In this article, OET2 will mention some OET reading test tips and how to increase your English vocabulary to get a high score.

OET Reading test tips: How to Learn new vocabulary?

One of the most helpful things you can do to improve your performance in the Reading Sub-test is to build up your vocabulary (including synonyms).

This will make it easier for you to recognize and understand what you heard and read. You will then be able to answer questions about the texts in the test more accurately.

Tip 1: How to Learn new words?

Follow this suggested study approach on a regular basis:

1. Use medical journal articles:

• a. Go to an open-access medical journal. Some suggested ones are:
  – www.mja.com.au
  – www.bmj.com
• b. Choose an article that sounds interesting to you.
• c. While reading the article, underline unfamiliar words and guess their meaning.
• d. Keep reading.
• e. At the end of the article, go back and look up the words you
  underlined in a dictionary.

2. Categorise the words you looked up in the dictionary as follows:

• a. Group A: Words that you guessed incorrectly, and might be used in
  a podcast on a different topic.
• b. Group B: Words that you guessed incorrectly, but are unlikely be used in a podcast on a different topic.
• c. Group C: Words that you guessed correctly.

3. Aim to add 6-8 words to your vocabulary list each day, prioritizing Group A words first, Group B second, etc.

4. Revise your vocabulary list at the end of each week.

You can test yourself by covering up the meanings of the words and trying to guess them.

Alternatively, cover up the words themselves and try to remember the word based on the meaning.

Ideal frequency: 1 article (or 6-8 words) per day.
Minimum frequency: 1 article (or 6-8 words) every 2 or 3 days

OET Reading Tip 2: Create word families

A word family is a group of words that are made from the same root (small word or part of a word).

For example, the root “infect” can be used to create many other words with similar meanings:

• Infection (noun)
• Infectious (adjective)
• Infect (verb)
• Infectiously (adverb)

In an average English text, it has been found that more than 80% of the words come from a group of about 2000 commonly-used English words (Dr Prudent Injeeli, Mind Your Words: Master the Art of Learning and Teaching Vocabulary, Trafford Publishing, 2013).

Therefore, recognizing and building word families can be an extremely helpful and efficient way to strengthen your understanding of English texts in general. It will also extend and solidify your understanding of individual words.

To create your own word families:

1. Look up an unfamiliar word you find in an English text
2. Use an online dictionary, such as the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, to look up the meaning and part of speech (noun/verb/adjective/adverb) of the word.
3. Check the list under the heading “nearby words” to find other members of that word family (words that use the same root or part of a word).

Here are some more examples:

1. Root: admit

• Admission (noun)
• Admissible (adjective)
• Admit (verb)

2. Root: use

• Use (noun)
• Useful (adjective)
• Use (verb)
• Usefully (adverb)

3. Root: decide

• Decision (noun)
• Decisive (adjective)
• Decide (verb)
• Decisively (adverb)

For the latest information about the oet reading test structure, don’t forget to go to the OET official website: www.occupationalenglishtest.org

Recent OET Reading tests pdf for All Professions