Taking an English test is an important step for healthcare professionals looking to migrate, register and work in an English-speaking country. While this is the primary aim, it makes sense to choose the English test that is most useful to your medical career.
Whether you’re a nurse, doctor or another healthcare professional, choosing a test that aligns with your professional goals is important. But not all English tests offer the same practical benefits to those that sit them.
The Occupational English Test (OET) is accepted by regulators in eight countries as proof of English proficiency as well as by several private and public organisations. However, the test is useful to all 12 healthcare professions OET covers beyond proving your English language skills to a regulatory board.
Let’s look at why.
What is OET?
OET is the only English language test designed for healthcare professionals. In other words, it uses scenarios taken from healthcare contexts to test your English language skills.
OET’s Speaking sub-test simulates consultations between a healthcare professional and a patient. Because the content is profession specific, you’ll roleplay your profession, while an interviewer will play a patient, relative or carer.
Learning for your role
As OET is specifically shaped for healthcare professionals, when you study for OET you’re learning the types of communication skills you will use in a healthcare role.
Preparation thus becomes a highly useful activity for healthcare professionals. Not only will you encounter healthcare topics and tasks, you’ll also put them into practice.
Preparing for OET’s Writing sub-test, for instance, you develop a letter, which will help familiarise you with the language in your profession.
In comparison, general or academic English tests ask you to perform tasks that don’t directly translate into medical work. While writing an essay on beer-making can be handy if you’re a student, it isn’t as useful for a nurse or a doctor.
When studying for OET, you learn many of the language skills you will need when you take up your new healthcare role. In many ways, it’s a form of professional development.
Make sure you apply now for OET, the most useful English language test for healthcare professionals.