The reading section of the OET is about reading quickly and actively as well as having a good understanding of the passage. These skills can be practised.

You should practise increasing your reading speed by finding new medical passages online or in a printed journal and reading them at home. Time yourself and challenge yourself to increase your speed each time.

You also need to be able to retain the information – so try writing down what you remember after reading the passage. You should then aim to increase the amount you remember each time you practise.

Eventually, you will have increased the speed at which you read as well as the amount of information you remember from your reading. As an extra plus, you will have expanded your medical vocabulary (which can definitely be helpful in the OET and your professional life!) because of all the new scientific articles/passages you have read!

…. so practise, practise, PRACTISE!

When writing a referral letter, there are always some common mistakes that I have found students repeat over and over again.
The first is not making grammatically complete sentences. Since the patient file lists patient information in point form and not complete sentence form, it may be tempting to just list the information. However, markers can easily pick up on that because it does not flow grammatically correct. For example, when you are referring to a medical condition or treatment on a particular part of the patient’s body, then to be grammatically correct, you must use possessive pronouns. E.g. ulcer on his/her left lower thigh. This also applies for things that belong to the patient. E.g. her exercise program, his weight.

Another common mistake is the use of the word ‘diagnosis.’ A medical diagnosis refers to the process of finding out the cause of the disease or disorder and to the opinion reached by this process. This means that there is a level of difficulty or investigation required to find out the illness. For instance in the case of cancers or infections, blood tests or pathological investigations must be carried out. However, in the case of burns or cuts, fractures etc, you would not refer to them as being diagnosed with a burn or a cut.

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Finally the use of tense is often a challenge for students. Just remember that in general a letter is reporting a patient’s case so it is generally in past tense. When you are reporting on events or symptoms that occurred in the past then you use past tense. E.g. he had diabetes since he was 10 years old. When you are requesting a call of action for post-discharge then you use future tense. E.g. He will need regular blood pressure checks.

Of course there are a lot more ways that writing can be perfected, so practise is the key and regular proof checks from the teachers at Sydney language solutions the ultimate solution to passing OET!