OET FOR NURSES
OET for nurses: what the test involves and how to prepare
Nurses are the largest group of OET candidates worldwide. Most are working full shifts while they prepare, which is exactly why the two subtests that need human style feedback, Writing and Speaking, are the ones that stall progress: a tutor correction takes days and costs as much as a week of groceries.
OET Nursing uses the same Reading and Listening tests as every other profession. Writing and Speaking are nursing specific, built around the situations you already handle at work: handovers, discharge planning, and patient education.
THE TEST AT A GLANCE
Each subtest is reported from 0 to 500; most regulators ask for grade B, which is 350, in each subtest.
THE WRITING SUBTEST
The Writing subtest gives you 45 minutes to write a letter from a set of case notes, most often a referral or discharge letter to a community nurse, district nurse, or another carer taking over a patient. The skill being tested is selection: the notes always contain more than the reader needs, and grade B letters are the ones that choose the right details for that reader and leave the rest out.
THE SPEAKING SUBTEST
Speaking is two role plays with an interlocutor. You play the nurse; the other side is a patient, relative, or carer. Typical cards involve explaining a medication change, reassuring an anxious patient before a procedure, or advising on wound care at home. You are marked on clinical communication skills as well as language: relationship building, structuring the conversation, and checking understanding.
WHO ACCEPTS IT
OET is accepted for nursing registration by regulators including the NMC (UK), the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia via AHPRA, NMBI (Ireland), the Nursing Council of New Zealand, and several Gulf health authorities. Most require grade B (350) in each subtest, and some accept scores combined across sittings. Requirements change, so always confirm the current rules on your regulator's own site before booking.
LAST REVIEWED 6 JULY 2026
HOW WARDPASS HELPS
- Instant letter marking. Submit a practice letter and get criterion by criterion feedback in seconds against the six published OET Writing criteria, with your own words quoted as evidence.
- Conversational speaking practice. Role plays run as a live two way conversation with a simulated patient, marked against the published Speaking criteria.
- A readiness answer. Every attempt updates an estimate per subtest trending toward the 350 line by your exam date.
Independent preparation service. Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, OET or Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment. Practice feedback is based on published OET criteria and is not an official evaluation. Regulator requirements change: confirm current rules with the regulator directly.