OET Strategies, Reading
OET vs IELTS Reading: Key Differences and How to Approach Each Exam
Dec
Recently, I’ve had more opportunities to teach IELTS alongside OET, and through that experience I’ve deepened my understanding of the key differences in reading question styles and optimal test-taking strategies.
Key Differences at a Glance
OET
OET places strong emphasis on accurate information processing under tight time pressure.
This is particularly clear in Part A, where test takers must complete 20 questions in just 15 minutes — roughly 30 seconds per question. The task is essentially rapid scanning combined with precise information matching.
In Parts B and C, success depends on correctly understanding the intention of the questions and identifying only the information that is truly needed from the text. Unnecessary details should be skimmed quickly, while key sections must be read carefully for meaning.
Because OET is designed to reflect real clinical reading tasks, the exam focuses on the ability to extract correct information under time constraints — just as happens in real healthcare settings.
IELTS
IELTS demands a different skill set — one centered on high-accuracy summarization and structural comprehension.
Candidates need to identify topic sentences and key ideas in each paragraph, understand how paragraphs function within the whole text, and organize information logically to form a comprehensive understanding of the passage.
Unlike OET’s real-time clinical reading style, IELTS rewards the ability to process academic texts as if preparing to revise or summarize educational material — a classic university-study skill set.
Differences in Test-Taking Strategies
OET
Part A
Part A consists of finding answers across four short texts. The first step is to quickly grasp what each text is generally about — not to read in detail. Fully memorizing detailed content at the start is inefficient and usually leads to unnecessary rereading later.
Once you understand the general content areas of each text, approach each question by predicting which text is likely to contain the answer:
“This should probably be in Text A or B…”
The questions contain heavy paraphrasing, so it is important to think in terms of meaning rather than exact wording when searching for matches.
Parts B and C
For these sections, the recommended workflow is:
Question → Text → Answer Options
OET answer choices are often intentionally confusing. Reviewing options first can introduce misleading assumptions. Therefore, your highest priority should be fully understanding the question before touching the text or the choices.
Questions generally fall into two categories:
- Main idea questions – Look at the structure of the passage and identify the central argument.
- Detail questions – Search for keywords from the question and locate the corresponding sentence or section in the text.
Once you locate the relevant sentence, compare it directly with the answer options rather than over-analyzing in your native language.
Your comparison should focus mainly on:
- Presence of paraphrasing
- Whether the information is truly supported by the text
– Pay special attention to comparisons, superlatives, and absolute terms such as
only, all, most, etc.
In paraphrasing comparisons, words with positive or negative emotional polarity are critical. Sorting choices simply into:
- Positive meaning
- Negative meaning
…often makes the correct answer easier to identify.
IELTS
IELTS includes many different question types, making it harder to rely on one fixed strategy. Moreover, the questions do not always appear in the same order as the text, increasing the need for rereading.
A particularly challenging question type is “Not Given.” Since the information is not present in the text at all, candidates can waste enormous amounts of time searching for something that does not exist.
However, the overall level of the questions themselves is not excessively difficult. When the passage is read thoroughly before answering, responses become much easier to manage.
A personally effective reading style is:
Read 2–3 paragraphs → Check all questions and match them to those paragraphs → Answer → Move to the next 2–3 paragraphs
If possible, reading the entire text first is even more efficient.
By reviewing questions while the content of each paragraph is fresh in memory, you minimize situations like:
- “Which paragraph mentioned this?”
- “Where was that person discussed again?”
This approach decreases unnecessary rereading.
A key principle is to form clear mental images of each paragraph by translating them accurately. Vague comprehension inevitably leads to repeated rereading. Aim to finish reading with the same clarity you would expect after a good lecture — the essential ideas should remain clearly in your mind.
(Common to Both) How to Improve Reading Speed
Many IMG candidates identify reading speed as their biggest challenge. Below are two highly effective strategies — but they only work if the necessary prerequisites are met.
Prerequisites
You must already be able to:
- Possess adequate vocabulary
- Understand texts with high accuracy when reading slowly
Attempting speed training without these fundamentals leads to careless reading habits and stagnating scores.
For non-native speakers, mastery of vocabulary and grammar is absolutely essential. In my experience, no one achieves strong scores while neglecting these basics.
1. Reading Aloud
Though traditional, reading aloud is the single most effective method.
The goal is to understand information at the same speed you can vocalize it — training the brain to process meaning in real time.
To maximize benefits:
- Read with natural phrasing and pauses
- Use correct intonation like a native speaker
This trains forward-moving information processing rather than backtracking. It improves both reading and listening simultaneously.
Another critical element is that when you stop reading, you consciously form the meaning or a mental image in your own language of what you just read.
“Stop reading → instantly translate into your own language”
…is extremely effective for learners whose comprehensions remain stiff or unnatural. Turning language into concrete meaning often reveals how incomplete comprehension truly is.
A daily goal of 1–2 sessions is ideal. Continue until you can read fluently without stumbling or until the passage is almost fully memorized.
2. Setting Time Limits
The second strategy is applying strict time constraints to reading tasks.
For example:
“I will summarize this article in 10 minutes.”
This aligns with a training principle known as the Law of Progressive Overload — gradually increasing pressure to drive improvement.
In practice:
“Next time, I’ll shorten my reading time by one more minute.”
By creating controlled pressure, you stimulate focused, high-intensity cognitive processing.
Final Thoughts
Neither method works as a quick fix. Both reading-aloud training and timed reading require consistent, long-term practice to build real improvement.
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