The world’s only international English language test specifically for healthcare professionals
www.occupationalenglishtest.org
CONTENTS CONTENTS 04
About OET
08
The OET Difference
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Taking OET – Delivery Modes
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Results and Assessment
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NHS Success Stories
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Support for the NHS
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Partners
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Candidate Success Stories
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Support for Candidates
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OET Pulse
Dear NHS Colleague With the ongoing drive to recruit healthcare professionals from overseas, English language is more important than ever. Knowing that overseas nurses have a standard of English that will enable them to provide safe and effective care is reassuring for hiring managers, colleagues and patients alike. OET provides that reassurance because it is the only test to base its questions on real healthcare communication scenarios. This, in turn, can lead to greater success, as candidates feel they understand the test before they sit it. What’s more, OET is recognised by the NMC and the GMC. This means that overseas-trained doctors and nurses who have passed OET have proven their English proficiency to the standard accepted for safe practice by the UK regulatory bodies and are also cleared for immigration purposes. In this brochure you can read how NHS Trusts are embedding OET into their recruitment workflows and moving candidates through to registered status faster than before. We also hear from candidates for whom passing OET has made gaining employment in the NHS a “dream come true.” The OET Team
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The OET test is a comprehensive and testing exam… I would feel confident as an employer of overseas doctors with a satisfactory OET English language result. Alistair Flowerdew MBBS, FECSEd, MS, former Medical Director and Responsible Officer of three NHS Trusts
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OET has given me the confidence that here I am, I’ll be acceptable, I’ll be able to communicate… It has given me the confidence to practise my nursing. Muulo Siwila OET candidate and RN
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01.
ABOUT OET
01. About OET
OET uses real healthcare scenarios, rather than general examples, so nurses feel more confident when they are preparing for and taking the test.
The Occupational English Test (OET) is the world’s only international English language test that has been designed specifically to meet the communication needs of the English-speaking healthcare workplace. It provides a thorough and practical assessment of all four language skills – reading, speaking, writing and listening – with an emphasis on communication in a healthcare environment.
Professor Tim McNamara World-renowned language testing expert and developer of OET
12 different versions for 12 professions:
Dentistry
Dietetics
Medicine
Nursing
Occupational Therapy
Optometry
Pharmacy
Physiotherapy
Podiatry
Radiography
Speech Pathology
Veterinary Science
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Patient Safety and Quality of Care
Valid and Reliable
Highly Secure and Trustworthy
Limited language proficiency is an obstacle to effective communication affecting quality of care. OET is designed to replicate the critical tasks of healthcare workplace settings and measure abilities across the skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Developed by the makers of IELTS in the 1980s, OET is underpinned by Cambridge Assessment English and the University of Melbourne’s acclaimed Language Testing and Research Centre. OET has featured prominently in research literature related to language testing in specific-purpose contexts.
OET can be taken in more than 40 countries at secure facilities with highly trained staff. Robust identity and malpractice checks, test material assessed centrally, and a secure results verification service provide critical protection around this high-stakes test.
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01. About OET
UK RECOGNISING ORGANISATIONS
01. About OET
OET is widely recognised for employment, study and visas. Please refer to our website for the most up-to-date list.
Regulators
Regulator Requirements
UK
General Medical Council
General Medical Council (GMC), General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC), Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), UKFPO, UKFPO (RCVS).
Royal Colleges Academy of Royal Colleges, Anaesthetists, Emergency Medicine, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Ophthalmologists, Paediatrics and Child Health, Pathologists, Physicians of Edinburgh, Physicians of Ireland, Physicians of London, Psychiatrists, Surgeons of Edinburgh, Veterinary Surgeons.
Universities and Education Brunel University, London, Imperial College, London, Kings College, London, Nottingham Trent University, Teeside University, UK Foundation Programme, University of Chester, University of Highlands and Islands, University of Leicester, University of the West of Scotland.
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Medicine version of the test At least a grade B in each sub-test The grades were achieved in the same test Most recent sitting Valid for 2 years
Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Nursing version of the test • At least grade B in the listening, reading and speaking sub-tests • At least a grade C+ in the writing sub-test • Combined 2 x tests within 6 months (4 sub-tests). No lower than C+ in any sub-test • Valid for 2 years
General Pharmaceutical Council
• A recent pass of the Pharmacy OET with at least a grade B in each sub-test • The grades were achieved in the same test
Immigration (UKVI) Healthcare professionals are exempt from the English language requirement of their Tier 2 (General) UK visa application where they have used their successful OET results for registering with the relevant healthcare regulator.
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02.
THE OET DIFFERENCE
02. The OET Difference
What is required in OET
OET uses real healthcare scenarios, rather than general examples, so nurses OET was designed specifically to meet the language needs of the feel more confident when healthcare sector. Test materials they are preparing for and are developed in consultation taking the test. with subject matter experts and replicate the English language skills required in healthcare settings to deliver a safe and positive patient experience. While studying for OET, candidates learn exactly the type of language they will need every day at work.
SUB-TEST
Listening (approx. 45 minutes)
Reading (60 minutes)
Writing (45 minutes)
Speaking (approx. 20 minutes)
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Althea D’Oyley-Bowen Head of Nursing Recruitment, Kings Commercial
Elicit and deal with sensitive topics
GENERAL/ACADEMIC ENGLISH TEST
OET
Write an essay on a general topic e.g. advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city
Write a letter of referral or discharge, or a letter to inform or advise a patient/relative/carer
Structured interview on a general topic e.g. describing an item and justifying its value/importance
A role-play between a healthcare professional and an interlocutor who plays the part of patient/ relative carer
Follow and understand a range of conversations set in everyday contexts, e.g. two friends advising each other about choosing a university
Follow and understand a range of health-related spoken materials such as doctor-patient consultations, hand-overs, presentations
Read and understand texts based on books, journals, magazines and newspapers, e.g. scientific texts about robotics or nanotechnology
Read and understand different types of texts on health-related subjects, e.g. hospital guidelines, hospital procedures or internal communications
Lead the conversation with simulated patient
Show empathy and reassure someone who is anxious
Translate specialist register into lay language
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OET teaches you how to communicate with patients, an ability also tested in the PLAB2 exam, and I learned other skills such as how to write referral and discharge letters. I didn’t know UK doctors wrote to each other in this way and was glad to find this out before I was actually working in a hospital. Dr Ganira Ahmadova OET Candidate
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04.
TAKING OET – DELIVERY MODES
RESULTS AND ASSESSMENT
OET is available in three different delivery modes to give candidates choice, convenience and confidence. Whichever delivery mode candidates choose, the test tasks, format and level of difficulty will remain the same.
After taking the test, candidates can see an overview of their test scores via their online profile. Candidates receive a ‘Statement of Results’ which shows their score for each of the four sub-tests. Each of the four subtests is assessed in a specific way. Note, that there is no overall grade for OET – separate grades are provided for each sub-test.
OET on Paper at a Test Venue
OET on Computer at a Test Venue
The test of choice for healthcare professionals for the past 30 years.
The same test you know and love but on computer. The Listening, Reading and Writing sub-tests take place at the test venue but the Speaking test takes place at home, via Zoom, under strict test conditions.
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OET@Home The same test you know and love but on computer at home, via remote proctoring.
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05. NHS Successful Stories
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NHS SUCCESS STORIES
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01. King’s Commercial
We are introducing policies designed to help students pass the test, and currently the pass rate is around 80 percent. Althea D’Oyley-Bowen Head of Nursing Recruitment, Kings Commercial
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King’s Commercial, the commercial arm of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is a great advocate for OET: “Nurses feel more confident when they are preparing for and taking the test,” says Althea D’Oyley-Bowen, Head of Nursing Recruitment. “It’s still a challenging test but the language is more familiar to nurses, and test content comes from their day to day practice.” To help overseas recruits pass OET as quickly as possible, King’s Commercial actively supports test preparation, including trialling innovative in-country courses. As a result, “we’ve seen many more nurses opt to take OET,” comments Althea, “and we now have an increased number of nurses in the OET pipeline”.
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03. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
The COVID-19 crisis has forced us all to think about new and, sometimes, better ways of working. An on-site exam venue is more practical for our overseas nurses, which is why we will continue to offer this beyond the pandemic. Jeanette Tebbutt Deputy Chief Nurse Workforce Transformation
The hospital began to actively encourage its overseas recruits to take OET, not least because the much higher pass rate gave nurses a greater chance of attaining the qualification at the first sitting, saving time and money. Mark Appleby Director of HR and OD, Yeovil District Hospital and NHS Foundation Trust
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02. Yeovil and District NHS Foundation Trust OET has played a crucial role in the innovative, and award winning, overseas recruitment strategy implemented by Yeovil Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Developed in response to an increasing nurse vacancy rate, growing agency spend and poor staff retention rates, the strategy uses OET to assess English language ability, as OET’s focus on healthcare results in a higher pass rate among healthcare professionals than equivalent tests, saving time and money. Yeovil’s vacancy rate has dropped to zero since implementing the recruitment strategy, which also won the Hospital the 2019 Nursing Times award for ‘Best International Recruitment Experience’.
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It’s part of our ethos to support overseas nurses. They remain a vital part of the UK’s solution to providing healthcare. Dr Lyn Middleton Associate Director of Nursing
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in the UK made it possible for overseas nurses to get their OET English language qualifications, by creating a test venue in-house. The move was part of a drive to get nurses into their roles, despite the exam restrictions posed by Covid-19. The nurses, who were mostly from Portugal, had already been recruited to work at the Trust – but lockdown measures had meant they faced delays in being able to take OET to complete their NMC registration. The Trust worked closely with OET and test delivery partner British Study Centres to allow them to set up a test venue on one of its sites, following stringent test guidelines and strict social distancing measures.
04. Aneurin Bevan Health Board Aneurin Bevan Health Board in Wales includes support for the mandatory English language test as an integral part of its international recruitment programme. Associate Director of Nursing, Dr Lyn Middleton, believes that OET is the best test to choose because the nurses use the language from their OET studies in their clinical practice. When launching an English language programme, Lyn advises that candidates’ English skills are tested upfront to make sure they have a reasonable level of English as a starting point, and to work with a third-party language training provider. At Aneurin Bevan, they reimburse the costs that nurses incur for OET because “we understand the hardship and difficulty when they’re trying to get themselves established and supporting their families as well.” OET | 13
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SUPPORT FOR THE NHS
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PARTNERS
Results Verification Service
We provide a range of assets and services to help your recruitment and onboarding processes.
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The OET training workshop at our Trust was brilliant; so well prepared and so thorough. Loved the group work.
Designed to remove doubts over the authenticity of certificates, our secure online portal allows recognising organisations to verify an OET Statement of Results in a quick and reliable way.
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OET is proud to partner with UK healthcare organisations on national programmes in support of international recruitment and workforce development.
Key partners
Training workshops Our OET NHS experts can run on-site workshops to provide HR and Education teams with the practical knowledge and skills needed to help support your internationally-trained healthcare professionals to prepare for OET.
Workshop delegate
03 Living the Language guides Our Living the Language guides for Nurses and Doctors are toolkits designed to help overseas healthcare professionals move beyond competent communicators at work and at home. Easy to read and packed with practical advice, they focus on the communication skills new arrivals need to adapt, integrate and settle in faster - vital in the drive to improve staff retention. Download a copy at www.occupationalenglishtest.org/l/living-the-language/
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CANDIDATE SUCCESS STORIES For many internationally-trained healthcare professionals, OET has made gaining employment in the NHS a dream come true. For more candidate case studies visit our website.
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08. Candidates Successful Stories
I was in my comfort zone, I didn’t even feel I was studying for a language test. Dr Ganira Ahmadova
01. Emjee Cezar Nool
03. Dr Ganira Ahmadova
It was Emjee’s childhood dream to be a nurse in the UK and when she passed OET she was really excited because it was the steppingstone to her new life. Now working as a community staff nurse in London, Emjee says OET helps her in her current role because most of the sub-tests relate exactly to the work she is doing, for example writing referral letters to different community specialists. Emjee believes communication is very important in knowing how to take care for a patient and for them to tell you their thoughts. “With good communication they will tell you what they really need”, she says. She advises other nurses to take OET because it’s very nursing specific and they can use the exam even at work.
When Dr Ganira Ahmadova left her native Azerbaijan to progress her medical career in the UK, she quickly found that her English skills were not enough for registration. She opted to take OET ‘primarily because it is a test of medical English – I was in my comfort zone, I didn’t even feel I was studying for a language test’, she says. Ganira prepared for OET through self-study and an intensive preexam tuition course at British Study Centres Manchester, a premium OET Preparation Provider and was delighted when she passed the test first time.
02. Muulo Siwila
04. Storms Menri
A registered nurse from Zambia, it was the profession-specific nature of OET that appealed to Muulo. ‘I knew it would fit, that whatever was involved with it would go with me’ she says. Muulo made every effort to prepare for the test, going online to check for materials and giving herself time to study and practice. Her effort was rewarded when she passed OET at the first attempt. ‘OET has given me the confidence that here I am, I’ll be acceptable, I’ll be able to communicate’… It has given me the confidence to practise my nursing.’
Holidays in the UK inspired Ghanaian-born Storms to pursue a nursing career in Britain. He found out the OET was a test that was accepted for NMC registration and passed at his first attempt. ‘OET prepares you towards the job you are doing and gives you the knowledge to understand how to communicate to patients,’ said Storms. Storms describes nurses as being ‘the engine of the hospital’ because of their need to communicate with everyone: doctors, HCAs, patients. ‘If you compare the tools you use on the ward to OET, they reinforce each other and make you a very good communicator.’
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SUPPORT FOR CANDIDATES
OET PULSE
We provide a flexible range of online and offline services designed to help candidates prepare for and pass their OET.
OET Pulse assesses a candidates’ current English language level andlanguage English provideslevel helpful andfeedback provideson how to prepare for OET.feedback helpful It assesses onreading how to and prepare listening for skills as well as language OET. It assesses knowledge. reading and listening skills as well as language knowledge.
Preparation Support We offer a choice of preparation options to accommodate the different learning styles, timeframes and budgets of Trusts and candidates.
The OET Preparation Portal
Preparation Courses
From here, candidates can access free and paidfor materials including sample tests, practice books, exercises, grammar and punctuation blogs, videos, lessons, sample answers, guides, online masterclasses, and more.
Candidates can access preparation support through a nationwide network of course providers, both classroom-based and online. New centres are being opened all the time. Check our website for the latest listings: www.occupationalenglishtest.org/ preparation-providers.
Social Media Candidates can have fun practising for OET and interacting with other candidates via Facebook live Q&A, blogs, videos, test-taking tips and quizzes.
Books and Resources We offer a range of official OET Practice Books, ideal for your hospital library or education centre.
OET Pulse takes around 30 minutes and can be accessed on any device, anytime and anywhere.
Test scenarios are healthcarespecific
Designed for healthcare professionals, OET Pulse is a key preparation tool to help get a better understanding of a candidate’s English level.
Test is adaptive, making it more efficient and accurate
OET Pulse is the world’s only English language placement test specifically made for healthcare professionals.
Provides feedback on how to prepare for OET
More at occupationalenglishtest.org/ shop/oet-pulse
Results are immediate
The OET Preparation Portal, Social Media
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The world’s only international English language test specifically for healthcare professionals Customer support UK phone number: +44 1202 037 333 Our service promise: We will acknowledge your enquiry within 24 hours and solve it within 48. Now available 20 hours per day, 6 days a week. Also available on Livechat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or search Support on www.occupationalenglishtest.org Postal address The OET Centre PO Box 16136 Collins St West VIC 8007 Australia Telephone AUS +61 3 8658 3963 UK +44 1202 037333 Fax: +61 3 8656 4020 Website www.occupationalenglishtest.org