The listening test of the OET exam is one of the sections of the exam that can be more easily improved upon if you dedicate time to improving your listening skills. I have compiled a number of tips that have significantly helped my students improve their score in this section of the exam.

1. Familiarise yourself with different areas of medicine/health. Many students struggle in the listening section when they come across topics which they are not familiar with for example maternal/neonatal health, dentistry, occupational medicine etc. To help improve your listening mark it is important that you:

Learn about the name for each of the different specialties in medicine and read a little bit about what each involves eg

• ENT – Ear/nose and throat surgeons

• Endocrinologist – Physicians involved in treating/diagnosing hormonal problems

• Obstetrics/Gynecology – Surgeons/physicians involved in the pre/peri/post-natal care of mothers and their babies. Learn the terminology around menstruation and pregnancy

• Cardiologist – treats heart disease

• Anaestheologist – treats chronic pain syndromes; administers anesthesia and monitors the patient during surgery

• Nephrologist – treats kidney disease

• Oncologist – treats cancer

• Ophthalmologist – treats eye injuries, defects and diseases

• Gastroenterologist – treats stomach disorders and disease

• Podiatrist – treats and manages disorders of the foot*

• Paediatrician – treats infants, toddlers, children and teenagers*

 

*People often mix up these two specialties but they are very different so watch out for this

The list goes on. The most important point is to learn some of the common terminology used in each profession such that if you were given a conversation to listen to between an Opthalmologist and a patient you would be familiar with the most basic terms.

2. Once you have familiarized yourself with these areas of tramadolhealth.com medical specialty start listening to health blogs and summarising what you hear as you listen. The best way to improve listening is to practice listening to similar health material either on youtube, or look for TED talks or interviews. Whilst you listen, pause the recording and summarise/re-write everything you heard.

If you improve your knowledge base in regards to the topics that the listening section may use and then improve your listening skills by doing the above exercise you will undoubtedly improve your score.

Hope you find this helpful and good luck!

Nadishi Athulathmudali, OET Tutor.