OET READING · Practice Test 03
OET Reading practice for nurses
This original English Guru Campus practice test is designed for nurses and other healthcare professionals preparing for the OET Reading sub-test. It contains 42 questions in three parts: a rapid Part A task using four texts on one clinical topic, six short workplace extracts in Part B, and two longer healthcare articles in Part C. You have 60 minutes in total. Part A is strictly limited to 15 minutes and locks automatically when its timer expires; the remaining time is used for Parts B and C. On desktop, the reading material and questions appear in separate, independently scrollable panes. Mobile candidates receive a clear stacked layout. Your responses, flags and timer state are saved during the current browser session. After submission, you will receive raw and part-wise scores, an approximate OET scaled score and grade, plus a complete question-by-question review with answers and explanations.
Before you begin
Part A: Questions 1–20, 15 minutes. It locks automatically.
Parts B and C: Questions 21–42, using the time remaining from the 60-minute total.
This page saves progress in this browser session. The total timer starts only when you select Start Test.
Text A: Before starting nasogastric feeding
Confirm that enteral feeding is prescribed and that the patient has been assessed for aspiration risk. Explain the procedure and obtain consent where the patient has capacity. Elevate the head and upper body to at least 30 degrees unless this is clinically contraindicated.
Tube position must be confirmed after initial insertion and before the first use. Aspirate gastric contents with an enteral syringe and test the aspirate using pH indicator strips intended for gastric aspirate. A pH of 5.5 or below supports gastric placement. Never use blue litmus paper. If no aspirate is obtained, or the pH is above 5.5, do not introduce feed, water or medicine. Follow the escalation pathway in Text D.
Document the external tube length at the nostril after position is confirmed. This provides a baseline for later safety checks.
Text B: Feeding and medicine-administration checklist
| Stage | Required action |
|---|---|
| Before each feed or medicine round | Check for coughing, vomiting, respiratory distress or a change in the external tube length. Confirm tube position according to local policy. |
| Equipment | Use only enteral syringes and enteral connectors. Do not connect enteral equipment to intravenous devices. |
| Formula | Verify the prescribed product, rate and volume. Check the expiry date and record when the container is opened. |
| Medicines | Give each medicine separately. Do not mix medicines directly with the feed unless a pharmacist has specifically authorised this. |
| Flushing | Flush with the prescribed volume of water before feeding, between individual medicines and after administration. Use sterile water when required by the patient's clinical condition or local policy. |
| Completion | Close the system, leave the patient appropriately elevated and document the amount delivered and any interruption. |
Stop feeding immediately if the patient develops acute breathlessness, repeated coughing, cyanosis or sudden vomiting.
Text C: Ongoing care and blockage prevention
Inspect the nose and surrounding skin at least once per shift for pressure, redness, discharge or pain. Keep fixation secure but avoid excessive tension. Provide regular mouth care even when the patient is not eating orally.
Maintain the prescribed feeding schedule and record actual intake rather than the intended volume. Keep the patient at 30 degrees or more during feeding and for at least 30 minutes afterwards, unless contraindicated. Do not place the patient flat during an active feed.
To prevent blockage, use the prescribed water flushes and review medicines with pharmacy for a suitable formulation. Never use sharp objects, carbonated drinks or acidic fruit juice to clear an obstruction. If resistance is felt, stop; do not force fluid through the tube. Attempt gentle flushing with warm water using a push-pause technique. If unsuccessful, seek specialist advice.
Text D: Position-check and escalation pathway
If aspirate is unavailable, first check that the tube is not kinked, inspect the patient's mouth for coiling, reposition the patient and wait 15–30 minutes before trying once more. Do not repeatedly flush air or water in an attempt to obtain aspirate.
If aspirate remains unavailable, if its pH is above 5.5, or if the external tube length has changed, withhold all substances through the tube and contact the responsible clinician. Radiographic confirmation may be required. A chest radiograph used for this purpose must be interpreted and the result documented by a clinician assessed as competent before the tube is used.
Treat new respiratory distress, oxygen desaturation, cyanosis or suspected pulmonary placement as an emergency. Stop any infusion, call for urgent clinical assistance and provide immediate supportive care within your scope of practice. Never rely on the “whoosh test” (air insufflation with abdominal auscultation) to confirm placement.
Extract 1: Omitted medicine doses
When a prescribed medicine is not administered, select the correct omission code on the electronic chart and add a brief factual note explaining why. A code does not replace clinical action. For time-critical medicines, inform the prescriber immediately and obtain advice about whether the dose should be given late, replaced or withheld. If stock is unavailable, contact pharmacy before recording the dose as omitted; use the out-of-hours supply pathway when applicable. Never alter the scheduled administration time simply to prevent the dose appearing overdue. Repeated omissions of the same medicine must be raised with the nurse in charge and reviewed for an underlying systems problem. Document all advice received and continue relevant patient monitoring.
Extract 2: Positive patient identification
Before administering treatment, collecting a specimen or transferring care, ask the patient to state their full name and date of birth and compare these details with the identification band and relevant order. Do not ask a confirming question such as, “Are you Mr Khan?” If the patient cannot respond, use the identification band and a second approved source, following the local procedure. Bed number, room location and familiarity with the patient are not identifiers. Stop if any detail differs or the band is absent or illegible. Resolve the discrepancy and apply a replacement band before proceeding, except where immediate life-saving treatment makes delay unsafe. Record and report identification incidents through the designated system.
Extract 3: Responding to a safeguarding disclosure
If an adult patient discloses abuse or neglect, listen without expressing disbelief or asking leading questions. Do not promise secrecy. Explain that information may need to be shared with professionals who can help keep the patient or others safe. Establish whether anyone is in immediate danger and arrange urgent assistance when required. Record the patient's words as accurately as possible, distinguishing their account from your observations. Inform the safeguarding lead through the agreed pathway before the end of the shift, or immediately when risk is urgent. Do not confront the alleged perpetrator or begin an independent investigation. Decisions about referral and information sharing must follow safeguarding law and organisational policy.
Extract 4: Pneumatic-tube specimen restrictions
Most routine, securely sealed blood and urine specimens may be sent through the pneumatic-tube system in approved carriers. The system must not be used for blood cultures, cerebrospinal fluid, tissue samples, specimens in syringes, leaking containers or any sample classified as irreplaceable. These require hand delivery in appropriate secondary containment. Before dispatch, verify labelling, seal the primary container and place it in the designated transport bag with absorbent material. Never include exposed request forms inside the contaminated section of the bag. If a carrier breaks or leaks, do not reopen it on the ward. Isolate the carrier, prevent further use of the station and contact pathology for decontamination instructions.
Extract 5: Emergency restraint documentation
Physical restraint may be used only as a last resort to prevent immediate and serious harm, using the least restrictive option for the shortest possible time. Once the emergency is controlled, obtain the required clinical authorisation without delay. Record the behaviour and risk that prompted restraint, alternatives attempted, type of restraint, start and finish times, staff involved and the patient's response. Complete observations at the frequency specified in the restraint protocol, including circulation, breathing, skin condition, distress and continuing need. Restraint must end as soon as the immediate risk has passed. An incident report and post-event multidisciplinary review are required; neither replaces documentation in the clinical record.
Extract 6: Post-discharge telephone follow-up
Telephone follow-up calls should normally be made within 48 hours of discharge for patients enrolled in the service. Confirm identity using two approved identifiers before discussing clinical information. Ask about symptom change, medicine access, understanding of the care plan and planned appointments. Use open questions and document the patient's responses, advice given and any escalation. If red-flag symptoms are reported, direct the patient to the appropriate urgent service and notify the responsible clinical team according to protocol; do not attempt to manage an emergency solely by telephone. If there is no answer, leave only the approved neutral message and make the specified number of further attempts. Do not disclose the reason for the call to another household member without consent.
Alarm fatigue: when warnings compete for attention
Paragraph 1 Modern clinical environments are saturated with sound. Monitors signal changes in heart rate, infusion pumps announce an occlusion and beds warn that a patient may be attempting to stand. Each alarm was designed to draw attention to possible danger. Collectively, however, they can create a paradox: the more often staff hear warnings that do not require action, the harder it becomes to identify the alarm that does. “Alarm fatigue” describes this reduced responsiveness after repeated exposure, but the phrase can misleadingly suggest that tired individuals are the whole problem.
Paragraph 2 Many alarms are technically accurate yet clinically unhelpful. A pulse-oximetry sensor may detect movement, an infusion may be intentionally paused, or a threshold may be inappropriate for a particular patient's normal condition. The device has recognised what it was programmed to recognise; the weakness lies in assuming that every detectable deviation deserves the same interruption. When alarms are frequent, staff learn—often correctly—that most are non-urgent. That adaptation is rational in one sense, but dangerous when a significant warning resembles hundreds of harmless ones.
Paragraph 3 Discussions of alarm safety sometimes focus on telling nurses to remain vigilant. Vigilance matters, but it is an unreliable defence against badly designed systems. Attention is finite, especially while clinicians administer medicines, answer questions and coordinate care. Blaming a nurse for failing to respond instantly to one signal in a noisy ward ignores how priorities are continuously negotiated. Human-factors specialist Dr Leila Morgan compares this approach to “asking someone to read every road sign after filling the roadside with advertisements”. The solution must include reducing unnecessary signals, not merely demanding greater concentration.
Paragraph 4 Simple reduction targets can nevertheless create fresh hazards. Silencing alarms indiscriminately or widening thresholds without considering the patient's condition may hide genuine deterioration. Effective programmes begin by analysing local alarm data: which devices produce the most signals, how many require intervention and where delays occur. Teams can then tailor parameters to individual patients, correct sensor placement, replace unreliable equipment and decide which alarms should be escalated to another device or staff member. Standardisation is helpful for core safety rules, but personalisation is essential where normal values differ.
Paragraph 5 The physical and social environment also shapes response. If every sound travels through an open ward, clinicians may struggle to identify its source. If responsibility for a monitor is unclear during breaks or transfers, everyone may assume someone else will respond. Some hospitals route high-priority alarms to named mobile devices, but technology does not automatically create ownership. Escalation software requires agreed response times, backup recipients and regular checks that messages are actually delivered. Otherwise, a quieter ward may conceal rather than solve the problem.
Paragraph 6 Patients experience the alarm environment too. Repeated noise disrupts sleep, contributes to confusion and can make families anxious. Some patients silence equipment themselves because they do not understand its purpose or have waited too long for help. Explaining likely alarms and giving patients a reliable way to call staff can reduce unsafe interference. Designers should also distinguish alerts through more than volume alone. Patterns, visual displays and meaningful priorities can help, although adding new signals without removing old ones merely changes the form of overload.
Paragraph 7 Measurement must extend beyond counting alarms. A fall in the total may look impressive while response to high-priority warnings remains slow. Useful evaluation includes response time, missed events, patient outcomes, staff workload and the proportion of alarms that lead to action. Near misses deserve examination without automatic blame, because they reveal how the system behaves under pressure. Frontline nurses should participate in redesign: they understand which alarms interrupt essential work, which are difficult to locate and which settings are routinely overridden.
An improvement seen during a short pilot may also disappear when staffing changes or the ward becomes unusually busy. Reviewing data across different shifts and patient groups prevents a calm daytime period from being mistaken for the experience of the whole service. Staff feedback should be examined alongside device records.
Paragraph 8 Alarm fatigue is therefore not cured by a new device or a reminder to pay attention. It requires an ongoing cycle of data review, equipment maintenance, thoughtful configuration, clear responsibility and staff-patient communication. No hospital can eliminate every false or non-actionable alarm, nor would absolute silence be a sensible goal. Success means creating an environment in which warnings are sufficiently meaningful and well directed that the people hearing them can respond appropriately.
Continuity of care in an increasingly specialised system
Paragraph 1 Specialisation has transformed healthcare. Patients can receive expertise that would once have been unavailable, and complex disease is managed by teams with highly developed skills. Yet the same system can divide a person's care among numerous professionals, each responsible for one organ, procedure or phase of treatment. Continuity of care is often presented as the antidote to this fragmentation, but it is more than repeatedly seeing the same clinician. It includes consistent information, coordinated decisions and a dependable relationship through which someone retains sight of the whole patient.
Paragraph 2 Personal continuity—the ongoing relationship between patient and clinician—has obvious appeal. Familiar clinicians may notice a subtle change, understand why a patient is reluctant to accept a treatment and avoid requiring painful histories to be retold. However, insisting on the same individual at every encounter is neither possible nor always desirable. Clinicians work part-time, take leave and cannot possess every relevant expertise. A service that depends entirely on one person may become fragile. The goal is to preserve the knowledge and trust associated with a relationship while ensuring that care remains available when that professional is absent.
Paragraph 3 Informational continuity is frequently mistaken for the existence of an electronic record. Records can make data available, but availability is not the same as comprehension. A long file containing copied notes, conflicting medicine lists and unreviewed results may obscure the patient's story. Useful records explain why decisions were made, identify unresolved issues and distinguish current plans from outdated ones. Summaries require professional judgement; simply transferring every item from one setting to another can spread confusion with impressive efficiency.
Paragraph 4 Transitions expose these weaknesses. On discharge, a hospital team may believe that community staff will arrange monitoring, while the community service assumes it has already been organised. The patient receives multiple telephone numbers but no clear account of who is responsible. A high-quality handover therefore names the next responsible professional or team, states what action is required and by when, and explains what the patient should do if the plan fails. Sending a document is only one step; critical information may require direct confirmation.
Paragraph 5 Digital portals are often promoted as a way to place patients at the centre of coordination. Access to results and plans can indeed help people identify discrepancies and prepare questions. But portals can also display alarming results before a clinician has explained them, exclude those without digital access and burden patients with reconciling disagreements between services. Participation should increase control, not convert the patient into an unpaid courier or project manager. Systems remain accountable for resolving contradictions and closing communication loops.
Paragraph 6 Measuring continuity is difficult because convenient indicators capture only fragments. Counting how often a patient sees the same doctor says little about whether specialists communicate. Measuring rapid access may reward a succession of disconnected encounters. Patient reports add essential information: do they know whom to contact, must they repeat their story and do recommendations fit together? Outcome measures such as avoidable readmission or medicine discrepancies are also useful, although no single result proves that continuity caused the difference.
Paragraph 7 Nurses often provide the connective tissue. They translate plans across settings, identify incompatible instructions and learn what matters to families during repeated contact. This contribution may be invisible because coordination is recorded as a series of small calls, messages and clarifications rather than one dramatic intervention. Yet relying on individual goodwill is unsafe. Organisations need protected coordination time, interoperable information systems and explicit authority for staff to resolve discrepancies rather than merely forwarding them.
Care coordinators can support patients with multiple services, but creating a new role does not absolve every other professional of responsibility. Coordination fails if important questions are simply redirected to one overloaded person. Each team must still maintain accurate information, answer messages and state clearly which decisions it owns.
Paragraph 8 Continuity should not become an argument against specialisation or flexible working. The challenge is to design continuity into a team-based system: shared plans that are concise and current, named responsibility at transitions, routes for direct professional communication and relationships that survive unavoidable staff changes. Continuity succeeds when patients experience care as connected even though many people contribute to it. That is a property of a well-designed service, not a fortunate consequence of meeting an unusually dedicated professional.
Your result
Important: The scaled score and grade are approximate and are not official OET results.
Expand complete answer review
Question 1
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D explicitly rejects the whoosh test as a placement-confirmation method.
Support: “Never rely on the ‘whoosh test’…”
Question 2
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C says to stop rather than force fluid when resistance is encountered.
Support: “If resistance is felt, stop; do not force…”
Question 3
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A establishes external tube length as the baseline for later checks.
Support: “a baseline for later safety checks”
Question 4
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B requires each medicine to be administered separately.
Support: “Give each medicine separately.”
Question 5
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D lists checks, repositioning and one further attempt before escalation.
Support: “reposition the patient and wait 15–30 minutes…”
Question 6
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C requires regular mouth care even without oral intake.
Support: “Provide regular mouth care…”
Question 7
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B lists the observations and position confirmation required before each feed or medicine round.
Support: “Before each feed or medicine round”
Question 8
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A specifies pH indicator strips intended for gastric aspirate.
Support: “pH indicator strips intended for gastric aspirate”
Question 9
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A states that 5.5 or below supports gastric placement.
Support: “5.5 or below”
Question 10
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B prohibits connecting enteral equipment to intravenous devices.
Support: “intravenous devices”
Question 11
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B requires the opening time to be recorded.
Support: “record when the container is opened”
Question 12
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C contrasts actual intake with the intended volume.
Support: “actual intake rather than the intended volume”
Question 13
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C recommends gentle flushing with warm water.
Support: “gentle flushing with warm water”
Question 14
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D requires interpretation and documentation by a competent clinician.
Support: “interpreted… by a clinician assessed as competent”
Question 15
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A sets the normal minimum elevation at 30 degrees.
Support: “at least 30 degrees”
Question 16
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A requires the external tube length at the nostril to be documented.
Support: “external tube length at the nostril”
Question 17
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B says to flush between individual medicines.
Support: “between individual medicines”
Question 18
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C requires elevation for at least 30 minutes after feeding.
Support: “at least 30 minutes afterwards”
Question 19
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C specifically prohibits acidic fruit juice for clearing blockage.
Support: “acidic fruit juice”
Question 20
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D directs staff to contact the responsible clinician.
Support: “contact the responsible clinician”
Question 21
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: An omission code must be accompanied by explanation and appropriate clinical follow-up.
Support: “A code does not replace clinical action.”
Question 22
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Routine care stops until discrepancies or band problems are resolved.
Support: “Stop if any detail differs…”
Question 23
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The nurse should listen, assess immediate danger and use the safeguarding pathway.
Support: “Establish whether anyone is in immediate danger…”
Question 24
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Cerebrospinal fluid is specifically excluded from pneumatic-tube transport.
Support: “must not be used for… cerebrospinal fluid”
Question 25
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The extract requires repeated assessment and detailed recording throughout restraint.
Support: “Complete observations… [and record] continuing need.”
Question 26
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: An emergency must be escalated rather than managed only by telephone.
Support: “do not attempt to manage an emergency solely by telephone”
Question 27
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The paradox is that numerous safety warnings can reduce recognition of the important one.
Support: “the more often staff hear warnings… the harder…”
Question 28
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: A device can accurately detect a programmed deviation that does not require clinical action.
Support: “technically accurate yet clinically unhelpful”
Question 29
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Morgan argues that excessive competing signals make vigilance unreliable.
Support: “Attention is finite…”
Question 30
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Indiscriminate silencing or widened thresholds may conceal deterioration.
Support: “may hide genuine deterioration”
Question 31
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Ownership means a named person has responsibility for responding.
Support: “responsibility… is unclear”
Question 32
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Adding signal forms without removing unnecessary alerts preserves the overload.
Support: “merely changes the form of overload”
Question 33
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Frontline nurses know which alarms disrupt work, are difficult to locate or are overridden.
Support: “understand which alarms interrupt essential work”
Question 34
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The conclusion calls for continuing system design, maintenance, responsibility and communication.
Support: “an ongoing cycle of data review…”
Question 35
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The writer defines continuity through consistent information, coordination and relationship as well as repeated contact.
Support: “more than repeatedly seeing the same clinician”
Question 36
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: A service centred on one clinician becomes fragile when that person is unavailable.
Support: “depends entirely on one person… fragile”
Question 37
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The phrase is ironic: electronic systems can spread confusing information quickly.
Support: “spread confusion with impressive efficiency”
Question 38
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: A strong handover names responsibility, action, deadlines and confirms critical information.
Support: “names the next responsible professional… and by when”
Question 39
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Portals may make patients reconcile disagreements and carry information between services.
Support: “unpaid courier or project manager”
Question 40
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Patient reports show whether they know whom to contact and whether recommendations fit together.
Support: “do they know whom to contact… recommendations fit together?”
Question 41
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The metaphor presents nurses as links between plans, professionals and settings.
Support: “translate plans across settings [and] identify incompatible instructions”
Question 42
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The paragraph argues that continuity must be a property of team-system design, not individual dedication.
Support: “design continuity into a team-based system”
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