OET Listening

OET Listening Tips: Part A

Part A requires you to identify specific information during a consultation between a health-care professional and a patient. Here is a list of tips and tricks to help you pass the listening test:

• Use the same words that you hear on the recording, and avoid paraphrasing or changing anything.
• Give the most accurate answer possible, such as any descriptive words, provided your answer is 3 words or less (e.g. ‘bowel cancer’ not just ‘cancer’).
• Use the subheadings to guide you through the case notes, and help if you get lost (e.g. presenting complaint, family history, medications, plan etc.).
• Use abbreviations that are accepted by all health care professionals, but if unsure write it out in full to be safe.
• Don’t worry if you don’t find an answer- just move on, otherwise you will miss important information to answer subsequent questions.
• Your job is to copy down the words that you hear in order to fill out the case notes- there is no need to interpret or comprehend the information given.
• Check for errors at the end when you have time to read over your answers, and fill in the gaps.
• They don’t mark spelling, so if you are unsure spell the word phonetically and you will get the mark.

OET Listening : Part B

Part B involves listening to six short workplace extracts of about 1 minute each. Important things to identify in each extract involve detail, gist, opinion, or purpose. In order to do well you must do the following:

• Make sure you read the question, and really understand what they are asking.
• Read the MCQ options before you hear the audio, and understand each option- the wording can be tricky, so be very careful.
• Don’t go for most complicated answer, or the answer that uses the same wording as the audio if you are unsure. Often these options are not correct.
• Once you have read the question and options in full and have understood what is being asked, give the audio your complete attention so that you can select the most accurate answer.

OET Listening : Part C

Part C involves following a recorded presentation or interview, which will cover a range of healthcare topics. You will be required to:

• Stay focused and attentive, so that you can listen and understand as much of the audio as possible.
• Read the question and all the options thoroughly before you answer, as there may be more than one correct option. You must select the option that is the most correctly fits the question.
• Don’t apply your own understanding of the topic when deciding which answer to select, as this may not be the same understanding as that of the speaker.
• Listen carefully to learn the beliefs, opinions and perceptions of the person who is speaking. Use these to answer the questions.
• Stay on top of the questions by listening for key words that will help to guide you through.
• If you miss a question just move on. You can come back to it in the 2 minutes reading time at the end and guess the answer.

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