Occupational English test known as OET is the English test most widely used by healthcare workers. OET results are now accepted as proof of English language skills in the UK, the USA, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Singapore, Malta, Maldives, Qatar, Namibia and Ukraine. Accordingly, it is important to prepare well for the test to go on with your dreams. OET has four subtests including listening, reading, speaking, and writing. It could be quite challenging to pass the score you need, but with good preparation and practice you will ace this exam. Many candidates complain specifically about the writing section in the exam, in this article we will be discussing 15 tips to help you getting an A. 1- Be familiar with the assessment criteria. The criteria are: Purpose Content Conciseness & Clarity Genre & Style Organisation & Layout Language Each of the above is assigned a band score from 0 to 7, except for Purpose, which is given a band score of 0 to 3. If you are looking to get a score of 350 (previously grade B) in Writing, you will be required to score highly in each of the six criteria. 2- Master the layout, introduction, and request. These three parts are easy to master and will give a good impression about the whole letter. The layout includes the date, address and receiver’s name. This information will be already included in the task. The introduction should be concise and delivers the purpose clearly. And finally, the request which will be also included in the task. 3- Organizing and laying out your letter. Chronologically or thematically, you can structure your letter with either ways. It differs according to the type of the letter and suitability of the case notes. The neat, organized structure always wins. You should identify the important information and highlight them in the beginning and not to bury them under irrelevant information. You should also learn how to be flexible with your structure, so you do not panic if the exam is a bit challenging. 4- The Genre and Style of your OET letter. The letter format should be formal as you are writing to another professional. So, you need to know what formal writing looks like and how to use it. It is also important to know who you are addressing the letter to, so you pick the information relevant to them. 5- Conciseness & Clarity. Reading the case notes for the first time is confusing. But by practice and writing many letters you will be easily able to pick the relevant information to be included in your letter and disregard the content that will not help the reader to provide care to the patient. 6- Practice makes perfect. Learning any new information or skill could take time and effort at the beginning, but with continuous practice it will be a second nature for you. This also applies for the writing, if you developed a routine of writing a letter daily, you will be surprised by how better you get with time. There are many available writing tasks so do not worry that the tasks will be finished, you will always find new ones. 7- It is not only about writing, but you also need to read too! Reading corrected letters and OET official letter samples is important. You will be more familiar with the way of writing, the vocabulary used and the grammar. You can also adopt new expressions or sentences that you can use writing your own letter. 8- Find an English teacher. We all can write but not all of us can spot the mistakes like teachers do. That why it is important to subscribe with an academy or a teacher to correct some of your letters. It is advisable to start this step early on in your writing journey, so you practice the right way with minimal mistakes. 9- Work on your vocab, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Big bulk of the marks is about your writing style. You will need to transform the case notes into a letter with your own style. You must not copy the case notes directly into your letter, rather tell a story to the reader to fulfil the task. That is why you need to master the skill of writing coherently with correct vocab, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 10- Time management. You get 45 minutes for writing task. 5 minutes of them you are not allowed to write anything and 40 minutes for writing your letter. Be wise using your time to prepare, write and proofread. The first five minutes are to read the case notes, start by reading the task itself to know who you are writing to and the purpose of the letter. After that continue reading the case notes to choose what is relevant and what is not. During the 40 minutes, plan your structure and follow it. make sure to leave time to proofread at the end. The only way to tackle this is by practicing many letters with your timer set as in the real exam. 11- Attend Oet online and e2 language writing sessions on Facebook and YouTube. In these sessions, an instructor reads the case notes, and the attendants write down their paragraphs and then they discuss on these paragraphs and correct any mistakes. So, it is an interactive session that will help you choose relevant information and improve your writing style. 12- Contact OET page on Facebook. I learnt that late, but it helped me a lot. OET page on Facebook answers your messages if you have questions about writing. I used to write a letter and if I am in doubt of a specific sentence, I send them a message on Facebook, and they reply. They are very helpful. 13- Check out OET official website. The official website has information about the writing subtest, frequently asked questions, tips to score high and they also offer free courses sometime. You will need whatever you are looking for there. 14- Be organized. Keep all the letters you write, highlight your mistakes in each one. And before your exam re-read these highlighted notes to make sure you are avoiding them. Keep a note to write the new words and sentences you liked to check them again later. 15- Do not get discouraged. it might seem hard the beginning, but once you have taken your first steps, you will keep marching forward. Believe in yourself.
