OET Reading Part A, B & C: Strategies That Actually Work

Reading lasts 60 minutes across three parts, identical for every profession: Part A (20 questions, a strict 15 minutes), then Part B and C together (6 + 16 questions, 45 minutes shared). For the full breakdown of question counts and timing, see our sample test guide. This post focuses on strategy — what to actually do differently in each part.

Part A gives you four short texts on one clinical topic and 20 questions — matching, sentence completion and short answers — to complete in 15 minutes flat. On paper-based test days the texts are collected the moment time is up; on computer, the section simply locks. There is no spillover from Part A into Part B.

• Don’t read the texts first. Read the questions, then hunt for the answer. Reading all four texts start to finish before looking at a single question is the most common reason candidates run out of time.
• Work question by question, not text by text. Each question tells you (directly or via its number range) roughly which text it lives in — use that to jump straight there.
• Scan for the exact word or its synonym, not the general topic. Part A rewards locating precise information (a dosage, a contraindication, a age range) fast, not understanding the passage as a whole.
• Leave genuinely hard questions and come back. With 20 questions in 15 minutes you have well under a minute each — a single stuck question can cost you three easy ones elsewhere.
• Spelling counts, but only within reason. Answers are marked for the correct word; minor spelling slips that don’t create a different word or obscure meaning are usually still accepted.

Part B gives you six short workplace texts — memos, guidelines, extracts from policies — each with one three-option multiple-choice question about purpose or main point. This is where candidates who scored well on Part A often lose marks, because they carry over the same strategy: scan for a matching word, pick the option that contains it.

That approach actively hurts you in Part B. The wrong options are frequently built from words lifted straight out of the text — they are designed to reward keyword spotting and punish it. Part B tests whether you understood the point of the text, not whether you can find a word that also appears in it.

• Read the whole short text first — it’s only a paragraph or two. Form a one-sentence idea of what it’s actually saying before you look at the options.
• Check every element of an option against the text, not just the part that sounds familiar. An option is only correct if the text supports its full claim, not just a fragment of it.
• Watch for absolute or qualifying words — "must", "only", "always", "may" — that flip an otherwise plausible option into a wrong one.
• No outside knowledge required or rewarded. Even if you know the clinical topic well, the correct answer must be supported by the text itself.

Part C gives you two longer, semi-academic articles, each with eight four-option multiple-choice questions. This part tests sustained comprehension — following an argument, an author’s attitude, or a chain of evidence across several paragraphs, not locating one fact.

• Skim for structure before answering anything — 30–45 seconds to note what each paragraph is doing (background, evidence, counter-argument, conclusion) pays for itself many times over.
• Questions broadly follow the order of the text, so use your structural map to narrow down where an answer should live.
• Distinguish the author’s claim from a claim the author is describing. Part C texts often present a view only to challenge or qualify it — a wrong option frequently restates the view the author is arguing against.
• Vocabulary-heavy options are usually distractors. The correct answer restates the text’s meaning in different words; an option that reuses unusual vocabulary from the passage verbatim is often testing whether you noticed it doesn’t actually answer the question.
• Budget roughly 20 minutes per Part C text, leaving 7–8 minutes for all of Part B — Part C carries more than twice the marks of Part B, so protect its time first.

• Answering from memory of the topic, not the text. Every OET Reading answer must be traceable to a specific sentence — general medical knowledge can mislead you into a plausible-sounding wrong answer.
• Spending Part A time perfecting handwriting or typing. Short-answer responses just need to be legible/correct — there is no reward for a beautifully phrased answer over a correctly spelled short one.
• Second-guessing a first read. Under time pressure, your first careful read of an option against the text is usually more reliable than a rushed re-read after doubt creeps in.
• Leaving any question blank. There is no negative marking anywhere in OET Reading — always select an answer, even a guess, before time runs out.

Reading strategy only sticks when it’s rehearsed under real time pressure — untimed reading practice teaches a different skill entirely. Time yourself on Part A separately from Part B/C so you get an honest read on each part’s pace, and review every wrong answer by asking which specific sentence you missed or misread, not just whether you got the topic right.

OET Practice Test 1 is free and includes full-length Reading Parts B and C with automatic scoring and a real timer — a good way to calibrate your pace before test day.