Prove your English with a test built around the work you already do.

OET (Occupational English Test) is designed for healthcare workers — every passage, role-play and writing task uses clinical language nurses actually use. Four modules: Listening (45 min — consultation extracts and lectures), Reading (60 min — three healthcare-themed sections), Writing (45 min — write a referral letter to another healthcare professional), and Speaking (20 min — two patient role-plays with the candidate in the nurse role). Grades are letters A–E mapped to numeric bands 0-500; most regulators (NMC, AHPRA, NCNZ, NMBI) accept B (350) in Listening, Reading and Speaking, with C+ (300) in Writing accepted by the NMC since 2019.

Test fee is $587 AUD (~$390 USD) globally — flat-rate, no per-country variation. Sittings every 2 weeks at 130+ venues plus an OET @ Home remote option for candidates without a nearby centre. Results in 16-17 business days, delivered via the candidate dashboard and pushed direct to nominated regulators. The Medicine module is what nursing regulators reference — generic OET 'Healthcare' won't satisfy NMC, so confirm the booking is Medicine before paying. Scores valid 2 years from sitting.

Writing is where most candidates fail — the referral letter has a strict 180-200 word target, formal salutation, prioritised case summary, and explicit handover request. Off-format letters lose a full grade even when grammar is clean. Speaking role-plays trip nurses who default to medical-textbook English instead of patient-friendly explanation. OET's official sample materials and the Cambridge Boxhill OET prep books are the gold-standard resources; second-hand prep mills sell volume but rarely grade writing accurately.