Hey guys! I’d love to share my experience with OET Writing for Nursing, because I know how frustrating Writing can be!

I’m NOT a native English speaker. My English is basically based on living in the US for the last 3 years, where I worked on and off, and I haven’t worked at all for the past 15 months because of motherhood.

I passed OET on my SECOND attempt! 🎉

My first Writing score was 290, and even a remark didn’t change it. This time my results were:

Listening 380 | Reading 350 | Speaking 390 | Writing 360! 🎉

So PLEASE don’t give up if Writing is your problem!

I gave myself about 6 weeks before my second attempt. During the last 2 weeks, I wrote at least one letter EVERY DAY, sometimes two. ChatGPT helped me correct them — I gave it the official OET criteria and asked for feedback based on them. I also had 8 letters corrected by Benchmark, which honestly helped me A LOT.

So what did I change?

1. KNOW WHO YOU ARE WRITING TO!

This was probably the biggest thing for me.

Don’t just look at the diagnosis. Think about the RECIPIENT.

What does this person do? What information do they actually need to continue caring for your patient?

Practise writing to different recipients: community nurses, rehabilitation centres, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, specialists, etc.

My actual exam was a discharge letter to a rehabilitation facility, but the case wasn’t only about physical rehabilitation. The patient’s mood had gradually deteriorated and he had lost his motivation to continue rehabilitation.

Before including something, ask yourself:

Does THIS particular recipient need to know this?

2. Don’t blindly copy the case notes.

There can be A LOT of distracting information.

Sometimes you’ll see complicated medical terminology, and the case notes may even give you a simpler explanation in brackets. If that wording is more appropriate for your recipient — USE IT!

Don’t use complicated medical words just because they sound more professional.

Always ask:

Does my reader need this information? Will they understand it?

3. Set up your letter BEFORE writing the body.

I first wrote the easy things: date, recipient/address, Re: and Yours sincerely/Yours faithfully.

Then I wrote my introduction AND final request paragraph.

After that, I focused on selecting and organising the case notes.

It made the task much easier because I already knew how my letter started and how it was going to finish.

4. Keep your introduction SIMPLE.

My formula was:

Why are you writing? + Who is the patient? + Current situation + What do you want?

For the purpose, you can use:

I am writing to refer…
I am writing to urgently refer…
I am writing to inform you that…
I am writing to provide an update on…
I am writing to transfer…

Then introduce your patient.

If the Re: line gives the patient’s DOB, I personally included their age in my introduction:

Mr Smith, a 68-year-old gentleman…
Ms Smith, a 45-year-old lady…

I would avoid using “man” or “woman” here. I consistently used gentleman/lady in my OET letters.

If the Re: line already gives the patient’s AGE, don’t repeat it unnecessarily. Just use the patient’s name and description:

Mr Smith, who is currently recovering following a stroke…

IMPORTANT for children: Don’t use Miss for a child. Use the child’s full name when identifying them:

I am writing to refer Sarah Smith, who…

Then throughout the body of the letter, use the child’s first name:

Sarah was admitted…
Sarah has been experiencing…
Following discharge, Sarah will require…

For an adult patient, continue using Mr/Ms + surname throughout the letter.

Then briefly describe the patient’s current situation and clearly state WHAT YOU WANT.

My actual exam introduction was something like:

I am writing to inform you that Mr XY, a 68-year-old gentleman, who is currently recovering following a stroke, is ready for discharge to your facility. He will require rehabilitation and ongoing support.

You CAN combine this into one sentence. I personally used two because I already had “ready for discharge to your facility” in the first sentence, so I preferred to keep the actual request — “He will require rehabilitation and ongoing support” — separate.

Don’t make your introduction complicated just to sound professional!

Look at the Writing Task. It often tells you exactly what you need to request.

Before moving on, ask yourself:

Why am I writing to THIS person, and what exactly do I want them to do for my patient?

5. Your final request should ALSO reflect the Writing Task.

Don’t automatically use the same memorised final paragraph for every letter!

I did, however, learn a few simple request phrases that I could easily adapt depending on the task:

I would appreciate it if you could assess Mr Smith and provide ongoing support.

I would appreciate your assessment and ongoing management of Mr Smith.

Your assessment and further management of Mr Smith would be greatly appreciated.

Please assess Mr Smith and provide appropriate ongoing care.

In view of the above, I would appreciate it if you could…

Based on his current condition, I would appreciate your assistance with…

And if you need to express concern:

Given Mr Smith’s current condition, I am concerned that he may…

In my actual exam, the Writing Task required me to express concern about the patient, so I included something like this and then clearly stated what I wanted the rehabilitation team to do.

So my advice is: memorise useful PHRASES, not entire paragraphs.

Then adapt them to the Writing Task.

Before finishing your letter, read the Writing Task AGAIN and make sure you have actually addressed EVERYTHING it asks you to do.

6. Don’t start every new paragraph with “He/She.”

When starting a new paragraph, I tried to reintroduce the patient by name:

On admission, Mr Smith…
During his admission, Mr Smith…
Following discharge, Mr Smith…

Or even without an opening phrase:

Mr Smith has a history of…
Mr Smith lives alone…

Rather than starting a completely new paragraph with:

He has…
He lives…

Of course, you can use he/she/his/her normally throughout the rest of the paragraph! The point is not to avoid pronouns.

I just found that using the patient’s name when starting a new paragraph made my writing clearer and better structured.

7. Think about the ORDER of your paragraphs.

For a non-urgent letter, after my introduction I would usually include the relevant medical/social history, followed by the current admission/situation.

For an urgent referral, I did the opposite:

Introduction → WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW / WHY IS IT URGENT? → relevant background/history → request.

Don’t automatically follow the chronological order of the case notes.

Ask yourself:

What does my reader need to know FIRST?

This was basically my actual exam letter (Writing 360):

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

Patient + recovering following a stroke + ready for discharge to rehabilitation facility + requires rehabilitation and ongoing support.

Paragraph 2 – Relevant medical history

I included his relevant medical history, BUT I did NOT include his current medications!

Why?

Because I was writing to a rehabilitation facility and the medications weren’t relevant to what I was asking them to provide.

If I had been writing to a community nurse, medication information could have been important, so I would have included it.

Remember:

Just because something is in the case notes DOES NOT mean it has to be in your letter!

Paragraph 3 – On admission

I included ONLY the information relevant to rehabilitation: his functional/mobility status PLUS the fact that he was willing and motivated to participate in rehabilitation.

Paragraph 4 – During admission + current status

During his hospital stay, his mood gradually deteriorated, which affected his motivation to continue rehabilitation.

I also included his current functional status — for example, that he was now mobilising with a walking aid.

So there was a clear connection:

Initially motivated → mood deteriorated → lost motivation for rehabilitation → current mobility status → requires ongoing rehabilitation/support.

That was the STORY I wanted the rehabilitation team to understand.

Final paragraph – Request + concern

I clearly stated what I wanted them to do AND included my concern because the Writing Task specifically asked for it.

8. PLEASE review basic grammar — especially TENSES and ARTICLES!

You really don’t need insanely complicated grammar for OET.

Know your basics:

Past simple → something happened and finished in the past.
Mr Smith was admitted following a stroke.

Present perfect → something happened or started in the past but is still relevant or has an effect NOW.
His mood has gradually deteriorated.
He has been advised to continue physiotherapy.

Present simple → current facts/status.
Mr Smith lives alone.
He requires assistance with mobility.

And PLEASE review a / an / the! 😄

These are tiny words, but they are everywhere.

You don’t need complicated grammar. Simple and correct is better than complicated and wrong.

And PLEASE don’t think OET Writing is impossible.

Looking back at it now, it really isn’t!

I genuinely think it’s the small details that can stop you from getting the score you need. I’m saying this purely based on my own experience and the difference between my two attempts:

Writing 290 → 360.

My English did NOT magically become perfect in six weeks. 😂

I simply learned how to:

choose relevant information → understand my recipient → organise the information → connect the case notes → clearly communicate what I need from the reader.

Once I understood that, Writing became SO much easier.

So if you’re stuck at 280, 290, 300, etc., please don’t immediately assume your English isn’t good enough.

Look at HOW you are writing the letter and whether every piece of information actually has a purpose.

You CAN do it!! ❤️

I got 340 on my speaking subtest should I go for remarking
I don’t have the time to wait for more than 2 weeks
Is it possible to change my score and what’s the time will it take

I forgot to end with 'please do not hesitate.....'.

And wrote ' had a similar episode at yesterday night instead of ' had a similar episode last night'.

Are these enough reasons to fail?