Three parts and 42 questions in 60 minutes, the same test for every profession.
42 questions in 60 minutes
Answer one or two questions to find your next step.
Question 1 of 2
Part A rewards speed and exact copying. Try six questions below, at test pace if you like.
Part B tests whether you can find the one point a short workplace text is making. Try three below.
Part C is about the writer’s meaning and opinion in a longer article. Try four questions below.
Thirteen questions across the three parts will show you which one needs the most work.
Work on the part that cost you marks with an OET teacher, in Reading and Listening lessons. We keep supporting you until you pass.
Whether your Reading grade still counts depends on your regulator. The NMC can combine two full sittings within 12 months; the GMC needs every grade from one sitting. See OET pass grades by profession.
Four short texts and six questions. Copy each answer exactly as the text gives it.
Part A · Question 1 · Matching
Which text sorts the risk factors for a fall into two groups?
Answer: Text A
Text A groups the risk factors as intrinsic, relating to the patient, and extrinsic, relating to the environment. The other texts are procedures.
Part A · Question 2 · Matching
Which text tells you who must approve a second dose of night sedation?
Answer: Text C
Text C, the medication protocol: “the second dose must be authorised by the medical officer on call”. Approve in the question is authorised in the text.
Part A · Question 3 · Short answer
In which two positions should blood pressure be recorded before first mobilisation?
Answer: lying and sitting
Text B: “Record blood pressure lying and sitting.” Copy the words in the form the text uses.
Part A · Question 4 · Short answer
Where should the sensor pad of a bed alarm be placed?
Answer: lower back
Text D: “Place the sensor pad under the lower back, not the buttocks.” The buttocks is the trap: it is in the same sentence.
Part A · Question 5 · Sentence completion
Most serious falls after surgery happen within the first ______.
Answer: 24 hours
Text A: “Most serious falls occur within the first 24 hours after surgery.” The gap needs the number and its unit.
Part A · Question 6 · Sentence completion
If the indicator on a bed alarm flashes amber, replace the ______.
Answer: battery
Text D: “Replace the battery if the indicator flashes amber.” One word, spelled correctly, is the whole answer.
Three short workplace texts, each with one question and three options.
Part B · Question 1
Notice
Staff are reminded that the portable BP monitor must not be relied upon for clinical decisions when used within one metre of working diathermy or MRI equipment, where signal interference may produce inaccurate readings. The device itself is electrically safe in those environments.
The notice tells staff that
Answer: Readings taken near diathermy or MRI equipment may be inaccurate.
The problem is signal interference, so the readings can be wrong. The notice says the device is electrically safe, and it limits use only within one metre of that equipment.
Part B · Question 2
Following two recent incidents, all ward nurses are asked to re-check respiratory rate and sedation score within 30 minutes of any second opioid dose given on the same shift. This advisory is not a change of policy but a temporary precaution while the audit is completed.
The purpose of this email is to
Answer: Introduce a temporary precaution while an audit is completed.
The email says it is “not a change of policy but a temporary precaution”. It asks for re-checks after a second dose; it does not stop the dose.
Part B · Question 3
Guidance
A chaperone should be offered for all intimate examinations, regardless of the gender of either party. The offer, and the patient’s response, must be clearly documented. Where a chaperone is declined, the clinician may still postpone the examination if they consider it unsafe to proceed alone.
The guidance says that if a patient declines a chaperone,
Answer: The clinician may still postpone the examination.
“The clinician may still postpone the examination if they consider it unsafe to proceed alone.” Only the offer and the response are documented; there is no waiver.
One article and four questions on its meaning and the writer’s view.
Part C · Question 1
In the first paragraph, the writer says that the effects of sleep loss on staff
Answer: Are understood in outline but not in detail.
“The broad outline of these effects has been recognised for decades”, but “the precise mechanisms … remain incompletely understood”. Slower reactions are only one example.
Part C · Question 2
What does the writer say about the studies in the second paragraph?
Answer: Their data on sleep may not be accurate.
Staff report their own sleep, so the figures are “subject to recall bias”. The doubt is about the sleep data, not the near-miss events: that is the trap in the last option.
Part C · Question 3
The researchers in the third paragraph suggest that the link between poor sleep and errors
Answer: May be explained by the demands of the job.
Staff who sleep poorly “may already be working in higher-pressure roles, which in themselves increase the rate of errors”. The pressure of the role, not the sleep, could cause the errors.
Part C · Question 4
In the final paragraph, the writer’s attitude to low-cost measures is
Answer: Supportive, even though questions remain.
“Hospitals would still be wise to act” is a clear view in favour, given “even if the underlying biology remains contested”. A writer who says what is wise is not neutral.
Each answer is one mark. OET says Grade B typically takes at least 30 of the 42, but the boundary moves a little between tests, so treat 30 as an estimate.
Three habits for each part, from our OET teachers.
Four short texts on one topic, with 20 matching, short-answer and sentence-completion questions in 15 minutes.
Six short workplace texts, such as notices, emails and guidelines, each with one question and three options.
Two longer articles on a healthcare topic, each with eight questions and four options.
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