Most healthcare professionals coming to the UK or other English speaking countries have traditionally done the IELTS test, this is an academic, Cambridge exam. Unfortunately it is quite a broad academic exam, and as such means you have to know a lot of extra information outside of the medical field. This is where the OET exam excels, focusing entirely on medical language in the spoken role plays and information that all healthcare workers should be comfortable with.
Similarly to IELTS, OET has four sections, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Where it is slightly different to the IELTS examination is that it heavily relies on skills focus. What does this mean in practice? Simply doing OET mock tests will not guarantee you a pass. You need to get comfortable and good at a variety of skills, for example in the reading part you must master skimming, scanning and reading for detail. As far as possible this test mimics a medical working environment.
So if you are thinking about registering for OET the first step is going to the homepage and registering, after this read the introduction to the different parts of the exam. Next download and try the free sample paper. Once you've got a flavour of what the exam is about, you should contact a competent tutor or language school for further assistance. Check out more details at www.occupationalenglishtest.org
