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Similar to the OET writing section, the OET speaking test is particular to your medical discipline. For instance, if you are a nurse, your roleplay will centre around a nursing scenario. If you are a doctor, your roleplay will centre around a medical scenario.
What is the OET Speaking Test?
The Common warm-up questions for your OET Speaking subtest.
Let us go through some of the most commonly asked warm-up questions in your OET speaking subtest.
1. The introduction
For your OET Speaking subtest, the examiner can ask you to introduce yourself, ask for your passport, and confirm your full name.
If the interlocutor asks you to introduce yourself, you can start by telling your name. When you tell your name, you could tell ‘My name is John’ rather than ‘Myself John’ as it is more appropriate.
In your introduction, you could add details about your profession and educational qualification with your University name and year of pass out. You could also mention your years of experience and be specific about the departments for which you have worked.
In your introduction, you need to mention about your family details only if such a question is asked of you.
2. Why did you choose nursing as your career?
So, this is one of the most frequently asked questions in your OET speaking warm-up session.
For this question, you can be general or specific about your choice. Some candidates will have a specific reason, such as an incident in their life, that led them to choose this. If not you can mention this profession’s merit and virtue which made you choose this.
For example, you can say,’ Nursing is a very Noble profession. From childhood, I was much concentrated on the service-oriented field, which gave me the best happiness‘. You can also add the number of opportunities concerned with this field.
3. Why did you choose OET?
For this question, you can answer that it was your long-term dream to work in ‘your dream destination’, an English-speaking country. To meet the language requirements of any nation where English is the first language, we must mostly have qualified for any of the internationally recognized language assessment tests.
The OET is the only English assessment test for healthcare professionals. But make sure you don’t compare it with other English assessment tests like IELTS.
4. Which is your dream destination.
When you answer this question, try not to prevaricate. The reason for your choice should be specific and solid, and it should sound confident and clear about your reasons for selecting your dream destination.
Also, when you mention your dream destination, use the correct article before the country name. For example, The UK, The USA and for countries like Australia, Ireland, Canada etc., there is no need to use any article.
When you are about to mention the reasons for choosing your dream destination, you must be particular about the healthcare scenario in that specific country. If you say aspects like the country’s lifestyle, weather, tourist places etc., it will sound rather like you are interested in the country’s appeal more than the medical advancements and merits of the country.
So you can be more specific about why you choose the country from a healthcare professional’s perspective. For this, mention the rule and regulations for healthcare in the country, the recognition of healthcare professionals in the country, the advanced global facilities provided across the country etc. By this, you sound more confident and clear about your choices, which would increase rapidly the interlocutor’s impression on you.
What are the qualities that a nurse should have?
You should definitely be aware of the mandatory qualities that a nurse should possess In order to answer this question. As we have already mentioned, a nurse should possess good communication skills. Unlike any other profession, nursing needs better sympathizing ability with the patient. This is necessary because, as a nurse, it is essential that you maintain a good relationship with the patient. For this, we would need to communicate well with the patient. It is equally important to be both a good speaker and listener.
Another important skill is problem-solving and critical thinking skills. This is significant while dealing with emergencies and other difficult situations. You can also consider explaining qualities like dedication, honesty, competency and punctuality.
What are the different roles of a nurse?
The nursing roles and responsibilities may be part of your job duties, whether you choose to specialize in paediatrics, intensive care units, or as a registered nurse. You can work in a variety of environments and have a range of positions depending on your education and expertise. For this question, you can say that the nurse plays different roles in her profession. The primary role of a nurse is a caregiver; apart from this, a nurse function as an advocate, a mediator, a counsellor, an educator and many more.
A Nurse plays a very vital role in connecting various departments of the industries for the welfare of the patient.
What advice would you give to the upcoming nurses?
No matter which profession you are in, it is necessary that we love our profession in order to be content and do well in your profession. As our patient’s welfare is in our hands, we should be dedicated in our profession, especially in a healthcare field,. Therefore you can say that they should love their profession so that they can carry out their responsibilities effectively and without any complaints.
Along with that, we can advise them to be dedicated to their profession and maintain a professional standard. These are essential because a nurse should follow their professional standards.
The OET Speaking Checklist
- Prepare yourself thoroughly to make sure that you are ready for the exam.
- Relax and use the warmer as a way to enter into English mode.
- Make sure you use your preparation time effectively: read the role card in detail.
- Greet the patient appropriately.
- Use open and closed questions to gather information about the patient.
- Respond with interest and empathy to the information the patient gives you.
- Provide the information the patient needs, make sure you address all of the tasks on the role card (if time permits) in a structured manner.
- Ask if the patient requires any clarification.
- Repeat the main points and confirm any future action which needs to be taken.
- Say goodbye and wish your interlocutor well.
- Get ready to do the above one more time for your second roleplay and then relax. Your speaking exam will have come to an end.