OET nursing speaking syllabus
Speaking is profession specific, so you play the nurse and the interlocutor plays a patient, a relative or a carer. Nine criteria are applied, and five of them have nothing to do with your English. The OET Nursing syllabus hub page covers the other sub-tests.
Pattern
| Stage | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Warm up | A short conversation with the interlocutor about your professional background | Not assessed |
| Role play 1 | Read the role play card, then perform it | 3 minutes preparation, about 5 minutes performance |
| Role play 2 | Read the role play card, then perform it | 3 minutes preparation, about 5 minutes performance |
About twenty minutes in total. The session is recorded and double marked by assessors who were not in the room. The interlocutor plays the patient and does not score you.
On OET on Computer and OET@Home, Speaking is taken online within about five days of the other three sub-tests.
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The nine assessment criteria
Four linguistic criteria
- Intelligibility: how easily you can be understood, including pronunciation, stress and intonation
- Fluency: the pace and smoothness of your speech
- Appropriateness: whether your language suits the patient, the setting and the situation
- Resources of Grammar and Expression: the range and accuracy of the structures and vocabulary you use
Five clinical communication criteria
- Relationship building: how you open, acknowledge the patient and establish rapport
- Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective: eliciting what they think and feel, then using it
- Providing structure: signposting, sequencing and keeping the consultation organised
- Information gathering: questioning technique, including open and closed questions and checking back
- Information giving: pitching explanations at the patient, checking understanding and avoiding jargon
A candidate with excellent English who talks over an anxious relative and never asks what they are worried about will lose heavily on the clinical half while scoring well on the linguistic half. The two are assessed separately.
Typical nursing role play scenarios
- Explaining a procedure or a treatment plan to a patient who is anxious about it
- Giving discharge advice, including medication and follow up
- Reassuring a worried relative about a patient’s condition or care
- Persuading a reluctant patient to accept a treatment, a test or a change in routine
- Responding to a complaint about care or about waiting
- Explaining a lifestyle change and dealing with resistance to it
- Breaking a difficult piece of news within the nurse’s remit
The card tells you the setting, who you are speaking to and what you have to achieve. The interlocutor card contains the patient’s concerns, which are written so that they surface only if you ask.
What is not in the syllabus
- No clinical examination or diagnosis. You are not assessed on nursing decisions
- No presentation or monologue. Both tasks are interactive
- No preparation beyond the three minutes per card
- No assessment by the interlocutor, who plays the patient only
- No accent requirement. Intelligibility is about being understood
- No negative marking
How to spend the time
Use the three minutes to find the task on the card, not to script sentences. The card states what you must achieve, and candidates who prepare words rather than objectives run out of them in the first minute.
Open by establishing who you are and acknowledging the person in front of you. Relationship building is a criterion in its own right and the opening thirty seconds carry most of it.
Ask what they are worried about, then use the answer. Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective cannot be scored if you never elicit the perspective, and the interlocutor is briefed to hold it back until asked.
Signpost out loud. Saying what you are going to cover and then covering it in that order is exactly what Providing structure rewards. Browse the available OET Nursing practice papers.
Common mistakes
- Scripting answers in the three minutes and then reading them
- Delivering clinical information without asking what the patient already knows
- Never eliciting the patient’s concern, which the interlocutor is briefed not to volunteer
- Using clinical terms with a patient or carer
- Talking through the patient’s interruptions rather than acknowledging them
- Treating the warm up as assessed and using nervous energy on it
- Finishing the task in two minutes and leaving the remaining time unused
- Preparing only for explaining tasks when persuading and complaint handling appear as often
Linguistic criteria against clinical communication criteria
| Feature | Linguistic | Clinical communication |
|---|---|---|
| Number of criteria | Four | Five |
| What is assessed | How you use English | How you conduct the consultation |
| Example | Resources of Grammar and Expression | Information gathering |
| Improved by | Language practice | Consultation technique |
| Common failure | Limited range under pressure | Explaining without first asking |
Frequently asked questions
How long is the OET Speaking sub-test?
About twenty minutes, covering a warm up and two role plays.
How many role plays are there?
Two, each with three minutes of preparation and about five minutes of performance.
Is Speaking nursing specific?
Yes. Writing and Speaking are the two profession specific sub-tests, so the scenarios are nursing scenarios.
Who plays the patient?
The interlocutor. They do not score you. Assessors mark the recording afterwards.
What are the Speaking criteria?
Four linguistic criteria, being Intelligibility, Fluency, Appropriateness, Resources of Grammar and Expression. Then five clinical communication criteria, being Relationship building, Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective, Providing structure, Information gathering, Information giving.
Is the warm up assessed?
No. It settles you before the first role play.
Is my accent marked down?
No. Intelligibility assesses how easily you are understood rather than which accent you have.
Am I assessed on clinical decisions?
No. The clinical communication criteria assess how you conduct the conversation, not the nursing judgement behind it.
Can I take Speaking on a different day?
On OET on Computer and OET@Home it is taken online within about five days of the other sub-tests.
What grade do I need in Speaking?
The NMC requires B, meaning 350 or above. Australia requires 360 since 23 April 2026, and New Zealand requires 350.