OET Updates
OET Writing: Why Scores Have Gotten Harder Since 2024
September 4, 2026 · 7 min read
If you sat OET Writing a few years ago and are retaking it now, or if your prep group keeps mentioning that "scores feel tougher these days," you’re not imagining it. Since 2024, prep providers and candidates have widely and consistently reported stricter application of two of the six Writing criteria — Conciseness & Clarity and Genre & Style. This isn’t an official rule change to the criteria themselves, but a shift in how strictly assessors appear to be applying the existing ones. Here’s what it means for your preparation.
Table of Contents
What Candidates and Prep Providers Are Reporting
The six OET Writing criteria — Purpose, Content, Conciseness & Clarity, Genre & Style, Organisation & Layout, and Language — haven’t officially changed. What has shifted, according to widespread reports from Writing prep providers and returning candidates, is how strictly two of them are being applied:
- Conciseness & Clarity — letters that include technically-accurate but non-essential case note detail are being marked down more heavily than in previous years. A letter that would have passed as "thorough" now reads as "unfocused."
- Genre & Style — small register slips (a slightly informal phrase, an under-explained abbreviation, a tone that drifts from strictly clinical) appear to be costing more marks than before.
The practical effect reported by prep providers: a letter that would plausibly have scored a B in 2022 can score a C+ today with the same content, if it carries extra detail or a looser register. Treat this as a real, if informally documented, shift — not an official OET announcement — and prepare accordingly.
Why This Matters More Than It Sounds
Conciseness & Clarity and Genre & Style are two of the five criteria marked out of 7 (only Purpose is out of 3), so they carry real weight in your total. And because they’re about selection and register rather than grammar, they’re invisible to candidates who only proofread for spelling and tense errors — a letter can be grammatically flawless and still lose marks here.
Combined with other 2026 tightening — ECFMG’s requirement that IMGs hit their score minimums across all four sub-tests in a single sitting, for instance — the overall trend across OET is toward less tolerance for near-misses. Preparation that would have comfortably cleared B a few years ago may now only just clear it, or fall short.
How to Adjust Your Preparation
- Cut harder during the reading/planning phase. If a case note detail doesn’t change what the reader needs to do, leave it out — don’t include it "just in case." Every extra sentence is now a bigger Conciseness risk than it used to be.
- Re-check register on every sentence, not just the obviously informal ones. Phrases that feel only slightly casual — "a bit of," "seems fine," "get better" — are exactly what Genre & Style scrutiny is reportedly catching now.
- Get criterion-level feedback, not just a grammar check. A spelling-and-grammar review won’t catch a Conciseness or Genre problem — you need feedback that scores each of the six criteria separately.
- If you’re retaking after a gap of a year or more, don’t assume your old scoring letters still perform the same way. Write a fresh timed letter and get it re-assessed before you rely on old practice as a benchmark.
Our Writing practice tool grades every practice letter A–E across all six official criteria — including Conciseness & Clarity and Genre & Style individually — with inline corrections, so you can see specifically where a letter is losing marks rather than just an overall impression.
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
Has OET officially changed its Writing marking criteria?
No official change to the six published criteria has been announced. What’s widely reported by prep providers and candidates is stricter application of two existing criteria — Conciseness & Clarity and Genre & Style — since 2024, not a new rubric.
Why did my OET Writing score drop on a retake with a similar letter?
If your letter includes extra case-note detail beyond what the reader strictly needs, or has small register slips, it may be losing more marks on Conciseness & Clarity and Genre & Style than it would have a few years ago. Get criterion-level feedback to identify exactly which criterion changed.
What is Conciseness & Clarity in OET Writing?
One of the six OET Writing criteria, scored 0–7. It assesses whether irrelevant case notes are omitted and whether the letter is easy to follow without unnecessary detail.
What is Genre & Style in OET Writing?
One of the six OET Writing criteria, scored 0–7. It assesses whether the letter maintains a formal, clinical register appropriate to professional correspondence, rather than a conversational tone.
How can I check if my letter has Conciseness or Genre problems?
Ask, for every sentence, whether the reader needs it to act safely and whether the tone is strictly formal and clinical. Criterion-level feedback tools (rather than a general grammar check) are the fastest way to catch this specifically.