’ or ‘infants’.

Multiple choice questions: Eliminating wrong answers

As you listen, it may help to identify the incorrect answers. The

remaining one will be the correct answer.
Multiple choice questions: Listen to the whole phrase

Sometimes, candidates hear one word from the answer options

and guess it to be the correct answer. Often this is not the case.
You may hear the speaker mention ALL of the key words. Listen
carefully, and check the whole phrase is true before making your
choice.

Remember:

• Identify the key words in the question.

• Listen for paraphrase (phrases with similar meanings).
• Check off incorrect options as you listen.
• Check that the whole phrase is true before making your
choice.

Best wishes,
Dr Mohamed Mansour