How to improve OET Reading?

 

The OET Reading sub-test begins with the test format which is common for all the health-care professionals followed by tips to help test takers prepare before the test and how to succeed on test day. Reading comprehension has three parts namely part A, B and C. Part A has 4 short texts whose word limit is not more than 650 and atleast 20 questions. The total duration for Part A is just 15 minutes which is completed separately and submitted to the invigilator. The question types are Matching, Gap filling and short answers. Part B and Part C together must be completed within 45 minutes. The total duration for the test is 60 minutes. Part B is an MCQ task which includes 6 short passages with a question per text which means a total of 6 MCQ’s must be comprehended. Each article has atleast 100-150 words. Part C is also depicts MCQ’s has two passages which are the longest and their word limited are 750-850 words each with 16 questions which means 8 questions per text. The total number of questions to be answered are 42. Each question carries equal weightage in marking which means the overall score is calculated out of 42 marks. The OET Reading Part A, B and C tests different reading skills. Part A expects the candidates to skim the passage which means read quickly to familiarize with the important points and scan also wherein going through all areas of a particular paragraph to locate some feature that could be closer to the answers of questions. Part B testing focus is on reading for gist – substance or general meaning of the passage, purpose – understanding the objectives of the lines given in any article, main points – the most crucial aspect or the central idea of the text and detail – description or explanation of particulars. Part C skill assessment areas are different from that of both Part A and B as well. Part C examines the trainees’ abilities to select answers by way of inference – a conclusion arrived at on the basis of proof and reasoning, attitude – the point of view as per the explanations in the text and opinion – a judgment or a belief arrived at after going through the various aspects of any text. The passages read in Reading Part A are work place texts which is based on consultation of patients to provide them the most appropriate treatments. Reading treatment protocols, medication information, treatment parts or diagnosis tools are some of the chosen extracts for Part A.

In order to do well in Part A reading comprehension questions, read for a detailed picture on the subject related to work place situations in a typical health-care setting written in English in addition to specifically setting the device controls and menus to English, timetables and restaurant menus to English and use English-English dictionaries. These techniques can help test takers improve their English skills which would enable them to both skim and scan perfectly well as a consequence of which the selected answers for the questions would be almost always correct.

Another methodology to improve scanning in Part A of the reading test is to complete word searches. This could be an ideal training to help any candidate scan all over the text rather than just beginning to scan from the opening lines of the passage and reading the information in order. When completing a word search it is important to notice what makes a word different from others. For Example, Does it contain unusual letters such as X, Z or J? Does it contain double letters SS, PP or LL? Does it contain unusual letter combinations namely U, A, O, I, P, H?

N	R	E	S	P	O	N	D	U	H
L	O	W	J	E	H	R	O	E	J
L	S	Q	E	R	Z	I	G	X	A
K	S	B	R	S	Q	E	Q	P	P
S	G	K	U	U	I	W	A	L	N
A	C	N	S	A	N	V	V	A	E
N	K	K	S	D	F	W	K	I	M
B	W	N	A	E	O	F	L	N	G
O	K	L	E	D	R	J	A	R	R
Q	C	G	R	C	M	M	Q	O	C

 

An example on Part A questions are:-

READING PART A MINI PRACTICE  

TEXT A TABLE 6 SEVERITY ASSESSMENT 2MINUTE PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Infants                          Mild to moderate                               Severe     

Infants’                     <38.5 degrees centigrade                  >38.5 degrees centigrade

Respiratory rate                                Respiratory rate

50 breaths per minute                       70 breaths per minute

Mild Recession                                 moderate to severe recession

Taking full feeds                              nasal flaring

Cyanosis

Intermittent apnoea

Grunting respiration

Not feeding

Tachycardia *

Capillary refill time 2

 

 

 

 

 

Older children             <38.5 degrees centigrade                >38.5 degrees centigrade

Respiratory rate                              Respiratory rate

50 breaths per minute                     50 breaths per minute

Mild breathlessness                        severe difficulty in breathing

No vomiting                                    Nasal Flaring

Cyanosis

Grunting respiration

Signs of dehydration

Tachycardia *

Capillary refill time 2

1. This text provides information regarding
2. The treatment protocol for a child with severe case of pneumonia
3. Establishing the seriousness of a case of pneumonia in a baby
4. How much medication to provide a child with pneumonia
5. An infant who is still accepting ________________ is more likely to have mild to moderate than severe pneumonia
6. How many breaths per day can indicate pneumonia in a baby?
7. What two factors must be considered while assessing whether a child has tachycardia?
8. A pediatric patient with a temperature of 38 degrees centigrade would be considered to have _________________ pneumonia.

A passage on severity assessment is given without directly stating that it is for pneumonia. The first question is, this text provides information regarding, read the text and answer the question after locating the same with precision. The text is a table on severity assessment where the degree of severity is stated as an initial phase from ‘mild to moderate’ and ‘severe’ which must be read carefully. The infants and older children’s symptoms of a disease vary greatly.

The three options for question 1 are:-

1. The treatment protocol for a child with a severe case of pneumonia
2. Establishing the seriousness of a case of pneumonia in a baby
3. How much medication to provide a child with pneumonia

This passage does not talk about treatment, symptoms and medications as well, so option b is the correct answer.

Question 2 is a gap fill type.

An infant who is still accepting (something) is more likely to have mild to moderate than sever pneumonia. As per this question, the answer is given on the second column ‘mild to moderate’. The answer to be given is ‘taking full feeds’. The words to be incorporated is ‘full feeds’, ‘taking’ is same as that of ‘accepting’. It is important to write ‘full feeds’ itself than ‘feeds’ or ‘feed’ to get the answer correct. Copy and paste the answer ‘full feeds’ on the gap to complete the sentence and no adjustments are required.

Question 3 is how many breaths per minute may indicate severe pneumonia in a baby?

The answer is given at column three labelled ‘severe’. The answer is more than 70 or > 70.

Question 4 is what two factors must be considered when considering whether a child has tachycardia?  The word ‘tachycardia’ for infants is not applicable because it is for a child. The word tachycardia is followed by an * whenever the * is given, it means check the bottom of the text, some of the answers can also be presented at the bottom of the text. The answer is age and temperature.

Question 5 is a pediatric patient with temperature of 38 degrees centigrade would be considered to have _____________ pneumonia. The answer is ‘mild to moderate’. The word with the symbol given under the column ‘mild to moderate’ is less than 38.5 degree.

The passage to be read in Reading Comprehension Part B are also work place texts that are short passages and may not necessarily be the whole extract on any work place scenario as it had been originally drafted but will contain all the information needed to answer the questions. It might be based on updates, policy documents, memo’s/e-mails or guidelines on typical type of work place communication between colleagues. The preparation methodology for Part B Reading Comprehension is reading for the main idea from short health care articles. It would be possible to do so by making use of work place documentation that are already accessible at work spots. Alternatively, reading online health care articles or even types of information found on notice boards and waiting rooms for doctors or dental practice are other ways to enhance reading skills to perform exemplarily in Part B reading comprehension also. For Example, the article on correct identification and procedures for patients are broken down into small sections with sub headings. Each of the sections can be read and find out the main point emphasized in each of them.

Annual Medication Review

To give all patients an annual medication review is an ideal to strive for. In the meantime there is an argument for targeting all clinical medication reviews to those patients likely to benefit most.

Our guidelines state that, atleast a level two medication review will occur. The minimum standard is a treatment review of medicines with the full notes but not necessarily with the patient present. However, the guidelines go on to say ‘all patients should have a chance to raise questions and highlight problems about their medicines’ and that ‘any changes resulting from the review are agreed with the patient’.

It also states that GP practices are expected to

Minimize waste in prescribing and avoid ineffective treatments

Engage effectively in the prevention of ill health

Avoid the need for costly treatments by proactively managing patients to recover through the whole care pathway.

1. The guidelines require those undertaking a clinical medication review to
2. Involve the patient (in their decisions) noun phrase
3. Consider the cost (of any change in treatments) noun phrase
4. Recommend other services (as an alternative to medication) noun phrase

Each text begins with a context statement which helps test takers understand what the purpose of the text is. As stated in the opening lines of the passage it is ‘medication review’ and the question also states almost a similar context statement ‘a clinical medication review’. The context is given in the stem which is an incomplete sentence and the three options A, B and C also has a verb phrase which forms a part of each answer option namely ‘involve the patient’, ‘consider the cost’ and ‘recommend other services’ and these varied information must be understood easily that helps to arrive at the correct option (the answer). In this example the action is provided in a verb phrase whereas the detail of the action is in a noun phrase such as ‘in their decisions’, ‘of any change in treatments’ and ‘as an alternative to medication’.

Our guidelines state that, atleast a level two medication review will occur. The minimum standard is a treatment review of medicines with the full notes but not necessarily with the patient present. Lines 3 and 4 from this passage appears to prove that option A is incorrect but by continuing to read and noticing the word however, ‘any changes resulting from the review are agreed with the patient’ indicates the main point which provides evidence that option A is the correct answer.  As it is important to locate the correct option, one must also know why the other options such as B and C are wrong. These lines from the text ‘It also states that GP practices are expected to avoid the need for costly treatments by proactively managing patients to recover through the whole care pathway’ does not match option B which states consider the cost (of any change in treatments) as it is so in the answer option, costs are not stated in relation to changes in treatment. Likewise, minimize the waste in prescribing and avoid ineffective treatments as given in the passage has no direct reference to alternatives in medication but the inclusion of this phrase could be inferred to mean the same thing, so it does not agree with Option C Recommend other services (as an alternative to medication).

The two longer texts in Reading Comprehension Part C to be read are on general health care topics and would most probably be in an article format. They may not be the complete passage but will definitely contain sufficient information to answer the text. To perform exceptionally well in Reading Part C, it is necessary to practice reading for the writer’s perspective in English. The texts include a number of different opinion pieces, so reading texts which are more opinionated and factual will be a good practice. Other types of passages that will be good to read regularly are journals of professional regulatory bodies and review articles on research papers. There are opinion questions, main idea questions, and vocabulary and phrase questions. It is necessary to apply critical thinking skills which can help the test taker make better choices when it comes to answering MCQ’s. Read analytically means read and understand the questions, read the text and work out the main idea and read the answer choices. While doing this underline the key words in both the questions as well as the answer choices and in the text you must think deeply and analyze as you go. Another part of critical thinking is logical reasoning so the answer choices vary commonly where different words are used, preferably synonyms, or summarizing techniques also of the main ideas so the answer options will have different words in comparison to the explanations given in the passage and it is important to read between the lines for understanding the deeper meaning and that is where logical reasoning is prioritized to the core.

The first strategy to approach reading part C questions are the QTA method which means questions – text – answers. It means read the question stem, then read the text and then read the answer choices.  To manage time effectively, the question stem must be read in 15 seconds to understand what is asked and then read the paragraph and thereby underline key words and understanding relationships between ideas and looking out for signal words such as ‘but’ or ‘however’ or ‘for this reason’ or ‘the way ideas are linked together’.  A minute can be allocated to read the text and there are four answer choices that can be gone through in depth after which the incorrect answer choices can be ruled out and the answer that matches can be corrected which would be for a time span of 1 minute and a total duration of 2 minutes 15 seconds allocated per question. For example:- question 1 in the first paragraph, what is the writer’s attitude to the new programme? Here to find out the answer for this type of question, it is significant to read between the lines because the meaning would be a lot deeper so the approach to select a particular attitude or so as highlighted in the text may not be the right approach to find out the answer.

In the first paragraph, question 1 what is the writer’s attitude towards the new programme? (15seconds to read the question)

Text 1:- A US doctor gives his views on a new program. (1 minute to read the passage)

An important component of a patient’s history and physical examination is the question of ‘medical compliance’, the term used by physicians to designate whether, or not, a patient is taking his or her medications. Many a hospital chart bears the notorious comment ‘patient has a history of non-compliance’. Now, under a new experimental programme in Philadelphia, USA, patients are being paid to take their medications. The concept makes sense in theory – failure to comply is one of the most common reasons that patients are readmitted to hospital shortly after being discharged.  

The options are as follows:- (1 minute to choose the correct answer)

1. He doubts that it is correctly named
2. He appreciates the reason behind it
3. He is skeptical about whether it can work
4. He is more enthusiastic than some other doctors

Option A he doubts that it is correctly named (this option is ruled out as no name is given)

Option C he is skeptical about whether it can work (not given in this paragraph)

Option D he is more enthusiastic than some other doctors (no other doctors mentioned)

Option B he appreciates the reasons behind it (the concept makes sense in theory: reasons behind failure to comply). The patient’s failure to comply, they don’t take their medications and that’s why they have considered this programme.

The second strategy is the QAT Method is a Question – Answer – Text method. It means read the question followed by the answer options also and then go through the passage. Question 2 in the second paragraph, the writer suggests that the of category of non-compliance is

1. Elderly patients who are given occasional assistance (not occasional it’s daily)
2. Patients who are over-prescribed with a certain drug (incorrect no mention of “overprescribed”. Pills are vital.
3. Busy working people who mean to be complaint (correct answer) well intentioned
4. People who are by nature vary of taking pills (not given)

Text 2

Compliant patients take their medications because they want to live as long as possible; some simply do so because they are responsible, conscientious individuals by nature. But the hustle and bustle of daily life and employment often get in the way of taking medications, especially those that are timed inconveniently or in frequent dozes even for such well-intentioned patients. For the elderly and the mentally or physically impaired, US insurance companies will often pay for a daily visit by a nurse, to ensure a patient gets at least one set of the most vital pills. But other patients are left to fend for themselves, and it is not uncommon these days for patients to be taking a considerable number of vital pills daily.

Question 3 what problem with some patients are described in the third paragraph?

Text 3

Some patients have not been educated properly been educated about the importance of their medications in layman’s terms. They told me, for instance, they don’t have high blood pressure because they were once prescribed a high blood pressure pill – in essence, they view an antihypertensive as an antibiotic that can be used as a short-term treatment for a short-term problem. Others have told me that they never had a heart attack because they were taken to cardiac catheterization lab and ‘fixed’. As physicians were responsible for making sure patients understand their own medical history and their own medications.

1. They forget which prescribed medication is for which condition (not given)
2. They fail to recognize that some medical conditions require ongoing treatment (correct)
3. They don’t understand their treatment even when it is explained in simple terms (incorrect)
4. They believe that taking some prescribed pills means they don’t need to take others. (not given)

Question 4 what does the writer say about the side effects of medication?

1. Doctors need to have better plans in place if they develop (easy to rule out as no comparison with a better plan)
2. There is too much misleading information about them online (it does not say the side effects are misleading)
3. Fear of them can waste a lot of unnecessary consultation time (not the focus)
4. Patients need to be informed about the likelihood of them occurring (there are some risks but there are many benefits correct)

Text 4

Not uncommonly patients will say, ‘I go ogled it the other day, and there are a long list of side effects’. But a simple conversation with the patient at this juncture can easily change their perspective. As with many things in medicine, it’s all about risks versus benefits – that’s what we as physicians are trained to analyze. And patients can be rest assured that, we will monitor them closely for side effects and address any that are unpleasant, either by treating them or trying a different medication.

Question 5 what objection to the programme does the writer make in the sixth paragraph?

Text 5

Although a simple financial programme has its appeal, its complications abound. What’s worse, it seems to be saying to the society: as physicians, we tell our patients that not only do we work to care for them, but we will now pay them to take better care of themselves. And by the way for all your medication complaint patients out there, you can have the inherent reward of a longer, healthier life, but we are not going to bother sending you money. This seems like some sort of implied punishment.  

1. It will be counterproductive (incorrect)
2. It will place heavy demand on doctors (incorrect)
3. It sends the wrong message to patients (pay non complaint patients) (don’t pay non complaint patients) correct
4. It is a simplistic idea that falls on its details (the programme may be simple, but the details is not where it falls down. It’s the “principle”. That’s the issue. (Incorrect)

Question 6

The writer suggests about his grandmother

1. May ultimately have benefited from her non-compliance (correct got what she wanted)
2. Would have appreciated closer medical supervision (not given)
3. Might have underestimated how ill she was (not given)
4. Should have followed the doctor’s advice (close but rule out with the last three sentences). Incorrect

Text 6

When discussing the complicated nuances compliance with my students, I given the example of my grandmother. A thrifty, no nonsense woman, she routinely sliced all the cholesterol and my heart disease pills her doctor prescribed in half, taking only half the dose. If I questioned this, she would wave me off with, ‘what do those doctors know anyway?’ sadly she died, suddenly, aged 87, most likely of a massive heart attack, had she taken the medicines at the appropriate doses, she might have survived it. But maybe she would have died a more painful death from some other ailment. Her biggest fear had always been ending up in a nursing home, and by luck or design, she was able to avoid that. Perhaps there was some wisdom in her ‘non-compliance’.

To summarize, the best way to prepare for OET Reading is as follows:- Read a variety of texts on a variety of health care topics. Do not be tempted to read with your dictionary, train yourself to familiarize with unfamiliar vocabulary in texts. Checking words as you read won’t help you to do this. Save the dictionary until the article is completely read. Use an English-English dictionary to look up for unknown words. Do complete the official practice tests so that you are familiar with the format of reading tests.  Spend time improving reading skills. This will make the most noticeable difference in the scores on test day. Develop strategies for time management. Do some practice for reading tasks using a clock for Part A. Learn to split your time for reading Part B and C so that you have enough time on each task?

To score exceptionally well in reading Part A, at the start of the time, quickly glance at the four texts to understand the topics and to get an idea on the difference in content between them. Use this information to help you answer the section of questions matching information to one of the texts. This section is designed to orient you to the contents of the text. Use some key vocabulary and do section 2 and section 3. Make sure the answered are copied accurately from the text. Don’t be too worried about the time. Work slowly and steadily through the questions, if there is anything you can’t answer quickly, you should have time to go back and answer that question and notice the differences between them. During reading Part B use the context heading to understand the purpose and type of each text. Read the three answer options carefully and notice the differences between them. Underline key words if it is helpful. Check the text for all of the answers. You should be able to find evidence on why one of the answers is correct and others are wrong. Remember all parts of the answer options must be covered by the text. Manage your time as 45 minutes is the total duration for Part B and C. You will probably need to complete answering all the questions in Part B by 10 minutes so another 35 minutes is required to answers questions that fall under Part C. In reading Part C, remember the questions sequentially move through the text. You will not need to return to earlier content to answer subsequent questions. Read the question and four answer options carefully because it important to understand the meaning of the words in combination and not just the definition of words. If you cannot answer a question quickly, you know you find some types of questions easier, move on and complete the easier ones and come back to the ambiguous ones later. You need not need to get a previous question correct to get the next question correct, if you find one question difficult don’t let it distract you, forget it and move on to the next one. Manage your time to leave an equal amount of time per text. Ideally you will have around 35 minutes for Part C which includes some time to get back to the unanswered questions in the end.