Free PDF guide · OET Writing · doctors
The OET Writing guide for doctors
How the Writing test works, a five-step method for the 45 minutes, one model letter taken apart, and the ten mistakes to fix before test day.
This guide is for doctors preparing for the OET Writing test on the medicine paper. Read it once from start to finish, then come back to one part at a time. Each part links to a practice task in Clodia, so you can try the skill straight away.
Inside the guide
- 1How OET Writing works
- 2A 5-step method
- 3A worked example with a model letter
- 410 mistakes that cost marks, each with a fix
- 5Your last-5-minutes checklist
Mistake 7 of 10Less known
Leaving it unclear who does each follow-up step
Ward plans are written without a subject: "sodium to be repeated in one week", "BP review in four weeks". On the ward everyone knows who will do it. In a letter, the GP cannot tell whether the hospital has booked the blood test, will see her in clinic, or expects the practice to arrange everything, so a step can be missed by both sides. Saying that no hospital follow-up is planned is part of the content, not a detail.
Before“Sodium to be repeated in one week. BP review in four weeks. Falls referral.”
After“Please could you check her sodium by 25 September… Please recheck it in four weeks… No hospital follow-up has been arranged. … She has been referred to the community falls service, which will contact her directly.”
Example grades, not a real student's result
Mistake 1 of 10
Opening with a case presentation instead of the purpose
Mistake 2 of 10
Writing to the GP in ward shorthand
A page from the guide
The model letter, from real-style case notes
Dr Alan Scargill General Practitioner Northfield Medical Centre 42 Holme Lane Bradford BD4 6RT 18 September 2026 Re: Mrs Margaret Rimington, DOB 03/11/1943 Dear Dr Scargill, I am writing to update you on Mrs Margaret Rimington, discharged home today after treatment for low sodium, and to ask you to recheck her sodium within one week.
The full letter, the case notes it comes from, and why each part works are in the PDF.