OET Writing

OET Writing Tips

The writing task has six marking criteria; purpose, content, conciseness and clarity, genre and style, organisation and layout, and language. These will be discussed in more detail below.

5 minutes reading time: read the writing task at the bottom of your case notes first. Ask yourself:

• Who am I writing the letter to?
• Why am I writing the letter?
• Does the recipient know the patient, or are you writing to someone who has never met the patient?

These questions are critical when you are choosing what information to include in your letter. When you read the case notes, ask yourself the following questions in order to establish that the purpose of the letter, and the content that should be included:

• What condition is affecting the patient?
• Do they have a clear diagnosis, or is it still unknown?
• What is the patient’s concern?
• What is your concern?
• What role will the recipient play in the management of this patient?
• What information will be important for them to be able to manage this patient? If not, do not include it in order for your letter to be concise and clear.

   

40 minutes writing time:

Establish a clear structure before you start writing, so that your answer has a clear layout, and is well organized. Ask yourself the following questions:

Introduction:

• Who is the patient? When and where did they see you? What is their health problem (diagnosis or symptoms)?
• Is this an emergency situation? If so always make that very clear in the introduction.

Body: 2-3 paragraphs

• What information is the most important? This should always go in the first paragraph (e.g. history of presenting complaint, details relating to the patient’s current health, reason for hospital admission, reason for visiting the clinic etc.)
• Is there any relevant past medical or social history? If so this should be integrated into the middle of the letter. Only include information that directly relates to the patient’s current health status.
• What is the plan going forward? This information is best clearly stated at the end of the letter.

General Tips:

• Genre and style: Only use appropriate medical jargon if your recipient will understand. Use layman’s terms if you are speaking to a non-medical person (e.g. don’t use medical terminology, or if you do, provide definitions)
• Do not use abbreviations (/, R, L, & etc.). Use full sentences.
• Be aware of the grammatical, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation errors that you make regularly in your practice letters. If you are aware of these yourself, you can learn to self-mark your answers when you have finished, to improve the

When you are doing Writing in OET, always follow these tips above.