OET READING · Practice Test 09
OET Reading practice for nurses
This original English Guru Campus practice test is designed for nurses and healthcare professionals preparing for the OET Reading sub-test. It contains 42 questions across three parts: four rapid texts on chest-drain nursing care in Part A, six healthcare workplace extracts in Part B, and two analytical healthcare articles in Part C. The total testing time is 60 minutes. Part A is limited to 15 minutes and locks automatically; Parts B and C use the remaining 45 minutes. On desktop, the reading material and questions scroll independently in a two-pane layout, while mobile devices use a clear stacked interface. Answers, flags and timer deadlines are saved automatically on this device. After submission, the test displays raw and part-wise scores, an approximate scaled score and a complete evidence-based answer review.
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 on this device. The total timer starts only when you select Start Test.
Text A: Chest-drain system and initial safety checks
A chest drain allows air, blood or other fluid to leave the pleural space while limiting return flow. At the start of each shift, confirm the prescribed drainage method and suction level against the current order. Trace the tubing from the patient to the drainage unit. Connections must be visible, firmly secured according to local policy and free from dependent loops that may obstruct flow. Do not routinely clamp a chest drain. Clamping can trap air in the pleural space and must occur only for a specifically authorised clinical reason.
Keep the drainage unit upright and below chest level, supported in its floor stand or approved bed attachment. Never place it on the bed. Confirm that the water-seal chamber is filled to the manufacturer’s indicated level. If wet suction is prescribed, check the suction-control chamber; if dry suction is used, verify the dial setting and indicator. Wall suction should be adjusted only as required to operate the prescribed system, not to increase pleural suction beyond the ordered level.
Emergency equipment must remain at the bedside: sterile water, occlusive dressings, clamps for trained emergency use and the patient-specific escalation instructions. Oxygen and resuscitation equipment must be immediately accessible.
Text B: Routine chest-drain observation chart
| Observation | Required nursing action |
|---|---|
| Patient | Assess respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, breathing effort, chest pain and bilateral breath sounds. Compare findings with the previous assessment. |
| Insertion site | Check the dressing is clean, dry and intact. Inspect for leakage, bleeding, redness and swelling. Palpate gently around the site for subcutaneous emphysema and mark its border if present. |
| Drainage | Keep the collection chamber upright. Record volume, colour and consistency at least every four hours and more often when clinically indicated. Mark the level on the chamber with the date and time. Escalate a sudden increase, fresh blood or an unexpected cessation according to the patient’s plan. |
| Water seal | Observe for oscillation with breathing. Its presence or absence must be interpreted with the patient’s condition, tubing and lung expansion. Intermittent bubbling may occur when air leaves the pleural space; continuous bubbling may indicate an air leak. |
| Documentation | Record the system checks, prescribed suction, patient assessment, drainage total, pain management, mobility and all actions or escalation. |
Text C: Positioning, mobilisation and transport checklist
Encourage an upright position, regular repositioning, deep breathing and supported coughing when these are clinically appropriate. Give prescribed analgesia early enough to permit effective breathing and movement. Before mobilisation, assess the patient’s stability, explain how the tubing will be managed and ensure that footwear and walking aids are suitable.
- Keep the drainage unit below chest level and upright throughout movement.
- Use the floor stand or approved carrier; never lift the unit by its tubing.
- Check that adequate tubing length is available without creating dependent loops or traction at the insertion site.
- Do not clamp the drain merely for walking or routine transport.
- If suction may be interrupted, confirm in advance that disconnection from wall suction is authorised and whether portable suction is required.
- On arrival and return, reassess breathing, oxygen saturation, pain, tubing, connections, chamber position and drainage.
A trained escort must accompany an unstable patient. Any unexpected breathlessness, chest pain, disconnection or change in drainage during transfer requires the movement to stop and the patient to be assessed immediately.
Text D: Troubleshooting and emergency escalation
Sudden deterioration: If the patient develops severe breathlessness, falling oxygen saturation, increasing distress, tracheal deviation, hypotension or rapidly expanding subcutaneous emphysema, call for urgent medical assistance and begin the emergency assessment. Check for kinking, compression, disconnection and visible blockage without delaying treatment of the patient.
Continuous bubbling: Ask the patient to remain still and cough once, then inspect every connection from the insertion site to the unit. Do not repeatedly clamp the tube to search for a leak unless an authorised clinician directs the procedure. Escalate persistent bubbling and document the findings.
System disconnected: Ask the patient to exhale or cough if able, reconnect using a new sterile drainage system as directed by local protocol, and seek immediate clinical review. Do not immerse an open tube in an improvised container unless the emergency protocol specifically instructs this.
Tube pulled out: Do not reinsert it. Apply a sterile occlusive dressing as specified in the emergency plan, call for urgent medical review and monitor the patient continuously. If the drain holes become visible outside the chest or the securing suture fails, stabilise the tube without advancing it and escalate immediately.
Extract 1: Collecting blood components
Before leaving the clinical area to collect a blood component, confirm that the patient is ready, patent venous access is available and an authorised prescription has been completed. Take the approved collection documentation and verify the patient’s identifying details at the blood refrigerator with the authorised staff member. After collection, transport the component directly to the patient area in the designated container. Do not place it in a ward refrigerator. If transfusion cannot begin within the locally specified time, contact the transfusion laboratory immediately; staff must not decide independently that the component remains suitable. Unused components must be returned promptly with their storage conditions preserved and the reason for return documented.
Extract 2: Needlestick and sharps injury
Following a needlestick or sharps injury, encourage the wound to bleed gently under running water and wash it with soap. Do not scrub, suck the wound or apply bleach or other caustic agents. Cover it with a waterproof dressing. Contamination of eyes or mucous membranes should be irrigated immediately with water or saline. Report the exposure at once to the nurse in charge and contact Occupational Health or the designated emergency service without waiting until the end of the shift. Prompt assessment is essential because time-sensitive prophylaxis may be indicated. Record how the exposure occurred and the device involved. Testing of the source patient requires consent and must follow the approved pathway.
Extract 3: Patients’ own medicines
Medicines brought from home must be placed in the designated secure storage area and reviewed by an authorised prescriber or pharmacist before use. Nursing staff should record the medicine name, strength, quantity and condition of the packaging, but must not administer an unidentified tablet or rely solely on a patient’s description. A patient may self-administer only after a documented assessment confirms that this is safe and an approved self-administration plan is in place. Medicines that are expired, damaged or no longer required must be handled through the pharmacy-return process; they must not be discarded in ordinary waste. At discharge, reconcile stored medicines with the current prescription and document what was returned or withheld.
Extract 4: Delayed diagnostic-imaging reports
The clinician who requests diagnostic imaging remains responsible for ensuring that the result is reviewed and acted upon. An electronic status of “performed” does not mean that a formal report is available. If the expected report has not appeared within the timeframe appropriate to the patient’s condition, check the order details and contact Radiology rather than repeatedly refreshing the record. Urgent clinical deterioration must be escalated on its own merits; staff should not wait for imaging confirmation before seeking review. At handover, identify every outstanding report, the reason it matters and the named clinician who will follow it up. When a report becomes available, document its review and any resulting communication or treatment.
Extract 5: Personal messaging applications
Staff must use approved clinical communication systems for patient information. Personal messaging accounts must not be used to send names, photographs, investigation results or screenshots, even when the recipient is another employee and the message is later deleted. Convenience and urgency do not remove confidentiality or record-keeping obligations. If the approved system is unavailable during an emergency, use the organisation’s downtime procedure and record the communication in the clinical record as soon as possible. Staff should not add patients or relatives to personal social-media accounts or continue informal clinical discussions after discharge. Any accidental disclosure must be reported immediately through the information-governance incident process; attempting to conceal it may increase the risk.
Extract 6: Patient-controlled analgesia
Only the patient may press the button on a patient-controlled analgesia device unless a specifically authorised clinician-controlled protocol is in use. Relatives and staff must not activate it for a sleeping or confused patient. At every handover, two authorised nurses must check the medicine, concentration, programmed dose, lockout interval, remaining volume and cumulative delivery against the prescription. Assess pain, sedation score, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, nausea and device function at the required frequency. Increasing sedation or respiratory depression requires the infusion to be stopped and the emergency response initiated according to protocol. A patient repeatedly unable to use the button safely needs clinical review and an alternative analgesia plan, not proxy activation.
Patient-Satisfaction Scores: Useful Evidence or Misleading Target?
Paragraph 1
Patient-satisfaction scores have become a familiar feature of healthcare dashboards. They appear to offer something that clinical indicators cannot: a direct account of how care felt to the person receiving it. Hospitals use them to compare wards, identify poor communication and demonstrate responsiveness. The attraction is understandable. Yet the apparent precision of a percentage can conceal uncertainty about what has actually been measured. Satisfaction is neither identical to experience nor a simple verdict on quality; it is a judgement shaped by expectations, outcomes and the circumstances in which questions are asked.
Paragraph 2
A patient may describe respectful listening, clear explanations and reliable coordination even when treatment is unpleasant. Conversely, technically excellent care may receive a low score because the patient expected an antibiotic, scan or admission that was not clinically indicated. This does not make dissatisfaction irrelevant. A refusal explained badly is still poor communication. But it shows why the score cannot be read as a direct substitute for clinical quality. Good services examine the reason behind the response instead of assuming that pleasing the patient and treating the patient well are always the same thing.
Paragraph 3
Who responds also matters. Surveys completed after discharge commonly attract people with unusually positive or negative experiences, while those with limited literacy, unstable housing, cognitive impairment or little confidence in institutions may be under-represented. Translation can widen participation, but a translated questionnaire does not by itself remove barriers of trust or access. Digital-only surveys create another filter. A hospital may therefore obtain a large number of responses and still hear selectively. Increasing the sample is useful only if managers ask whose experience remains absent.
Paragraph 4
Timing changes the answer. A patient questioned while dependent on ward staff may avoid criticism. Immediately after discharge, relief at going home may dominate; weeks later, the consequences of confused instructions may be clearer. Even wording alters results. “Were you satisfied?” invites a general judgement, whereas “Did staff explain who to contact if symptoms worsened?” examines a specific event. The second question is usually more actionable. Broad ratings help reveal patterns, but detailed experience measures are better at showing what teams can change.
Paragraph 5
Difficulties increase when scores become targets tied to reputation or reward. Staff may be encouraged, subtly or explicitly, to seek favourable ratings. Managers may focus on hotel-like features that are visible to survey respondents while neglecting coordination or safety work that patients cannot easily observe. Units caring for people in pain, crisis or severe uncertainty may be compared unfairly with services where expectations are easier to meet. Once a measure becomes a performance prize, behaviour begins to organise itself around the measure.
Paragraph 6
None of this supports abandoning patient feedback. Repeated reports of dismissive language, unexplained delay or conflicting information deserve attention even if infection rates and readmissions look acceptable. Narrative comments can expose failures that averages hide, particularly when several accounts describe the same transition or team. However, dramatic comments should not automatically outweigh quieter evidence. The task is to triangulate: compare surveys with complaints, safety reports, clinical outcomes, staff observations and direct conversations with groups who seldom respond.
Paragraph 7
Feedback also requires closure. Organisations often invite patients to speak but provide no visible account of what was learned or changed. This can turn participation into extraction: the patient supplies experience, while the institution retains control of its meaning. Publishing a brief “you said, we did, and here is what remains difficult” response does not solve every problem, but it demonstrates that listening is connected to action. When change is impossible, an honest explanation is more respectful than silence.
Paragraph 8
Patient-satisfaction scores are best treated as signals rather than verdicts. They can direct attention, prompt questions and reveal trends, but they cannot rank quality fairly without context. Responsible use separates experience from popularity, seeks missing voices and resists pressure to improve the number at the expense of care. Results should also be followed over time, because an isolated rise or fall may reflect sampling variation rather than meaningful change. The most mature organisation is not the one with an immaculate score. It is the one willing to investigate why the score moved, what it fails to show and whether patients’ accounts lead to safer, clearer and more humane services.
Hospital Volunteers: Valuable Support Without Replacing Staff
Paragraph 1
Volunteers have long occupied an unusual position in hospitals. They may guide anxious visitors, sit with isolated patients, distribute activity materials or help people navigate discharge lounges. Their contribution is often described in the language of kindness, but it also has operational value: a calm explanation at an entrance can prevent missed appointments, and companionship can make an unfamiliar ward less distressing. Problems begin when admiration for goodwill obscures the need to define what volunteers are—and are not—there to do.
Paragraph 2
A volunteer is not simply an unpaid employee. Employment creates specified duties, supervision, competence requirements and accountability. Volunteering should add social and practical support that complements professional care. Asking volunteers to feed a patient with swallowing difficulties, interpret consent discussions or monitor a confused person because no staff member is available crosses that boundary. The problem is not that volunteers lack compassion; it is that compassion cannot replace assessed competence or transfer clinical accountability away from the service.
Paragraph 3
Clear boundaries can feel restrictive to enthusiastic volunteers. Someone who notices an unanswered call bell may reasonably want to help, and refusing every spontaneous action would waste initiative. Effective programmes therefore teach a positive boundary: what the volunteer can do, what must be reported and how to summon staff. A volunteer might reassure the patient and alert a nurse, but should not decide that the request is clinically unimportant. Boundaries work best when they provide a route to action rather than merely a list of prohibitions.
Paragraph 4
Recruitment and training carry costs that are frequently hidden when volunteering is described as free. Identity checks, occupational-health screening, safeguarding instruction, confidentiality training, uniforms, coordination and supervision all require resources. Turnover can make those costs substantial. Coordinators also spend time matching volunteers to suitable roles and responding when expectations or conduct create concern. This is not an argument against programmes; paid staff also require investment. It is a warning against business cases that count volunteer hours as savings while omitting the infrastructure that makes those hours safe and useful.
Paragraph 5
Continuity deserves similar attention. Some volunteers attend reliably for years and accumulate considerable knowledge of the hospital. Others can offer only occasional time. Services become fragile when an essential function depends on attendance that the organisation has no right to demand. If a clinic cannot operate safely when its volunteer is absent, the role is no longer supplementary. Managers should value reliability without quietly converting generosity into an obligation or pressuring people to cover gaps.
Paragraph 6
The emotional burden can also be underestimated. Volunteers may hear distressing stories, witness deterioration or form relationships with patients who later die. Because they are outside the formal workforce, they may be omitted from debriefing and support. Some may also hesitate to admit distress because they believe gratitude should be their only response to the opportunity. Training should prepare them for emotional encounters without turning them into counsellors, and coordinators should provide a clear route for raising concerns. Protecting volunteers is part of protecting patients: unsupported people may withdraw suddenly, exceed boundaries or carry confidential worries home.
Paragraph 7
Evaluation should extend beyond counting hours and contacts. A high number of escorted visitors says little about whether people reached the correct service, felt respected or required staff to repair misinformation. Programmes should examine patient experience, safety incidents, volunteer retention, staff workload and equity. Feedback from ward teams can reveal whether role descriptions remain realistic as services change. Some patients may prefer privacy or may distrust an unfamiliar helper. Offering volunteer contact as a choice prevents a well-intended service from becoming another requirement imposed on the patient.
Paragraph 8
The strongest volunteer programmes are neither sentimental nor suspicious. They recognise genuine human and organisational value while maintaining professional boundaries, funded coordination and voluntary participation. These safeguards protect the purpose of volunteering itself. Volunteers should expand the hospital’s capacity for welcome, orientation and companionship—not provide a shadow workforce that conceals vacancies. When roles are designed around patient benefit rather than cheap labour, volunteers can contribute something paid systems often struggle to manufacture: freely offered time, local connection and attention. Preserving that distinctive value requires refusing to exploit it.
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 A warns that routine clamping can trap air in the pleural space.
Support: “Do not routinely clamp a chest drain.”
Question 2
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B says oscillation must be interpreted alongside the patient, tubing and lung expansion.
Support: “must be interpreted with the patient’s condition, tubing and lung expansion”
Question 3
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C requires prior confirmation before suction is interrupted for transport.
Support: “confirm in advance that disconnection from wall suction is authorised”
Question 4
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D says to stabilise the tube without advancing it when drain holes are visible.
Support: “stabilise the tube without advancing it”
Question 5
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A lists emergency items that must remain at the bedside.
Support: “Emergency equipment must remain at the bedside”
Question 6
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A says wall suction must not increase pleural suction beyond the prescription.
Support: “not to increase pleural suction beyond the ordered level”
Question 7
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C requires a trained escort for an unstable patient.
Support: “A trained escort must accompany an unstable patient.”
Question 8
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C states that the unit must remain below chest level.
Support: “below chest level”
Question 9
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B requires the level to be marked with date and time.
Support: “with the date and time”
Question 10
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B directs staff to check for subcutaneous emphysema.
Support: “subcutaneous emphysema”
Question 11
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C links timely analgesia with effective breathing and movement.
Support: “effective breathing and movement”
Question 12
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B says continuous bubbling may indicate an air leak.
Support: “may indicate an air leak”
Question 13
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D specifies a new sterile drainage system after disconnection.
Support: “new sterile drainage system”
Question 14
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D prohibits reinsertion after accidental removal.
Support: “Do not reinsert it.”
Question 15
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text A instructs staff to trace the tubing from patient to unit.
Support: “Trace the tubing from the patient to the drainage unit.”
Question 16
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text B requires volume, colour and consistency to be recorded.
Support: “volume, colour and consistency”
Question 17
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D asks the patient to remain still and cough once.
Support: “cough once”
Question 18
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text D specifies a sterile occlusive dressing.
Support: “sterile occlusive dressing”
Question 19
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C warns against dependent loops.
Support: “without creating dependent loops”
Question 20
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Text C requires a trained escort.
Support: “A trained escort”
Question 21
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The component must go directly to the patient area in the approved container.
Support: “transport the component directly to the patient area”
Question 22
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Assessment is time-sensitive because prophylaxis may be indicated.
Support: “time-sensitive prophylaxis may be indicated”
Question 23
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Medicines require authorised clinical or pharmacy review before use.
Support: “reviewed by an authorised prescriber or pharmacist before use”
Question 24
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The requester retains responsibility and handover must name the follow-up clinician.
Support: “identify every outstanding report… and the named clinician”
Question 25
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Personal messaging is prohibited for patient information even for employee recipients.
Support: “Personal messaging accounts must not be used”
Question 26
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Unsafe operation requires review and an alternative plan, never proxy activation.
Support: “an alternative analgesia plan, not proxy activation”
Question 27
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The opening contrasts attractive numerical precision with uncertainty about the construct measured.
Support: “the apparent precision of a percentage can conceal uncertainty”
Question 28
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: A justified refusal can conflict with what the patient expected.
Support: “expected an antibiotic, scan or admission that was not clinically indicated”
Question 29
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: High response numbers do not guarantee representation of excluded groups.
Support: “obtain a large number of responses and still hear selectively”
Question 30
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Specific questions identify changeable events rather than vague approval.
Support: “examines a specific event… more actionable”
Question 31
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Targets can distort behaviour towards improving the metric itself.
Support: “Once a measure becomes a performance prize”
Question 32
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The writer recommends triangulation with other evidence.
Support: “The task is to triangulate”
Question 33
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Feedback without visible response takes experience without reciprocal action.
Support: “the patient supplies experience, while the institution retains control”
Question 34
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The conclusion calls scores signals, not verdicts.
Support: “best treated as signals rather than verdicts”
Question 35
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The writer values both the human and operational contribution.
Support: “kindness… also has operational value”
Question 36
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: These tasks require assessed competence and retained clinical accountability.
Support: “compassion cannot replace assessed competence”
Question 37
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: A positive boundary combines permitted action with escalation to staff.
Support: “what the volunteer can do… and how to summon staff”
Question 38
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Safe programmes require costly screening, training, coordination and supervision.
Support: “costs… hidden when volunteering is described as free”
Question 39
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Dependence on voluntary attendance makes the function essential rather than supplementary.
Support: “If a clinic cannot operate safely when its volunteer is absent”
Question 40
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Unsupported distress can cause withdrawal, boundary crossing or confidential worry.
Support: “unsupported people may withdraw suddenly, exceed boundaries”
Question 41
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: Evaluation should include outcomes, safety, retention, workload, equity and choice.
Support: “patient experience, safety incidents, volunteer retention, staff workload and equity”
Question 42
Your answer:
Correct answer:
Explanation: The conclusion supports volunteering while rejecting its use as hidden staffing.
Support: “not provide a shadow workforce that conceals vacancies”
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