Occupational English Test (OET) To Practice Health Professions in Australia
By Barla Keerthana Swarjeet

If you are a professional in medical and health sector and willing to practice in Australia, you have to give out an Occupational English Test (OET) to prove your proficiency in the English language. The test is administered by the OET center. The test is recognised by the Regulatory Authorities of 12 Australian health professions.

The OET test assesses only the fluency in the English language for the overseas qualified health professionals. It consists of four modules - Listening, reading, Writing and Speaking. The test-taker has to score a minimum of grade-B in each skill to qualify the professional boards.

The maximum time limit of the test is 3 hours and the test is conducted for 6 times in 40 locations all around the world. OET test is valid for 2 years from the date of test taken.

To work and migrate to Australia OET test is essential for various health professional. If you fall under any of the following professions, you have qualify the test:

• Medical Practitioners (GPs and Specialists)
• Dentists
• Vets
• Nurses
• Radiographers
• Dieticians
• Speech pathologists
• Pharmacists
• Physiotherapists
• Related medical professionals

As per the requirements of AMC (Australian Medical Council), the test-taker has to triumph over all the modules in one sitting. This is exempted for the candidates in the dentist profession, where they can pass the test in multiple sittings. Typically in all the four modules of the test there are two common elements:

General elements: This element includes all the components of the test which are common for every profession, which highly based on the general medical concepts. Listening and reading are the key modules designed to test the general elements of the test.

Professional elements: This element of the test has the specific components of the test that would be varying based on the test-taker's profession. Listening and reading are the key modules to test the usage of English in the perspective of the test-taker's profession.

Though the structure of the test is similar to all the professions, its content varies based on the nature of the profession. Here the test-taker will be assessed only the usage of the English language in their own field.