OET Speaking
OET Speaking Warm-Up: How to Answer the Introduction Questions
August 13, 2026 · 6 min read
Before the role plays begin, the OET Speaking test opens with a short, friendly chat about you and your work. Many candidates don't realise this warm-up isn't marked — and either waste nervous energy over-rehearsing it, or dismiss it entirely and start the test flustered. Here's what the warm-up actually is, the questions you can expect, and how to use it to settle your nerves before the part that counts.
Table of Contents
What the Warm-Up Actually Is
The OET Speaking sub-test lasts around 20 minutes and centres on two role plays. Before those begin, the interlocutor spends a few minutes chatting with you about your professional background — how long you've worked, your role, why you chose your profession. This is a genuine warm-up: it eases you into speaking English aloud and helps the interlocutor confirm your details.
This introductory conversation is not assessed. Your grade comes entirely from the two role plays. That single fact should change how you treat it — not as a performance to perfect, but as a chance to relax, find your voice, and walk into the first role play already talking.
Questions You Can Expect
The exact wording varies, but warm-up questions are drawn from a small, predictable pool about you and your work:
- Why are you taking the OET exam?
- How long have you been working as a [nurse / doctor / pharmacist]?
- What are your typical working hours?
- Why did you choose this profession?
- What is your area of specialty, and why?
- What do you find most rewarding — or most challenging — about your work?
- What advice would you give someone just starting out?
Because the pool is small, you can prepare comfortable, honest answers in advance — without memorising them word for word.
How to Answer: Natural, Not Rehearsed
Since the warm-up isn't scored, there's no need for polished, essay-like answers. Aim for the way you'd genuinely reply to a friendly colleague:
- Keep it to two or three sentences. Enough to be warm and natural, not a speech.
- Be specific but relaxed. A concrete detail ("I've worked in paediatrics for six years") sounds more natural than a generic one.
- Don't recite. A visibly memorised answer here starts the test on an unnatural note — the opposite of settling in.
- Let it warm up your mouth. Speak at a comfortable pace; this is where you shake off the first-minute nerves.
Example answers
"Why are you taking the OET?" — "I'm taking it to complete my registration so I can practise nursing in Australia."
"How long have you been working as a physician?" — "About twelve years now — six in Egypt and the last six in Saudi Arabia, mostly in family medicine."
"Why did you choose your specialty?" — "Honestly, I enjoyed a bit of everything in training, and family medicine lets me keep that variety while really getting to know my patients over time."
Use It to Reset Your Nerves
The most useful thing about an unscored warm-up is that you cannot get it wrong. Treat it as free rehearsal time: by the time the interlocutor hands you the first role-play card, you've already been speaking English for two or three minutes and your voice is warm. Candidates who go silent until the first role play often spend its opening thirty seconds — which are scored — still finding their rhythm.
So engage, smile, and enjoy the easy questions. Then shift fully into role-play mode when the first card arrives — that's where your preparation on consultation structure and opening strongly starts to matter.
Where to Focus Your Practice
Because the warm-up isn't marked, spend the bulk of your preparation on the role plays, which are. Our AI Speaking Practice tool focuses on exactly that scored portion — live, five-minute voice role plays with an AI patient and an AI practice assessment against the real exam's criteria — so your practice time goes where the marks are.
Put it into practice
Take a full-length OET practice test with real exam timing and automatic scoring — Test 1 is completely free, no credit card required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the OET Speaking warm-up scored?
No. The short introductory conversation about your professional background is not assessed. Your Speaking grade comes entirely from the two role plays that follow.
What questions are asked in the OET Speaking introduction?
Typically questions about your professional background: why you're taking the OET, how long you've worked, your hours, why you chose your profession or specialty, and what you find rewarding or challenging.
Should I memorise answers for the warm-up?
No. Prepare comfortable, honest answers so you're not caught off guard, but don't memorise them word for word — a recited answer sounds unnatural and starts the test on the wrong note. Two or three natural sentences per question is plenty.
How long is the warm-up conversation?
Just a few minutes at the start of the roughly 20-minute Speaking test, before the interlocutor introduces the first role-play card.
Does the warm-up affect the interlocutor's impression of me?
It isn't scored, so it doesn't affect your grade. Its real value is practical: it lets you settle your nerves and warm up your spoken English so you're fluent from the first scored second of the role play.