OET - Frequently Asked Questions
Occupational English Test is a language proficiency test used as a substitute for IELTS Certification which is mainly accepted in UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Both the tests are assessing your language proficiency and hence will have its own difficulty. However, as it is more related to medical profession, OET does have a better passing ratio. Having been to IELTS and OET review programmes for quite a long time, we realize that OET has a better success rate.
We, the residents of UAE, have to be glad that we have 2 examination centers in UAE. Higher College of Technologies for Men, Academic City- Dubai and University of Wollongong- Dubai. These are the only two examination centers all over UAE. Candidates from most of the GCC countries need to come to Dubai for OET examination.
OET is applicable only for healthcare professionals including Nurses and Doctors. The list of professionals who can take OET test are: Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Radiography, Dietetics, Optometry, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Physiotherapy, Speach Pathology & Veterinary Science.
While IELTS is marked as 1-9 bands, OET gives grades from E to A. ‘A’ is the highest and ‘E’ is the lowest. As of now ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade shows your satisfactory language proficiency level to work as a medical professional.
It was announced yesterday that Nursing and Midwifery Council- UK will be accepting OET as a substitute to IELTS from 1st of November 2017. Australia and New Zealand have already been accepting OET certificate.
The fee for OET examination is approximately AED 1700
No, OET result is published after 23 calendar days
No, OET test takes place only one a month.
Yes, same like IELTS, OET has 4 sub-tests- Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
Yes, all the 4 subtests are conducted on the same day. Most probably the tests are conducted on a Saturday and very rarely on Sunday. It starts with Listening first followed by Reading and then Writing. Speaking test for all the students will be on the same day afternoon.
Yes, we can club two results. However, both the tests should be taken within 6 months. The way exam booking date, test date and result dates are arranged, you will be able to appear only 3 exams within 6 months. You can club the result of only two tests. In either of the tests if any sub-test scored lower than C, the certificate will be void.
Yes, there are quite a few sites providing online materials. However, it is not advisable to practice just with the online materials available in the market because they are not as per the actual pattern of the real exam especially ‘Reading’ subtest.