International Exams · Entrance Exams

OET Syllabus

OET has no topic list. It has four sub-tests with fixed parts, and two of them are written for your profession.

OET · checked 19 September 2026

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

Free OET mock test OET syllabus Today’s current affairs

19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

OET: the facts that matter now

01
CBLA, at test venues in India and worldwide, and at home through OET@Home
Administered by
02
Healthcare registration and employment — NMC and GMC in the UK, AHPRA in Australia, US state nursing boards and others; some visa purposes
Used for
03
Listening about 40 minutes, 42 questions; Reading 60 minutes, 42; Writing 45 minutes, one letter; Speaking 20 minutes, two role plays
Sub-tests
04
0–500 in ten-point steps per sub-test, with grades A 450–500, B 350–440, C+ 300–340, C 200–290, D 100–190, E 0–90
Scoring

Syllabus

OET — What the syllabus covers

The sub-tests as the OET Test Handbook describes them.
Sub-test	Time	Parts	Tasks and questions
Listening	About 40 minutes	3	Part A: two consultations, note completion, 24 questions. Part B: six short workplace extracts, one three-option question each. Part C: two presentations or interviews, six three-option questions each. 42 in all, heard once.
Reading	60 minutes	3	Part A: 15 minutes, four short texts, 20 matching, short-answer and completion questions. Part B: six short workplace texts, one three-option question each. Part C: two long articles, eight four-option questions each. 42 in all.
Writing	45 minutes	1 task	Five minutes to read case notes and forty to write a letter — referral, transfer, discharge or advice — specific to the profession.
Speaking	20 minutes	2 tasks	A warm-up of two to three minutes, then two role plays from profession-specific role cards, three minutes’ preparation and five minutes each, with an interlocutor as the patient or carer.

Writing criteria: Purpose, content, conciseness and clarity, genre and style, organisation and layout, and language. The letter must select what the reader needs from the notes, in the register of a professional letter, with the case history in an order a colleague can act on.
Speaking criteria: Four linguistic criteria each marked out of six — intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language, resources of grammar and expression — and five clinical-communication categories each out of three: relationship building, understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective, providing structure, information gathering and information giving.
The twelve professions: Dentistry, dietetics, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, speech pathology and veterinary science. The profession is chosen at booking and cannot be changed on the day.