OET Speaking Tips 1 – Start the conversation

A lot of candidates make the mistake of thinking that the OET speaking sub-test is an
examination and not a medical situation. As such they wait for the OET person (the
patient) to do the talking. Imagine that you are in a professional setting and you are the
nurse, doctor or dentist. You are in control. The OET person is the patient – not the
OET person.

As such, it’s up to you to start the conversation.

Here’s an OET sample for nurses:

“Hello, my name is Jane and I’m the community nurse. Can I start with your name?”

Don’t sit there and make the patient start the conversation. It’s up to you.

OET Speaking Tips 2 – Keep the conversation moving

It’s also up to you to maintain the conversation. If the conversation stops and silence
happens you need to bring it back to life.

Here’s a sample:

“So, please tell me a little bit more about your situation.”

Or, “Is there anything that you would like to add?”

OET Speaking Tips 3 – Ask questions to get the patient to talk

If the patient is reluctant to speak, you will need to ask questions that force him to
speak.

Consider the following two questions. Which one will get the conversation moving?

1. Do you feel sore?

2. Can you describe the pain to me?

Question A would give you a Yes or a NO answer.

You need to think of questions that will get the patient to talk – to open up and tell you
more.

OET Speaking Tips 4 – Listen to the patient

Although the OET speaking sub-test is a test of your speaking ability, it is as much a
test of your listening ability. In order to “reply” you need to understand what the patient
says.
Perhaps more importantly, you need to “listen” in terms of hearing what the person has
to say. Don’t just concentrate on your performance, concentrate on communication. You
need to respond appropriately to what the patient says – even if you are nervous.

What’s interesting is that the more that you concentrate on communication through
listening, the less nervous you will be. When you focus on yourself – on your
performance – the more nervous you will get.

OET Speaking Tips 5 – Adjust your language

Depending on who you are speaking to, you need to adjust your language to suit the
scenario.

Think about this:

You are talking to a depressed 87-year-old man.

You are talking to an aggressive 18-year-old man.

How would your language change? How would the words and intonation change?

OET Speaking Tips 6 – Unexpected turns…

Every now and then the OET person will test you by asking you something a little odd.
He or she wants to see how well you respond – how flexible you are in your thinking
and language.

For example, “What’s the phone number of the occupational therapist?”

What do you do? Do you laugh? No. You give a phone number, or you say:

“I will give you the number after our consultation.”

OET Speaking Tips 7 – Organise the role play

If you really want an A you will have to organise the role play into clear stages with an
introduction, body and conclusion.

In the introduction, you introduce yourself, welcome the patient and summarise the
scenario.

In the body, you move through the tasks, one-by-one.

In the conclusion, if you have time, you should summarize the role play by saying:

“Ok, so we have discussed the use of X and although I understand your concerns, I
think it’s the best thing to do.”