Your reader is the most important consideration in the Writing sub-test

In the Writing sub-test, you need to write a letter (usually a referral letter) based on some case notes. The letter is then assessed against six criteria, including its purpose and the content you choose to include.

To score well in this sub-test, you need to make sure you keep your reader in mind when you're writing the letter. To help, we've put together a quick and handy strategy to keep the reader in the front of your mind:

R is for reason:

Make sure you include the reason for writing at the start (usually provided in the Writing Task). This helps the reader understand the purpose of your letter.

E is for explaining:

Make sure you explain the details of the situation logically and using professional language. Using time expressions can help the reader understand the order of events.

A is for accuracy:

To make your letter as clear as possible, you need to make sure you are accurately communicating the information from the case notes. This includes the accuracy of your content and your grammatical accuracy.

D is for division:

Make sure you divide your letter into clear paragraphs.  Order the paragraphs in terms of how important the information is to the reader. This also applies to the sentences within each paragraph. The first sentence of each paragraph should contain the most important details and so on.

E is for ending:

Make sure your reader has a clear understanding at the end of the letter of what action you require from them. This might mean returning to your reason for writing to further expand this with more specific details.

R is for relevance:

Make sure you select the information that is relevant to the current situation and summarise it so they can quickly understand the key points. Anything which is not relevant can be omitted.

For more helpful strategies like this, make sure you check out the OET blog.