Me and OET

Okay so its one small step for Nishma....one giant leap towards Dentistry in Australia...thankfully Neil Armstrong cannot read this spoof on his famous words. Doesn't mean I did not prepare for the small step though...

The thing with being in love with literature is, there comes a sort of overconfidence as well as a snobbish feeling about giving an English Language Testing Exam such as the OET. I thought to myself when I touched down in Australia 5 months ago, I have been living, breathing, creating, writing, loving English Language since the time I was a kid...so I could take OET as a walk-in anytime....practice material is for the "others". Those people who have spent school time playing on the ground and their teenage years socializing and partying in a native land that does not speak English. It is for the people who have never read a single thing other than their textbooks. BUT that is wrong...these people are brave...I would probably have a hard time learning their language regardless of whether I have partied or studied.

But the truth is, this is just another test with its own protocols. Having a powerful vocabulary surely helps, does give you an edge ( in everything, according to me) but preparation is needed nevertheless. For example, the referral letter has a particular format that is to be followed and the punctuation marks are different than we learnt in the Convent School, in classic English.

Do not walk in thinking you can rule OET because your English is powerful. It will aid you, but is no substitute for practice. Instead, like I did, purchase the relevant coaching material and do it at home. I practised for a total of 4 days...5 hours per day (as I had nothing else to do here)  and that is the thing that may give me an "A" instead of a "B". If you are confident about your skills, consider yourself lucky you do not have to take coaching classes that charge upto $30 per hour.

But do not push your luck by not preparing atall.

Listening part is easy but the Australian accent is different and you need to train your ears to it by listening to news here as well as interacting with true Aussies. Presence of mind required everywhere.
Reading part one is a killer, there are only 15 mins to make sense of two pages of a health-article and answer twisted meaningful questions. Rest all is easy....including writing the letter. Speaking is all a matter of experience...think of the interviewer as your patient...don't worry about things you say...it does not test professional knowledge. Say anything, with proper pauses, stress on particular words and confident fluency.

Awaiting (good) results ...
OET was fun.