OET Medicine Writing
The task
OET Medicine Writing is one letter in 45 minutes, about 180–200 words, written from a page of case notes to another healthcare professional - typically a referral to a specialist, a letter to the patient's GP, or a transfer or discharge letter. The reader needs enough information to continue care, and nothing more.
Rules that decide marks
- Select, do not transcribe. The notes deliberately include material irrelevant to the referral (a hobby, a distant family detail) and marks are lost for including it.
- Open with who you are, who the patient is (name, date of birth) and why you are writing.
- Group the body logically: presenting problem, relevant history, investigations, management so far.
- Close with a specific request, not a bare 'please see and advise'.
- Expand shorthand into full sentences: '? CT abdo' becomes 'I would be grateful if you could arrange a CT abdomen to exclude appendicitis.'
- Use letter conventions: date, recipient, salutation, a 'Re:' line, closing, your name and position.
Six criteria are scored: Purpose, Content, Conciseness and Clarity, Genre and Style, Organisation and Layout, and Language.
Worked example
The notes read: '21/3 - ? appendicitis. WCC 14. ? CT abdo. Pt anxious re surgery.' A weak letter copies the notes across. A scored answer reads: 'She was reviewed on 21 March with right iliac fossa pain, and her white cell count was 14, raising the possibility of appendicitis. I would be grateful if you could arrange a CT abdomen. She is understandably anxious about the possibility of surgery.' The reasoning: the question mark carries meaning that must be unpacked, the figure needs units and context, and the anxiety note is clinically relevant because it changes how the patient is prepared.
Traps that cost marks
- Falling under 180 words by dropping the request, or over 200 by padding with irrelevant social history.
- Shifting tense: events in the past, the request in the present.
- Keeping the notes' first person when you are a different writer from the clinician who took them.
- Writing 'the patient' throughout when the reader already knows her name.