OET Practice Test for Nurses: What to Expect & How to Prepare

The OET is designed specifically for healthcare professionals, which gives nurses a significant advantage. Every audio clip, every reading passage, and every Writing task uses medical and clinical language that nurses already know from their training and daily work.

In IELTS, you might read a passage about architecture or listen to a lecture on archaeology. In OET, Listening Part A features a nurse taking a patient history or a medication counselling session. The vocabulary feels familiar — and that familiarity reduces exam anxiety and increases accuracy.

Registration bodies that accept OET for nurses include:

• NMC (UK): OET score of 350 (B grade) in each sub-test
• AHPRA (Australia): OET score of 350 in each sub-test
• NCNZ (New Zealand): OET score of 350 in each sub-test
• NMBI (Ireland): OET score of 350 in each sub-test
• CNO (Canada — Ontario): OET score of 350 in each sub-test

The OET Listening sub-test has three parts and lasts approximately 40 minutes in total. You listen to each audio clip once only — there are no repeats.

Listening Part A — Consultation Note-Completion

You receive a partial set of clinical notes and must fill in 18 gaps while a consultation plays. For nurses, this is typically a patient admission, a discharge planning conversation, or a medication review between a nurse and patient.

What makes this challenging is not the vocabulary — it is writing accurately while listening. Common errors include misspelling drug names, missing units (mg, mL, hours), and failing to write numbers correctly. The answer is always a word, short phrase, or number directly from the audio.

Key strategy: Read through the notes before the audio starts. Predict the type of answer for each gap (number? medication name? symptom?) so you are primed to catch it when it appears.

Listening Part B — Short Workplace Extracts

Six short audio clips (30–90 seconds each), each followed by one multiple-choice question. These are set in nursing workplaces: a ward handover, a phone call to a GP, a team briefing, a patient transfer discussion. You choose between three options (A, B, or C).

Key strategy: The correct answer paraphrases what was said — it will not use the exact words from the audio. Distractors are designed to catch candidates who heard a word but missed the meaning.

Listening Part C — Extended Professional Talks

Two longer recordings (approximately 5 minutes each) — usually a health professional being interviewed or presenting to colleagues. Twelve multiple-choice questions total. For nurses, topics have included infection control protocols, mental health triage, pain management approaches, and patient education programmes.

Key strategy: Questions follow the order of the audio. Underline the key term in each question before listening. Do not dwell on a question you missed — move to the next one.

The Reading sub-test lasts 60 minutes and contains three parts. Parts A, B, and C appear in the same exam booklet, but you control how you allocate your time.

Reading Part A — Expeditious Reading (15 minutes)

Four short texts (policies, guidelines, leaflets, drug information summaries) followed by 20 questions. You must answer quickly — the 15-minute limit is strict and enforced. This part tests your ability to locate specific information fast, not to read every word.

For nurses, texts might include: a hospital infection control policy, a patient information leaflet about a new anticoagulant, a clinical guideline on pressure injury prevention, or a workplace health and safety notice.

Reading Part B — Careful Reading (45 minutes)

Six short texts (100–150 words each) drawn from professional workplace sources: staff memos, job advertisements, hospital notices, continuing education announcements. You match six statements to the correct text.

Reading Part C — Careful Reading (45 minutes)

Two longer academic or professional articles (approximately 650–750 words each) with eight multiple-choice questions each (16 total). Topics are drawn from nursing and general healthcare research. Candidates have found passages on: chronic disease self-management, nursing burnout, antibiotic stewardship, pain assessment tools, and telehealth in remote areas.

Key strategy for Part C: Read the questions first, then locate the relevant paragraph in the passage. Most questions test inference and the author's meaning — not recall of facts stated explicitly.

The OET is scored from 0 to 500 in each of the four sub-tests. Most nursing registration bodies require a minimum of 350 in each sub-test, which corresponds to a B grade on the official scale.

There is no overall combined score requirement — each sub-test is assessed independently. If you score 380 in Listening but 340 in Writing, you have not met the requirement and must re-sit.

On our platform, your practice test results show a percentage score per section. A rough conversion: 80–85% or above in Listening and Reading sections correlates to a score in the 350–380 range in the official exam, though this varies by test.

If you are consistently scoring below 75% in any section in practice, target that section with focused study before booking your official exam date.

The most effective OET preparation for nurses combines three things: timed full-length practice tests, targeted section work on weak areas, and vocabulary review.

1. Take timed full-length practice tests

Do not study individual questions in isolation. The OET Listening sub-test is relentless — 40 minutes of continuous audio with no pause. If you have only ever practiced in short bursts, exam fatigue will cost you marks. Take at least 5–6 full-length practice tests before your exam date.

2. Review every wrong answer

After each practice test, go through every incorrect answer and identify why you got it wrong. Was it a vocabulary gap? Did you miss a key word in the audio? Did you misread the question? Categorising your errors is more valuable than the raw score.

3. Build medical vocabulary

Even experienced nurses encounter unfamiliar terms in the OET — especially pharmacological names, anatomical terminology used in specialist contexts, or British vs Australian vs American English differences in clinical language. Our free OET vocabulary builder covers 1,250+ terms organised by topic: medications, symptoms, body systems, procedures, and more.

4. Practice OET Writing separately

The Writing sub-test (a referral or discharge letter) is not included in the Listening and Reading practice tests — it is assessed separately. Our AI Writing practice tool grades your letters on the four official OET Writing criteria (Purposeful Communication, Organisation, Language, and Tone & Register) and gives A–E grades with specific corrections.

The best way to benchmark your current level is to take a full-length practice test under exam conditions — with a 45-minute timer and no pausing the audio.

OET Practice Test 1 is completely free — no credit card required. It includes all five sections: Listening Parts A, B, and C and Reading Parts B and C, with instant auto-scoring after submission.

After completing Test 1, you will see a breakdown of your score by section. Use this to identify your weakest area before booking your official exam.

For comprehensive preparation, our weekly and monthly plans unlock all 13 full-length practice tests, plus AI Writing feedback and the vocabulary builder — everything you need to reach 350 in Listening and Reading.