What is the Reading sub-test?

From March 2010 the Reading sub-test consists of two parts (Part A and Part B):
The Reading sub-test takes 60 minutes in total.

The content is suitable for all the medical and health professions using the OET.

The two texts are on health-related topics and are similar to texts found in academic or professional journals. You are given a printed booklet with the text and questions and a separate answer sheet to complete. You must indicate your chosen response (A, B, C or D) to each question by shading the appropriate oval on the answer sheet. You must do this with a soft (2B) pencil.

You should answer all questions. You don’t lose marks for incorrect answers.

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How can I prepare for the Reading sub-test?

Try the Reading material from the sample test. To purchase further Reading practice materials go to the OET Bookshop. The Reading sub-test is the same for all OET professions.

Reading widely on health-related issues in English is great preparation for the OET. You may have access to journals and professional association websites with reading material relevant to your own profession.

There is also suitable material available without cost to read on the Web. Some possible sources are:

ABC Australia Health

http://www.abc.net.au/health/     Health Matters – index with links to programs and features

BBC World Service Health

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/index.shtml     Health index

BBC Health

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/

New England Journal of Medicine

http://content.nejm.org/     (registration gives access to articles six months old or order)

Science Magazine for the American Association for the Advancement of Science

http://www.sciencemag.org/archive/     (registration gives access to articles more than one year old)

Nature     http://www.nature.com/

British Medical Journal     http://www.bmj.com/

Journal of the American Medical Association     http://jama.ama-assn.org/

Medical Journal of Australia     http://www.mja.com.au/

(The four journals above have materials freely available.)

The Free Medical Journals Site   http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/     (links to journals)

Newsletters

You could subscribe to these regular health-related newsletters:

http://www.abc.net.au/health/subscribe/default.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/newsletter/

The OET Centre is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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What type of Reading skills are tested?

The types of question in the Reading sub-test are to allow you to demonstrate that, for example, you can

• distinguish fact from opinion
• follow a complicated argument that is made over several paragraphs
• distinguish between what is stated and what is not stated
• recognise the connections between ideas (e.g., cause and effect)
• work out the meaning of a word or phrase from the context it is used in

You need to understand how the writer constructs the text to communicate his/her message. This may involve using words and phrases to show, for example,

• the order of events (e.g., firstly, secondly; initially, subsequently, in the end)
• consequences (e.g., due to, therefore, as a result)
• contrasting or alternative ideas (e.g., however, on the other hand, despite)
• the extension of an idea (e.g., in addition, furthermore)

It may involve understanding how an academic or professional text ‘works’ (is built and holds together) using, for example,

• text references (e.g., this, the other study, as noted above)
• nominalisation (choosing nouns rather than verbs or adjectives, e.g., explanation [from explain], detoxification, assessment)
• complicated comparative structures (e.g., The study found that women over 60 benefited from the therapy almost twice as much as those aged between 20 and 35 did.)
• long noun phrases (e.g., The four-year study into the uptake and continuing use of the drug-based treatment administered with appropriate medical supervision discovered that …)
• groups of words with ‘shades of meaning’ (e.g., states, concludes, implies, suggests, proposes, assumes, supposes, believes, considers, presumes)

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Do’s and don’ts

• Do answer every question
• Don’t get stuck on one question – keep going and come back to it at the end
• Do take a sample test under test conditions beforehand so you know what it feels like
• Do bring and use a soft (2B) pencil
• Do record your answers accurately on the answer sheet before the 60 minutes is over
• Do follow the instructions on the answer sheet about how to fill in your answers
• Don’t give more than one answer for a question – this gets no marks

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How can I help myself during the Reading sub-test?

General

Have a spare pencil ready just in case

Fill in the booklet cover page correctly

Fill in your personal information on the answer sheet correctly

Make sure you give your family name and candidate number correctly in letters and numbers and fill in the corresponding circles accurately

Start by getting an overview of the two texts and the number of questions for each

Divide the 60 minutes appropriately between the two texts and focus on one text at a time

First read the title and the whole text through quickly to get a sense of what it is about overall

Note how the text is organised (e.g., with sub-headings, including a table/diagram)

Take each question in turn and make sure you look in the right place for the answer (e.g., ‘according to paragraph 2’ means the question refers to information given in paragraph 2)

Read each question carefully, looking out for key words, e.g., which statement is TRUE, which statement is FALSE, which of the following is NOT appropriate

Consider the options in turn and try to explain to yourself exactly what makes each one right or wrong

Write on the text and questions if it helps you (e.g., underlining key words and phrases) but don’t make it more difficult for you to read by adding too many marks

Checking at the end

Make sure you have one answer marked on the answer sheet for each of the questions

Check you have put your answer against the correct question number

Follow the instructions on the answer sheet about changing an answer: use an eraser to delete the original answer and re-mark the new answer clearly

Don’t make any last-minute changes unless you are sure

Don’t leave any blanks

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How is the Reading sub-test assessed?

Each candidate completes an Answer booklet (Part A) and an Answer sheet (Part B). The Answer booklet (Part A) is marked by a human rater using an Answer key. The Answer sheet (Part B) is scanned by computer and the correct answers counted up. To obtain the final score, the scores for the two texts are added together.

The data are analysed using a further computer program. Any items that are found to be unreliable are deleted from the test. For example, if there is a question that candidates who are strong overall in the Reading sub-test get wrong but candidates who are weak overall get right, the question is likely to be deleted. Usually not more than one question is removed from the test in this way. This is done to make the test results more reliable.

> More information about OET assessment procedures