Part A asks you to turn a live consultation into accurate notes, hearing it once. This guide covers prediction, what to write and what not to write, spelling and abbreviations, and a worked practice extract with the distractors marked.
The real question candidates ask is: I understood the conversation, so why did I lose marks? In Part A, understanding is only half the task. The other half is writing the right words, in the right form, with acceptable spelling.
OET Listening lasts approximately 40 minutes, with three parts and 42 questions. Part A has two recordings, each a health professional talking to a patient, lasting about four to five minutes. Each has 12 questions, so Part A carries 24 of the 42 marks. You complete a health professional’s notes with a word or short phrase you hear.
You have 30 seconds to look at the notes before each recording starts, and you hear each recording once only. On paper you get two minutes at the end of the Listening test to check answers for all three parts; on computer and OET@Home there is a short checking pause built in.
OET says to complete the notes using the same words you hear, without paraphrasing or changing the information. Answers are generally one to three words. Its own example: if the patient says she was sent to an osteopath, both “osteopath” and “an osteopath” are acceptable, but you must not change the word form or add extra words.
According to OET, you lose marks if you repeat words already in the notes, add information that is not in the recording, contradict yourself or make your meaning unclear. Grammar mistakes can also cost marks, and on paper Part A is marked by human assessors, so your writing must be legible.
Spelling rules in Listening are more flexible than in Reading, but they are not relaxed. Here is what the official guidance says, and where it is silent.
OET accepts both UK and US spellings in Listening Part A, and says minor spelling variations may be accepted as long as the intended meaning is clear.
OET also says you may lose marks for spelling mistakes, and that you should be able to spell medical words in common public use, such as diabetes or cholesterol. Treat accurate spelling as the target, not the flexibility.
OET advises writing it phonetically, as it sounded, so you do not miss what comes next, then correcting it during the checking time.
OET’s published Listening guidance asks you to use the same words you hear, and we could not find an official list of accepted abbreviations for Listening. The Reading rule, that abbreviations are not accepted unless they appear in the text, applies to Reading only.
If the speaker says the short form, such as ECG, write what you heard. If you abbreviate a longer phrase to keep up, expand it to the full words in the checking time. Do not rely on your own shorthand as a final answer.
OET confirms you may write Listening Part A answers in block capitals, as long as you are consistent and do not switch between capitals and lower case.
OET notes that everything on the question sheet is mentioned in order, usually in different words, and that the questions come in order too. This method uses that structure.
Practice example only. This short extract, the patient and the notes were invented for teaching. A real Part A recording is longer, with 12 gaps and a range of accents. Read the notes first, predict each gap, then read the extract.
(1) Night-time breathlessness for approximately ______. (2) Recently started work in a ______. (3) Reliever inhaler now used ______ a day. (4) Stopped preventer inhaler due to ______. (5) Mother has ______. (6) Home monitoring with a ______.
Nurse: What’s brought you in today? Patient: My breathing’s been bad at night. I’d say it started about a week ago. Actually, no, it’s closer to three weeks now. Nurse: Has anything changed at work? Patient: I started a new job. I was in a warehouse before, but now I’m working in a bakery, so there’s flour everywhere. Nurse: How often are you using the blue reliever? Patient: Twice a day at first, but this week it’s been four times a day. Nurse: And the brown preventer? Patient: I stopped it. I thought it was making me put on weight, but really it was the sore throat. It kept giving me a sore throat. Nurse: Any family history? Patient: My dad had hay fever, and my mum’s got eczema. Nurse: Do you monitor at home? Patient: Yes, I’ve got a peak flow meter. I use it most mornings.
Use these as labels when you mark a practice test. Knowing which type of error you make most often tells you what to drill next.
Speakers often give an earlier time, dose or option before the final one. Wait until the speaker settles on the detail.
Swapping in a medical term for the patient’s words, or summarising, changes the answer. Write what was said.
If the notes already say “a day” or “pain in”, your answer should not repeat them.
Shortcuts help you keep pace, but the final answer should be clear to an assessor. Expand them in the checking time.
Common terms such as diabetes, eczema or cholesterol should be spelled correctly. Keep a personal list from each practice test.
Losing one answer is normal. Losing the next three because you are still thinking about it is avoidable.
Use the 30 seconds to predict the type of word for each gap, follow the headings, and wait for the speaker’s final version before writing. Write the speaker’s own words in one to three words, then use the checking time to fix spelling and expand any shortcuts.
Every test-format fact in this guide was checked against these official OET pages on 27 October 2026. OET can update its guidance, so check them again before your test date.
Short answers to the questions candidates ask most about this part of the test.
Part A has two consultation recordings with 12 questions each, so 24 questions in total. You complete a health professional's notes with a word or short phrase you hear.
They can be. OET accepts UK and US spellings and says minor variations may be accepted if the meaning is clear, but you may still lose marks for spelling mistakes.
OET asks you to write the words you hear and does not publish a list of accepted abbreviations for Listening. Write short forms only if the speaker uses them, and expand your own shorthand before time runs out.
No. Each recording is played once. You have 30 seconds to read the notes before each extract, so use that time to predict the type of answer for each gap.
Use our Listening and Reading practice route to apply prediction and checking under exam timing, then log every lost mark by error type.
