OET Writing practice: turn case notes into a letter that scores
OET Writing gives you 45 minutes — five to read a set of case notes, forty to write a letter about them. Usually it is a referral letter; discharge and transfer letters also appear. The task is profession-specific: nurses write nursing scenarios, doctors write medical ones.
The skill being marked is selection as much as language: a scoring letter pulls out only the case notes the reader needs, organises them for a busy colleague, and gets the register right.
What the assessors look for
The official criteria assess purpose, content, conciseness and clarity, genre and style, organisation and layout, and language accuracy. In practice that means: does the letter say why it is being written, include the clinically relevant facts and omit the irrelevant ones, sound like one professional writing to another, read in a logical order, and hold up grammatically?
The most common self-inflicted wound is copying case notes wholesale instead of selecting from them — assessors read that as a failure of purpose, not diligence.
How our practice works
- Case-note tasks in your profession with the real 45-minute clock.
- AI marking mapped to the official criteria, with a band-style score per criterion.
- Concrete, line-level feedback: which case notes you should have included, which sentences ran long, where register slipped.
- Attempt history so you can watch each criterion improve across letters.
Explore OET practice
Frequently asked questions
How long should the letter be?
Around 180–200 words of body text is the widely used guide. Longer letters are not marked down by length alone, but padding usually costs marks under conciseness and content selection.
Do I have to use all the case notes?
No — selecting is the point. Include what the recipient needs to continue care; leave out what they do not. Indiscriminate copying is one of the most common reasons letters underperform.
Is the task different for each profession?
Yes. Writing (and Speaking) use profession-specific materials; a nurse and a physiotherapist see different scenarios built around their real documentation.
How fast is the AI feedback?
Typically under a minute per letter, with a score for each official criterion and specific fixes to apply on the next attempt.
Official sources & further reading
Exam facts on this page are written in our own words from information published by the test maker. Always confirm current test rules, dates and fees on the official site:
OET® is a registered trademark of Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment Trust (CBLA). DigiSurf Academy is an independent preparation platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to CBLA or the official OET. All practice materials on this platform are original works created for preparation purposes.