Format of The OET Writing Sub-Test
Format of The OET Writing Sub-Test
Format of The OET Writing Sub-Test
Writing SUB-TEST(MEDICINE)
Prepared by Dr. Mohamed Mansour
First 5 minutes
The first five minutes of the test is when you read the task
and the case notes.
During the first five minutes, you can study the task and the
case notes. You cannot write, underline or make any notes of
your own.
Practice writing letters using the language you are likely to need
in the test.
On the day
Write clearly so that the assessor can grade your letter fairly.
Letter Structure: Date and address
1. Always date the letter with ‘today’s date’ (the date you
are completing the OET writing test task). The accepted
format in Australia and NZ is 14 August 2014 but any clear
format is acceptable.
2. Leave an empty line after the date and then write the
address.
3. Address layout does not require commas (,) or full stops
(.). So where you see a comma (,) just start a new line.
4. You can write Street as St (Avenue as Ave; Road as Rd
etc.).
5. Check:
o copy proper nouns (names) correctly – use capital
letters as shown
o all parts of the address should be left-aligned
o no punctuation (, / .)
o no ‘at’ before Central Hospital
o no spelling mistakes
o clear handwriting
Letter structure: Presentation features
Example 2: (2 sentences)
I am writing with regard to Mr Sam Gilbert, a head chef. Mr
Gilbert suffered from a meniscal cartilage injury last year and
has since been experiencing severe knee pain.
Look at this selection from the case notes and try to combine
the relevant information into one short paragraph (2-3
sentences).
21 July 2014
Pain in Left knee worse despite regular NSAIDs, oxycodone
prn and physio.
Knee brace minimal effect.
Knee popping especially walking down stairs (nec for job).
Knee gives way occasionally (without warning).
Objective
Left knee swollen, click heard on flexion of the knee
Possible Answer:
As of late July 2014 the knee brace has had little effect and
there has been no improvement in Mr Gilbert’s condition. He
reports increased levels of pain, in addition to his knee
occasionally ‘popping’ and giving way. I can also confirm visible
swelling and an audible click during left knee flexion.
You need to make grammatically correct, easy-to-read
sentences, and aim to stay within the 200 word limit in the
letter.
To do this, you may need to:
summarise
change the order of information
paraphrase information
change the word forms (e.g. change a noun to a verb).
Possible Answer:
1. It is suspected that she may be suffering concussion as a
result of the blow to her head.
2. Maggie was experiencing extreme nausea and vomited
upon admission; staff initially suspected gastroenteritis.
3. The child is underweight for his age.
4. The elderly gentleman appeared thin and fatigued.
5. I am referring this woman to you for diagnosis.
Grammatical accuracy
Tenses
When writing the letter, take care to use correct verb tenses.
Correct use of tenses is part of organising the information
clearly and logically for the reader, so this contributes to your
scores for Appropriateness of Language as well as Linguistic
Features.
It could be that you mostly use:
Present simple (for the current situation)
Present perfect (for recent events)
Past simple (for an action/situation/event in the past)
You may occasionally have to use past perfect to refer to an
event that had happened prior to another event.
Voice
Adjective + preposition
Take care to learn and use the correct prepositions that follow
certain adjectives e.g. This child is afraid of the dark. Be careful
with that specimen!
Relative pronouns
For example:
I have a case. It might interest you. > I have a case which
might interest you.
She didn’t understand what I said.
Modals
Modal verbs (could, may, might, will, would etc.) are used to
talk about things which we expect, which are possible, which
we think are necessary or which we are not sure about e.g. It
is suspected that she may be suffering concussion.
It is important that your letter follows a simple and clear
format, so that its contents can be quickly and easily
understood by the recipient. You have already learnt how to
extract only the relevant information from the case notes. Now
you need to consider how this information can be most
effectively organised into paragraphs.
Now read the case notes and prepare a brief plan for a letter.
Possible Answer
21 July 2014
Dr Sandra Fielding
Ophthalmologist
Crown Heights Medical Clinic
Winslow
Dear Dr Fielding
Yours sincerely
Dr. (your name)
Best wishes
Dr. Mohamed Mansour