Tips for Improving OET Reading at Home
Many of my students struggle to complete either part A or part B of the reading for a number of reasons. Part A requires you to be able to quickly skim read and pick out key words that will guide you to the answer, while Part B is a test of your reading comprehension and will highlight a need to improve general vocabulary and understanding of the written language. Below are some of my suggestions on how to improve your reading at home.
- Get into the habit of reading every day. Whether it is an English novel, the newspaper or a magazine it is very important to read something every day, or as regularly as possible to improve your reading speed and comprehension. For the OET in particular it would be a good idea to read scientific journal articles online from wites such as Medline, EBSCO and PubMed, or read information on medical websites such as the BMJ (British Medical Journal).
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- Finally be smart about what you read and try to summarise the meaning to test how well you understand the text. This is an exercise you can do to see how well you are able to understand what you have read. While you are reading a book/newspaper/magazine pick a page, or a few paragraphs and read them, then try to summarise what you have just read either verbally or by writing a small summary.
Hopefully these small tips will help improve your reading skills immensely. Best of luck in the future with the OET!
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!
Recommended Books for the OET Student
Cambridge English for Nursing (Intermediate Plus) Student’s Book with Audio CDs
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
This book provides a range of exercises to develop both your nursing knowledge as well as your language and communication skills. There are listening activities reflecting everyday nursing scenarios and sections that focus on communication (such as how to give advice), which are important for OET speaking roleplays. The section on abbreviations and acronyms used in healthcare will be useful for OET writing, as well as the online glossary with a pronunciation guide. You can also review your knowledge of common nursing scenarios to prepare for the speaking exam – such as in respiratory care, nursing wound care, etc.
Cambridge English for Nursing Pre-intermediate Student’s Book with Audio CD
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
Units such as ‘Caring for patients after an operation’ and diabetes management will be vital in preparing for your OET speaking exam as it is a common scenario. This book can also be used review your language skills with listening activities and a focus in every chapter on communication – such as showing empathy during hospital interactions. This is recommended for the nursing student seeking to review their basic nursing skills and techniques, as well as basic medical sciences.
English for Medicine in Higher Education Studies
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
This book is designed for students who plan to take a course in the field of medicine entirely or partly in English. Complete with audio for lecture and seminar excerpts, these are perfect for the OET student studying for the listening component of the exam. I particularly recommend utilising their great tips for note-taking (useful for OET listening) and recognising digressions, and choosing the vital information from the irrelevant information of a text. Students can also use the exercises with figures and diagrams to develop your skills in interpretation of figures, in preparation for the OET reading.
English for Nursing, Academic Skills
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
This book is great for the Nursing student. There are sections on critical thinking in Nursing, a vital skill to incorporate and develop during medical studies, whether in Nursing or Medicine. For the students preparing for the OET in particular, specific chapters of the book focusing on reading and skimming skills may reveal new strategies you can use to tackle your OET reading. The section on ‘Developing Note-Taking Skills’ will assist in both your study and work environments, as well as in the OET, especially in the Listening section. I also particularly recommend this book to develop your understanding of research terminology.
English in Medicine: A Course in Communication Skills
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
English in Medicine is an introductory text for overseas health professionals wanting to review their basic communication skills, perhaps in preparation for the OET exam. It provides insight into a range of clinically relevant tasks, such as taking a detailed patient history, communicating with the patient during the physical examination as well as completing clinical notes. Suitable for health professionals just starting out in an English-speaking environment, there are sample patient-doctor dialogues that the student can listen to, accompanied with the appropriate transcript, which can be used to practice for the OET listening component. In addition, the section on search strategy can be relevant to your other medical studies.
Oxford English for Careers Nursing 1: Student’s Book
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
Short exercises and simple language are the benefits of this book for the student who is beginning their studies in English. The book advances from more general chapters regarding the hospital team and environment, to more specific topics include mental health nursing and managing a patient’s medications. Use the language spot to revise your grammar skills, including prepositions or the passive form. A basic, easy-to-use revision textbook if you’re looking for one to review and prepare for the OET exam.
Oxford English for Careers Nursing 2: Student’s Book
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
This book progresses on from Book 1, with a more detailed focus on areas of Medicine, ranging from Obstetrics to Renal and Psychiatry, suitable for the more advanced student. A more comprehensive revision of essential writing, speaking, listening and reading communication skills is provided to help pass your OET as well as to work as a nurse. Signs and symptoms relevant to each discipline are reviewed and discussed, useful for writing and speaking in the OET. Again, the language spot will assist in revision of grammar and vocabulary.
Professional English in Use Medicine
This book can be bought at slsbooks.com.au
Designed to assist those who wish to improve in their interpretation and fluency of medical journals and textbooks, Professional English in Use Medicine will take you through the various body systems and the relevant terminology that is commonly used in each specialty. Students may also find the sections on history-taking, physical examinations as well as communicating treatment and management to be useful to their studies. For the OET student, this is a concise textbook to https://skincarepillsshop.com review your basic medical terminology as you begin to undertake your studies and work in an English-speaking setting.
FAQs in OET Writing – for Medicine
In my time as an OET teacher at Sydney Language Solutions, I have seen many Medicine students take the OET examination. Here are some questions that Medicine students frequently ask me and I will provide the subsequent answers.
What kind of a letter will I be writing?
You will be writing a referral letter based on the patient’s notes provided.
Who will I be writing to?
Most of the time, you will be writing to a specialist for further management of the patient’s presenting problems. However, perhaps it is also wise to be prepared to write a letter to a nurse or an allied health professional. It is very important to keep in mind WHO you are writing to and what their ROLE in the patient care is.
Do I have to include all the information?
No, you do not have to include all the patient’s information. In fact, you shouldn’t because you may exceed the word limit of 200 words. Choose the most relevant and appropriate findings. If possible, write only positive findings. Try to SUMMARISE and write as CONCISELY as you can.
Are the address, date, subject line and salutation (e.g. Dear Doctor) included in the word count?
No, these sections of the letter do NOT contribute to your word count. The word count begins at the start of Diazepam shops your introductory paragraph. However, it is still important to include these elements (address, date, subject line, salutation) because they make your letter LOOK like a letter.
All the best!
More Tips to Improve OET Speaking
1. Explain everything in as much detail as possible!
Remember your speaking task is marked using the recording of your voice. This means that the examiners cannot see your hand actions or facial expressions. Therefore, you need to explain everything in words – clearly. Step by step.
Example: Explaining how to inject insulin.
Firstly, you should choose your site for injection (such as, the abdomen). Then, you need to pinch the skin between your thumb and index finger. Then, hold the needle at 45 degrees to the surface and inject!
2. As the example above, use words like firstly and secondly, etc.
This is recommended as it gives your speaking task a sense of structure. It allows you to explain medical procedures in a simple, systematic sequence. Some other words you can use include in addition, furthermore, following on from that… and the list goes on. You can use these in writing, too!
3. Clarify with the patient and check that they are understanding you.
As medical procedures can be quite complicated and detailed, it may be difficult for the patient to follow what you are saying. To overcome any confusion and to clarify with the patient, use pauses throughout your speaking to give the patient a chance to ask their questions. In addition, you can ask them questions like “Are you following?” “Does this make sense?” “Do you have any questions about this procedure so far?”
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I hope these tips can help you improve in OET speaking and reduce those nerves! Good luck.
Overcoming the Fear of OET Reading Passages – Part 2
My previous blog post (Overcoming the Fear of OET Reading Passages – Part 1) outlined some key techniques you can use to tackle Part B of the OET reading component. In this post, I will further discuss techniques about how to approach the comprehension that I hope you will find useful in your preparation.
#1 Eliminate answers
It is often very hard to see the answer straightaway as there may be several similar answers. However, to make things easier, you should start by eliminating the options which are blatantly incorrect. This narrows down the amount of options to choose from, giving you a higher chance of choosing the correct option.
#2 Familiarise yourself with statistical conversions
If the questions include statistics, you should be very careful in interpreting and matching it to the data presented in the text. They may further trick you by changing the statistics a little – for instance, you should know that “1 in 5” is the same as “20%”. You should also take note that if it says “43 per thousand of the population” this equates to approximately “4 – 5% of the population” (do the maths!).
#3 Options that are too ‘certain’ are often incorrect
In medicine, there is a lot of uncertainty and rarely are things absolutely definitive. For this reason, if a multiple choice option uses words such as “strongly associated” or “directly related” or “definitely” or any other ‘definitive’ words … it is usually wrong! It is ONLY correct if the statement is exactly stated in the text.
Comprehension can certainly be very difficult but with the right strategy and ongoing practice of Phentermine health some key techniques, OET reading can hopefully seem more like a friend than a foe.
All the best!
What to initially read in reading part A.
For reading part A, because you really don’t have much time to waste in 15 minutes, I would advise you to read only a few select things first before attempting to answer the gap fills.
Firstly, read the text stimulus headings, taking note of the key words and what aspect of the overall topic it is covering. For instance, if the entire topic is on vasectomy, then text A may be on the associated risks of prostate cancer in those who have undergone vasectomy, text B may be on the incidence of vasectomy over age and years, text C on the complications of vasectomy and it’s reversibility, text D on the reversibility of vasectomy. By noting this, when in the question it mentions vasectomy reversal, you can be aware to refer to either text C or D for the answer.
Furthermore, as the question passage is of a reporting form, it will often refer to the sources from which it is drawing information from before going onto speak about its content. Therefore, these will be cues for you to know which text to locate your answer. It is important to take note not only of the headings but also what text type it is. For example, is it a study, a research abstract, a literature review, a case study, a statistic, a newspaper journal, a report, a Q&A patient brochure etc? So in the question sheet it might say “according to a case study performed…” and if you had noted that text B was a case study then you can refer to that text to scan for the answer.
I think you get the idea so I will list the features to look out for before you begin attempting to answer the questions from Part A reading.
- Heading: and key words/topics in that heading/subheading (n.b. subheadings can be the questions in a Q&A, the aims of a research abstract)
- Text type: study, report, experiment, survey, statistic, case study, literature review
- Authors: e.g. Wilson et al.
- Year of publication: e.g. the 2008 study.
- Place/country/name of publication/study: e.g US study, Canadian report, the Age newspaper.
After having glanced for this information, which should only take you a few seconds, then you go on to attempt the questions.
Good luck.
Overcoming the Fear of OET Reading Passages – Part 1
Comprehension can be challenging because, apart from assessing your English vocabulary skills, it is a test of your understanding and interpretation of extensive passages in English.
This sparks cries of fear from OET students.
Although you have 45 minutes to tackle 20 questions from two texts in the OET, you need to have some good techniques under your belt to help you overcome your fear of the reading passages.
#1 Start with the questions
You should start with the questions to give you an indication of which paragraph to read. This is because, if you read the entire passage, you will probably not recall all the finer details anyway and will waste time reading over it again.
#2 Circle conjunctions that link ideas together
As you read the appropriate paragraph of the passage, circle words like ‘but’ or ‘however’ or ‘in contrast’ which show two contrasting ideas. Or perhaps phrases like ‘in addition’ or ‘furthermore’ that show similar ideas. Or, if any, try to spot ‘which causes’ or ‘leading to’ which show a cause and effect relationship!
#3 RTFQ = Read The Full Question!
Once you have a good understanding of the relevant paragraphs, return to the question and read all the options carefully. This is because often there is simply one word that can affect whether the answer is right or wrong.
By coupling these simple techniques with constant reading of https://sildenafilhealth.com medical passages to build your vocabulary, you can surely gradually overcome your fear of OET reading.
– Carol Luov
Another tips for OET Writing
“The” patient
A common mistake that ESL students make in the writing section is when making reference to the patient. This is done as necessity all throughout the letter.
Letter header
The patient’s full name and date of birth or age should be mentioned right at the start of the letter in the letter header “Re: (patient’s first name AND surname, date of birth).” This should always be included in a referral letter as the doctor or health specialist that you are writing to will most likely have hundreds of patients they see and need a quick way of filing and identifying patients without mixing them up.
First paragraph
In the introductory paragraph of the letter, you will invariably be mentioning the patient. It is important to mention at least the patient’s first name or their surname with appropriate title of Mr/Ms when referring to them.
Body paragraphs.
Ideally you would mention the patient’s name at the first sentence of every new paragraph. You would refer to the patient by their name if there is more than one person involved in the patient’s case. For example, the patient’s name may be mentioned when describing reports from a collateral account like a parent to not confuse the two.
Otherwise, you can refer to the patient as “the patient” or she/he etc as appropriate grammatically. Oftimes I see students just writing “patient” instead of “the” patient. It is always “the patient.” It may seem like a pedantic pointer but always remember this is a English test so proper grammar counts!
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