How to Improve Speaking at Home
Most students ask me for tips on how they can improve their speaking when they’re at home, without a Sydney Language Solutions teacher/tutor to practise with. Below are some of my suggestions.
- The first and most obvious suggestion is to practise with someone who speaks English at home. Perhaps a family member. Perhaps a friend. Or, even better, a friend or family member who is ALSO doing the Occupational English Test. Get them to practise different tasks with you and give you feedback afterwards about your fluency, the clarity and speed of your speech and about the language you used.
- Another way is to practise by yourself. This can involve, for instance, recording yourself speaking! For this exercise, I particularly encourage you to check your speed (tell yourself to SLOW DOWN!) and to check whether or not you say words like “um”, “uh”, “like” or “er” which can affect your fluency. Count how many “um”s you say!
- One final suggestion is, indeed of speaking, you can PLAN out the conversation and write down what you would say in the scenario. This can improve both your grammar and your sentence structure. Think of different phrases you can use to reassure patients, to advise patients or to ask clear questions.
Hope these help! Good luck!
The Most Important Thing to Remember about the OET
Whether it is your first time, or your second/third/fourth time, sitting the Occupational English Test can be very nerve-racking. Your palms will sweat, you’ll feel palpitations and your breaths will be shallower. A common feeling is that you’ll feel as if you can’t remember a SINGLE thing medically-related because you’re so nervous.
Luckily for you, the most important thing to remember about the OET is that: The OET does NOT test your medical knowledge. It is simply testing your ENGLISH.
So what does this mean?
For the listening, it means that, even if you don’t know anything about the topic/s being discussed, you can still pass if you listen to the conversation carefully.
For the reading, it also means that if the topic is something you have never read about, you can still pass both parts A and B through careful reading and analysis of the texts. The answers require no prior medical knowledge.
For the writing, it means that when you come across a completely new scenario in the case notes, you can just base your letter on the notes given (obviously).
And finally, for the speaking, it means that you can actually – and a lot of students don’t realise this – make information up! You will not get penalised for incorrect content, as long as you sound confident in what you’re saying.
So there you have it. Don’t stress if you come across a new topic!
Common General Questions about the OET
In this blog, I will outline some of the common general questions that students in my classes have asked me regarding the OET. In fact, most of this information can be found on the Occupational English Test official website but I have discussed them here for easy access.
How do I sign up for the exam? Does Sydney Language Solutions do it for us?
Signing up for the exam is easy – you just log onto the official Occupational English Test and follow the links. Sydney Language Solutions tutors aim to help you to learn strategies to pass the exam, we will not sign you up for the exam. That is for you to do in your own time. If you have any issues though, you can always discuss with our teachers.
I’ve just paid for the exam but they haven’t told me the venue or time?
Don’t worry! The venue and time of your exam is emailed to you one week prior to the test date, so wait until then for this information. If, during that week, you still haven’t received anything – then it’s important to contact the OET centre and check your registration.
Should I use pen or pencil in the exam?
For MOST of the components, it actually doesn’t matter if you use pen or pencil! My best advice is to use whichever writing utensil you feel most comfortable writing in because you will be using it a LOT on the exam day. However, for reading part B, you will need a pencil to fill in the multiple choice answer sheet.
These are all very common concerns for the OET student – you’re not alone!
All the best.
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