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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. Note: the health professionals
may be any one of the 12 professions who can take OET.

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.

How can I improve my language proficiency?

1. Develop your skills outside test contexts

Listening skills at the level required for OET Grade B are developed by listening regularly to
a wide range of speech, at natural speeds, from different speakers in different contexts. Don’t
limit your listening practice to test preparation materials: broaden your ability to deal with
new content and unfamiliar voices by listening to programmes on the radio and online
lectures. Try to listen to sources where a speaker is giving their own point of view. This will
give you good practice in identifying and following a speaker’s line of argument and attitude,
which is a different skill from picking out factual content.

2. Use the right skills for each part of the sub-test

Listening Part A (patient/ professional consultations) is about gathering specific information,
usually from the patient. You can write the information exactly as you hear it on the
recording. You don’t have to spend time making sure your grammar is perfect. Often,
grammar words such as articles or prepositions are provided in the answer key as a non-
essential part of the answer. OET Assessors are trained to accept small grammatical and
spelling errors.

Listening Part B (workplace communication) is about understanding the gist (main idea) of
communication between two healthcare colleagues, a healthcare professional and their patient
or by a healthcare professional to a group of colleagues. You need to choose the best option
from 3 which represents the content of the communication. All the answer options may be
mentioned, so it’s important to check which one is covered completely.

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Listening Part C (healthcare presentation/ interview) involves two main types of listening:
understanding direct meaning and understanding inferred meaning. For questions about direct
meaning, you will for example be asked about the speaker’s main idea. Questions about
inferred meaning might focus on the speaker’s attitude. Like for Part B, you need to choose
the best option from 3 to answer each question. In Part C you need to demonstrate deeper
comprehension of the meaning of what has been said rather than the main idea.

For all parts of the test, use the pauses included in the recording to read the question booklet
carefully; this will help you identify what you need to listen for. Remember that to answer
correctly it may not be necessary to understand every word you hear. In multiple choice
tasks, be careful not to choose an option just because you hear a word or phrase from it on the
recording. Think about the whole meaning of what is said and match it to the closest option.
In Part A where you have to write down information as note completion, listen for words
which indicate the structure of what the speaker is saying. This includes names or terms
which match headings on the page. These will help guide you through the information on the
page and choose answers which fit logically.

3. Manage your time in the sub-test

In the test you hear the recording only once, so it’s important to write your answers as you
listen. But remember to check your answers afterwards. There are short breaks between each
question where you can do this, and also a 2-minute period at the end of the sub-test. Use this
time to check that you have clearly answered each question and written your answers for Part
A legibly.

4. Complete the question booklet correctly

In Part A, write your answers directly onto the lines provided for the two extracts in the
question booklet. The length of the line should be sufficient to write the correct answer. Parts
B and C are computer marked so it’s essential that you follow the instructions provided on
the front page of the question booklet when entering your answers. You must fill in the circle
containing your chosen answer A, B or C using a 2B pencil. Working as quickly as you can,
shade in the whole of the circle including the letter with your pencil so it can be clearly read
by the computer. If you want to change your answer, erase it and fill in the circle of the
answer you now want to choose.

This article contains a mixture of advice about how to improve your listening
skills for the OET listening paper as well as things to take into consideration about the
format of the listening paper itself.

1. Get familiar with different areas of medicine or

healthcare

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As a nurse, doctor or perhaps another type of healthcare professional, you are very familiar
with the medical topics that you deal with on a day-to-day basis. However, you may be a
little rusty when it comes to other specialities. For this reason, it is recommended that you
become familiar with other medical occupations and what they do. You might want to
consider reading up on cardiology, oncology, ophthalmologist, as well as topics related to
nursing, medicine, etc.

2. Get familiar with the format of the exam

In addition to learning more about other areas of medicine, you also need to get to know the
format of the OET EXAM. For example, you will have time to review your answers after
each section. If you are aware of this set of instructions, you can really take advantage of that
during the OET listening test. Also, knowing the rules related to the test will mean that you
are more focused on test day. Finally, becoming familiar with the OET test regulations,
which are rules related to all parts of the test, is also recommended as they contain
information about topics like accepted identifications and special arrangements.

3. Read questions before listening to the audio

If you have done sample tests or taken a look at OET listening test instructions, you have
likely seen that before each part, there is some time to read through the questions. The
amount of time is based on how much text you need to read. It is very important that you use
this time to read the questions so that you can make predictions about what you are going to
listen to as well as be ready to listen for keywords in the audio.

4. Speak up if you cannot hear

When you are at the test venue, a member of staff will do an audio check if you are taking a
paper-based test or they will have you do an audio check if you are doing a computer-based
test. If you cannot hear the audio well, then you need to notify the staff member or the remote
proctor as soon as possible. You are not advised to try to resolve the problem yourself. If you
have a documented hearing problem, you may want to ask for special arrangements.
However, this must be done prior to the OET test date. For more information, you can consult
the OET Test Regulations.

5. Move on with the listening

Like other listening tests, the audio of the OET listening test goes in order with the questions.
That is to say that the first question about an audio will be answered early on in the audio,
and the information for the last question will come near the end of the audio. It is important
for you to know this so that you can move from question to question with the audio. If you
get stuck on a question while listening and do not move on to the next, you are likely to miss
several questions in a row.

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6. Be familiar with common abbreviations
Healthcare is a profession with a lot of commonly used abbreviations, such as BP for blood
pressure and A&E for accident and emergency department. It is important for you to be both
familiar with these abbreviations when you hear them used in everyday conversations
between doctors and nurses, but you should also be able to use them appropriately. In Part A
of the OET listening test, you need to take notes about a patient, and using abbreviations in
those notes will help you to avoid spelling mistakes and it will also reduce the amount of
letters you need to write.

7. Decide on the format right for you

Due to recent circumstances, the OET is now offered in a new format called OET@home.
This means there are now three ways to take the OET, paper-based and COMPUTER
BASED, both of which are taken at a test venue, and then the OET@ HOME, which is home-
based and proctored remotely. While all formats of the exam have the same cost and are the
same when it comes to the tasks, the system that will be used to deliver the OET@home may
offer accessibility features helpful to anyone with hearing difficulties. The OET is still in the
process of releasing information about OET@home

8. Listen to health podcasts or videos

Listening to health podcasts or YouTube videos is an excellent way to improve your listening
skills and get more familiar with a variety of topics in medicine at the same time. The greatest
thing about them is there is no cost. You can subscribe to a variety of podcasts or channels on
your phone and have easy access to them whenever you have a few free minutes to practice.

Here are some points to keep in mind.

1. Read all of the questions carefully before listening:

2. Decide what sort of listening skill you need to perform:

3. Be prepared to listen for the message.

4. Don’t get distracted.

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