Purpose
The first sentence names the request (urgent assessment) and the working diagnosis (suspected stable angina), so the cardiologist knows the priority before reading any history.
OET Medicine Writing
OET Writing Sample for Doctors: Referral Letter
This OET writing sample for doctors gives you a complete Medicine practice task: GP consultation notes, the writing instructions, a model referral letter to a cardiologist and a criterion-by-criterion explanation of why it works. Write your own letter first, then compare.
45 min5 minutes reading plus 40 minutes writing
180–200Words in the body of the letter
6Writing criteria the examiner uses
What is the OET Writing task for doctors?
OET Medicine Writing gives you 5 minutes to read the case notes and 40 minutes to write one letter, with a body of about 180–200 words. The letter is usually a referral to a specialist or a discharge or transfer letter to a GP or colleague. This page gives you a full practice task, a model answer and an explanation of every selection decision.
Reading time: 5 minutes
You read the case notes and the task before the writing time starts. Use it to decide who the reader is and what they must do next.
Writing time: 40 minutes
You write one letter. A useful split is 5 minutes planning, 30 minutes writing and 5 minutes checking purpose, dates and doses.
How to use this sample
Read the case notes, write your own letter under time and only then compare it with the model answer. Copying the model teaches far less than finding your own selection mistakes.
What the examiner checks
Six criteria: Purpose, Content, Conciseness & Clarity, Genre & Style, Organisation & Layout, and Language.
Case notes: referral of Mr David Hartley
These case notes describe a fictional patient and were written for practice. Read them for five minutes and decide what the cardiologist needs before you look at the task.
Patient details
- Name: Mr David Hartley
- DOB: 02/07/1968 (58 y.o.)
- Address: 15 Station Road, Westbridge
- Occupation: warehouse supervisor (on feet most of day, climbs stairs between floors)
- Consultation: 20/10/2026, Westbridge Medical Centre
Social background
- Married, 2 adult children (left home)
- Smoker for 30 yrs, currently 10 cigs/day (previously 20/day)
- Alcohol approx. 14 units/week
- Watches football; little regular exercise
Medical history
- Hypertension (2019): ramipril 5 mg OD
- Hypercholesterolaemia (2021): atorvastatin 20 mg nocte
- GORD (2017): omeprazole 20 mg OD, symptoms well controlled
- R knee arthroscopy (2010)
- Family hx: father MI aged 61; mother T2DM
- NKDA
Presenting complaint
- 3/52 central chest tightness on exertion (stairs at work, walking uphill)
- Lasts 3–5 min, relieved by rest; occasionally radiates to L arm
- Frequency increasing: now 3–4 times/week
- No pain at rest, no SOB at rest, no palpitations, no syncope
- Pt anxious: “worried it's my heart like Dad”; keen to keep working
Examination and investigations
- BP 148/92 mmHg, HR 78 bpm regular, BMI 31
- Heart sounds normal, chest clear, no peripheral oedema
- Resting ECG: sinus rhythm, no acute changes
- Bloods: FBC NAD, HbA1c 41 mmol/mol, total cholesterol 5.8 mmol/L, renal function normal
Assessment and plan
- Suspected stable angina
- Started aspirin 75 mg OD and GTN spray PRN; explained use and emergency action if pain at rest or not relieved
- Smoking cessation advice; referred to stop-smoking service
- Refer: Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic for urgent assessment and further investigation
- GP review in 2/52
Writing task
You are a GP at Westbridge Medical Centre. You saw Mr Hartley today. Using the information in the case notes, write a letter of referral to Dr Helen Morris, Consultant Cardiologist, Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic, Westbridge General Hospital, Hospital Road, Westbridge, requesting urgent assessment.
- Expand the relevant notes into complete sentences.
- Do not use note form.
- Use letter format.
- The body of the letter should be approximately 180–200 words.
Practice material written by OET with Dr Hesham. It is not an official OET test task.
Model answer: referral letter to the cardiologist
Compare this model with your own letter. There is more than one way to score highly, but strong answers make the same selection decisions.
Dr Helen Morris
Consultant Cardiologist
Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic
Westbridge General Hospital
Hospital Road
Westbridge
20 October 2026
Dear Dr Morris,
Re: Mr David Hartley, DOB 02/07/1968
I am writing to refer Mr Hartley, a 58-year-old warehouse supervisor, for urgent assessment of suspected stable angina.
Mr Hartley presented with a three-week history of central chest tightness on exertion, such as when climbing stairs at work. The episodes last three to five minutes, are relieved by rest and occasionally radiate to his left arm. They have become more frequent and now occur three to four times a week, although he has had no pain at rest.
His cardiovascular risk factors include hypertension, treated with ramipril 5 mg daily, and hypercholesterolaemia, for which he takes atorvastatin 20 mg nightly. He has smoked for 30 years, and his father had a myocardial infarction at 61. On examination, his blood pressure was 148/92 mmHg and his BMI was 31. A resting ECG showed sinus rhythm with no acute changes. His full blood count and HbA1c were normal, but his total cholesterol was 5.8 mmol/L.
I have started aspirin 75 mg daily and a GTN spray as required, and referred him to the stop-smoking service. He is anxious given his father's history.
I would be grateful if you could assess him and arrange further investigations as appropriate.
Yours sincerely,
Doctor
General Practitioner, Westbridge Medical Centre
Practice material written by OET with Dr Hesham. It is not an official OET test task. The body of this model answer is 195 words.
Why this letter works
The model is mapped to the six criteria examiners use. Selection is the skill behind most of them, so the lists below show which case notes were kept and which were left out.
Content
The letter keeps the features that make angina likely and that a cardiologist needs to plan tests: the exertional pattern, relief by rest, radiation, increasing frequency, risk factors, examination findings, the ECG and the treatment already started.
Conciseness & Clarity
Risk factors are grouped into one paragraph instead of being scattered through the letter. Negative findings are summarised as “no pain at rest” rather than listing every symptom he does not have.
Genre & Style
Written doctor to doctor, so medical terms such as myocardial infarction and sinus rhythm are appropriate, but note-form abbreviations such as SOB, NAD and OD are written out or avoided.
Organisation & Layout
Reason for referral, presenting complaint, background and findings, management so far, then the request. This is the order a specialist reads a referral in, and each paragraph has a single focus.
Language
Precise verbs (presented, relieved, radiate, started) and controlled tenses keep the timeline clear: past for the history, present perfect for what has been done and a polite conditional for the request.
Included because the reader needs it
- Age, occupation, suspected diagnosis and urgency
- Exertional pattern, duration, relief by rest, radiation and frequency
- Hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and their treatment
- Smoking history and father's MI at 61
- Blood pressure, BMI, ECG and the relevant blood results
- Aspirin, GTN spray and the stop-smoking referral
- His anxiety about his father's history
Left out because it does not change the next step
- GORD and omeprazole (well controlled and not part of the request)
- Knee arthroscopy (2010) and his mother's diabetes
- Alcohol intake, family details and leisure activities
- Address and the full list of negative symptoms
- Normal heart sounds, clear chest and no oedema (a short phrase is acceptable if you have words left)
- The two-week GP review, which is not the cardiologist's concern
Common mistakes in OET referral letters
These errors cost marks in Medicine referral letters again and again, and each one is easy to fix once you can see it.
- Hiding the request in the last paragraph, so the specialist does not see the urgency.
- Listing every negative symptom instead of the pattern that suggests angina.
- Writing the history in the same order as the notes instead of grouping the risk factors.
- Leaving out the medicines already started, which the cardiologist needs to know before testing.
- Including the GP's own follow-up plan, which does not help the specialist.
- Using abbreviations from the notes, such as SOB, NAD, OD or PRN.
- Using casual or dramatic language, such as “very worried” or “please see ASAP”.
For the method behind these decisions, read the OET Writing tips, see how the OET course for doctors trains referral letters, or try the OET writing sample for nurses. Results from candidates who prepared with this method are on the success stories page.
Write your own version and get it marked
Write your own referral letter for this task in 40 minutes, then send it for OET writing correction. Each corrected letter comes back with an estimated score, detailed correction and voice-note feedback on WhatsApp. If you are not sure your English is ready for OET yet, start with the free placement test.
OET medicine writing sample FAQ
More exam questions are answered on the full OET FAQ page.
How long should an OET referral letter be?
Aim for about 180–200 words in the body of the letter. Specialists want a clear reason for referral and the findings that support it, so a focused letter usually scores better than a longer one.
What should the first paragraph of an OET referral letter say?
It should state who the patient is, why you are referring them and how urgently, in one or two sentences. The reader should know the request before reading any history.
Do I need to include normal test results?
Include normal results only when they help the reader, such as a normal resting ECG in suspected angina. Leave out normal findings that do not change the specialist's assessment.
Can I get my OET referral letter marked?
Yes. Write your own version of this task under timed conditions, then send it for OET writing correction. You receive an estimated score, detailed correction and voice-note feedback on WhatsApp.
Next step
Find out what your referral letter would score
Write this task under time, send it for correction and get an estimated score with voice-note feedback on exactly what to change.