Free OET Listening sample · Parts A, B and C
OET Listening sample with answers
OET Listening takes about 40 minutes and has 42 questions in three parts. The real test is audio, and you hear each recording only once. On this page each example is written out as a transcript of what you'd hear, so you can see how the questions work. To practise the real thing, take the free Listening Part B test: six recordings, each played once.
Clodia is not affiliated with OET or Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment.
Part A · 2 consultations · 12 gaps each in the real test
Part A: a consultation with note completion
In the real test you have a short time to read the notes before the recording starts, then you fill each gap with the words you hear, in the order they come up. This sample has four gaps.
A pre-operative assessment nurse talks to Mr Hale, who is having a hernia repair under general anaesthetic.
Nurse: Good morning, Mr Hale. I'm one of the pre-assessment nurses. Your hernia repair is booked for the twelfth, so I'll go through a few questions today. First, do you take any regular medicines?
Mr Hale: Just the one, ramipril, for my blood pressure. I was on a low dose of aspirin too, but I stopped that myself a couple of months ago because I kept getting nosebleeds.
Nurse: Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure the surgical team knows, and it's worth letting your GP know you've stopped it. Have you ever had a reaction to anything?
Mr Hale: Not to medicines. It's plasters, really. The sticky ones bring me out in a rash.
Nurse: So no medicine allergies, but a reaction to adhesive dressings. And after the operation, is there someone who can stay with you for the first 24 hours?
Mr Hale: Yes, my daughter's coming to stay. She's taken the week off work.
Medication
- ramipril for (1) ______
- low-dose aspirin: stopped by patient because of (2) ______
Allergies
- none to medicines
- rash with (3) ______
After surgery
- (4) ______ will stay with him
Show the answer to gap 1
Answer: blood pressure (or high blood pressure). He says "ramipril, for my blood pressure". Write the words you hear.
Show the answer to gap 2
Answer: nosebleeds (or nose bleeds). The note asks why he stopped the aspirin: "because I kept getting nosebleeds".
Show the answer to gap 3
Answer: plasters (or sticky plasters, or adhesive dressings). "No medicine allergies" is already in the notes, so the gap is the plasters. Both words are heard.
Show the answer to gap 4
Answer: (his) daughter. "My daughter's coming to stay." The week off work is detail the note doesn't need.
Part B · 6 short extracts · 3 options each
Part B: a workplace extract
Part B has six short recordings from healthcare workplaces, about 45 seconds each, with one question each. Listen for why the person is speaking, not only what they say.
A ward manager speaks to staff at the start of a shift.
Ward manager: Quick one before handover. The new bed-exit sensors arrived this morning. They don't replace the falls assessment, which still has to be done for every patient on admission. They're for patients whose falls assessment shows they're likely to get up without help, and only if the patient agrees, or, if they can't decide, after a best-interests decision, talking it through with their family. If the patient says no, write that in the care plan and carry on with the usual checks.
Question 25 · Multiple choice (3 options)
The ward manager is mainly
- Aexplaining which patients the new sensors are for.
- Bannouncing a change to the falls assessment.
- Casking staff to discuss the sensors with patients' families.
Show the answer
Answer: A. The falls assessment stays as it is (B), and families are involved only in a best-interests decision when the patient can't decide (C). The point is which patients the sensors are for.
Part C · 2 recordings · 6 questions each · 3 options
Part C: part of an interview
Part C is two longer recordings, about five minutes each: a presentation or an interview. The questions test opinion and attitude, and the right option usually paraphrases the speaker rather than repeating their words.
An interviewer talks to a nurse who led a project to reduce urinary catheter use.
Interviewer: You've been running the catheter review project for a year. What surprised you?
Nurse: Honestly, how many catheters nobody could explain. We'd ask why a patient had one, and often it had gone in during an emergency admission and simply never been questioned since. So what worked wasn't a new product or a new policy, it was one question at the daily safety huddle: does this patient still need it? Infections came down, but I'd say the bigger shift was that taking a catheter out stopped feeling like something you needed permission for.
Question 31 · Multiple choice (3 options)
What does the nurse suggest was the bigger effect of the project?
- AStaff felt able to remove catheters without seeking approval.
- BFewer catheters were inserted during emergency admissions.
- CInfection rates fell further than the team had expected.
Show the answer
Answer: A. "The bigger shift" was that removal "stopped feeling like something you needed permission for". Infections fell, but nothing is said about expectations (C) or fewer insertions (B).
Six recordings, each played once, as in the test, and marked straight away. No account needed.
OET Listening questions
How long is OET Listening?
About 40 minutes, with 42 questions in three parts: two consultations with note completion (24 questions), six short workplace extracts (6 questions) and two longer presentations or interviews (12 questions).
Is the OET Listening audio played twice?
No. Each recording is played once, with short pauses built in to read the questions before each part. That is why practising with one hearing only matters.
Is OET Listening different for nurses?
No. The Listening paper is the same for every profession. The recordings are set in healthcare and use a range of English-speaking accents.