OET Test Dates, Fees and Booking in 2026: Deadlines, Costs and Which Format to Choose

Booking an OET test is mostly a question of working backwards. Your regulator has a deadline, results take a known number of days, and bookings close a fixed number of days before each test. Put those three numbers together and the right test date usually picks itself. This page gives you the numbers as they stand in October 2026: the remaining paper dates for the year, how often the computer test runs, what everything costs, and what it costs to change your mind. Everything here is taken from OET’s own booking and support pages, but check your date before you pay, because dates and fees are the two things OET changes without much notice.

The three ways to take OET

The test content is identical. What differs is where you sit, how you answer, how fast the results come back, and who accepts the result.

	OET Test on Paper	OET Test on Computer	OET@Home
Where	Test centre	Test centre (Speaking at home, or at the venue in some countries)	Your own computer, remotely proctored
Writing	Handwritten	Typed	Typed
Speaking	Face to face with an interlocutor	Secure online platform	Secure online platform
Test dates	Twice a month, on Saturdays (Fridays in the Americas)	Most weekdays and Saturdays	Most weekdays and Saturdays
Bookings close	24 days before the test	7 days before the test (11:59 pm UTC)	7 days before the test (11:59 pm UTC)
Results	From 13 days after the test (5–6 days in India and the Philippines)	As little as 48 hours after your last sub-test; 95% within 6 days	As little as 48 hours after your last sub-test; 95% within 6 days
Professions	Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Radiography, Veterinary Science	All 12 professions	All 12 professions
Fee	AU$587	AU$587 (US$455 in the USA)	AU$587 (US$455 in the USA)

Three things in that table decide most people’s choice.

Who accepts it. AHPRA accepts OET only when it is taken at a test centre. OET@Home does not count for Australian registration, whatever your profession. The GMC accepts all three formats. ECFMG accepts OET@Home only if there is no test centre in your country at all. If you are applying to a nursing board or a council not listed here, look it up before you book, not after.

How fast you need the result. Paper results take about two weeks. Computer and OET@Home results can arrive in two days. If a visa, a job offer or an application window is waiting on the certificate, that difference is the whole decision.

Handwriting. If your handwriting is hard to read, or you simply write faster on a keyboard, take the computer test. Assessors cannot mark what they cannot read. If you type slowly and make more typos than pen slips, paper is still there for seven of the twelve professions.

OET on Paper: remaining 2026 test dates

Paper tests run on Saturdays everywhere except the Americas, where they run on the Friday before. Every second paper date is open to Nursing and Medicine only, so if you are a dentist, pharmacist, physiotherapist, radiographer or vet, you have one paper date a month, not two.

Bookings close 24 days before the test, which is earlier than most people expect. As of today, the 7 November test is already closed.

Test date (Saturday)	Bookings close	Results published	Open to
21 November 2026	28 October 2026	8 December 2026	Nursing, Medicine
5 December 2026	11 November 2026	22 December 2026	All seven paper professions
19 December 2026	25 November 2026	5 January 2027	Nursing, Medicine

Americas (Friday tests): 20 November (closes 27 October, Nursing and Medicine), 4 December (closes 10 November, all seven professions) and 18 December (closes 24 November, Nursing and Medicine). Results dates are the same as the global dates above.

The 2027 paper calendar was not published at the time of writing. In 2026 it followed the pattern above all year: two Saturdays a month, roughly two weeks apart, with the full-profession date first and the Nursing-and-Medicine date second. Expect the same shape in 2027, and check the booking page for the exact days.

OET on Computer and OET@Home: dates

Here the calendar looks completely different. Computer tests are offered six days a week, Monday to Saturday, through most of the year, and all twelve professions can book any of them. Bookings close seven days before the test. Results for tests in a given week are published on a fixed day the following week, and OET aims to release them within six calendar days of your last sub-test.

Because the sub-tests do not all have to be on the same day, your “test date” on computer is really a short window. Listening, Reading and Writing are taken together at the venue. Speaking is scheduled separately, at home through OET’s Speaking platform or, in some countries, at the venue. The six-day results clock starts only when the last of the four is done, so book Speaking as close to the other three as you can.

What OET costs in 2026

What	Price
Full test, all four sub-tests, anywhere in the world	AU$587
Full test on computer or OET@Home, in the USA	US$455
One sub-test (paper only, not in the USA, only after a previous full test)	AU$315
Two sub-tests (same conditions)	AU$415
Three sub-tests (same conditions)	AU$515

The fee is the same whichever format you pick. It is charged in Australian dollars, so what you actually pay in rupees, pounds or yen moves with the exchange rate on the day your card is charged.

Booking single sub-tests sounds like a bargain if you only failed Writing. Two warnings. First, it is only available for the paper test, and only after you have sat a full test before. Second, your regulator may not accept it. The GMC, for example, wants all four grades from the same sitting, so a re-sit of Writing alone would be useless for a UK doctor. AHPRA and the NMC allow results from two sittings within 12 months, but only if you sat all four sub-tests both times. In practice, single sub-test bookings are useful for very few people. If you are unsure which rule applies to you, our guide to OET passing requirements sets out each regulator’s rules side by side.

Changing or cancelling a booking

This is where the money quietly disappears, so it is worth reading before you book a date you are not sure about.

Rescheduling

Format	Latest you can reschedule	Fee if bookings for your original date are still open	Fee after bookings have closed
Paper	11:59 pm the day before the test	AU$120	AU$200
Computer or OET@Home	Two days before your first sub-test	AU$120 (US$95 in the USA)	AU$200 (US$155 in the USA)

You reschedule from your OET account. All four sub-tests move together; the one exception is that computer and OET@Home candidates can move Speaking on its own. Once you have sat any sub-test you can no longer reschedule the rest. A reschedule cannot be undone, and a test bought with a discount code cannot be rescheduled at all, only cancelled and rebooked.

One rule catches people every month. If you miss your Speaking test, you have 24 hours from the scheduled start time to contact OET Support and reschedule it, for a fee of AU$100. Miss that window and your Speaking score is zero, which shows as a blank on your Statement of Results, and the whole sitting is wasted.

Cancelling

Format	Latest you can cancel for a refund	Refund if bookings for your date are still open	Refund after bookings have closed
Paper	One week before test day	AU$460	AU$380
Computer or OET@Home	Two days before the test	AU$460 (US$355 in the USA)	AU$380 (US$295 in the USA)

Put another way, cancelling costs you AU$127 at best and AU$207 at worst, and nothing comes back if you cancel inside the final week (paper) or final two days (computer). Refunds go to the card you paid with, within 7 to 10 business days.

How to book, step by step

1. Create your OET account at oet.com. Use your name exactly as it appears on the ID you will bring on test day. OET will not let you sit the test if the two do not match, and fixing it later means contacting support.
2. Upload a photo. A recent passport-style photo on a plain background. A second photo is taken on test day, and that one is printed on your Statement of Results.
3. Choose your profession. Listening and Reading are the same for everyone; Writing and Speaking are profession-specific, and the result is tied to that profession. A nurse who books OET Medicine by mistake has a Medicine result, which the NMC will not accept.
4. Choose the format, country and venue. The booking tool only shows formats available where you are. If OET@Home appears, it is because there is no venue near you; if it does not, you are expected to travel to a centre.
5. Pick a date and check two things: that bookings are still open for it, and that the results date lands before your regulator’s deadline.
6. Request special arrangements now if you need them. The request has to be in by the booking closing date for your test. It cannot be added later.
7. Pay. AU$587, by card. You will get a confirmation email and the booking appears under My Bookings in your account.

For the ID itself: a passport is accepted everywhere. A national identity card is accepted only if it was issued by the government of the country where you are sitting the test, shows your name, photo and date of birth on the one card, and, if it is not in English, comes with a certified translation. A driving licence is never accepted. Bring the original on the day; copies are not checked, they are refused.

Working backwards from your deadline

Here is the calculation for the three most common situations.

US residency, 2027 Match. ECFMG needs your OET Medicine result in time to approve your Pathways application before the Rank Order List deadline, and tells applicants to test no later than the last scheduled date in December 2026. Results take about 10 business days, and ECFMG then needs about three business days to attach them to your application. Working backwards, a computer test in the first half of December 2026 is the realistic last chance, and November is safer. ECFMG also wants all four minimums in a single sitting, so there is no second sitting to fall back on.

UK nursing, NMC. There is no single deadline, but your result must be under two years old when the NMC assesses your complete application, and if you combine two sittings they must be within 12 months of each other. The trap here is the second sitting: if the first was in January and you want to combine, the second has to be taken, not just booked, by the following January.

Australia, AHPRA. The result must be under two years old when you lodge, counted from the earlier sitting if you combine two. Only test-centre results count, and for tests taken from 23 April 2026 the minimums are 350 in Listening and Writing and 360 in Reading and Speaking. If you are a doctor planning around AMC exam dates, remember paper results take two weeks and computer results take two days; the format choice can move your whole timeline by a fortnight. Our AHPRA English requirements guide has the full table.

Frequently asked questions

How often is OET held?

The paper test runs twice a month on Saturdays, with every second date open to Nursing and Medicine only. The computer test runs Monday to Saturday most weeks. OET@Home follows the computer calendar.

How far in advance should I book?

Paper bookings close 24 days before the test and popular venues fill earlier. Four to six weeks ahead is comfortable. For the computer test, a week before is the hard limit, but venues in big cities can be full two or three weeks out.

Is the computer test easier?

No. The questions, the timing and the marking are the same. The only differences are typing instead of handwriting, and how the Speaking test is delivered.

Can I take the four sub-tests on different days?

On paper, no: all four sub-tests belong to the one test date at the venue. On computer and OET@Home, Speaking is booked separately from the other three, and results are released once all four are complete.

How much does OET cost in rupees, pounds or yen?

OET charges AU$587 in Australian dollars (US$455 for computer and OET@Home bookings in the USA). Your bank converts it at the rate on the day, so the local figure changes from month to month. Check the booking page in your own currency before you budget for a re-sit.

Can I get a refund if I fail?

No. Refunds only apply to cancellations made before the deadline, and even then OET keeps a cancellation fee of AU$120 or AU$200.

Do I have to pay the full fee to re-sit one sub-test?

Usually yes. Single sub-test bookings exist only for the paper test outside the USA, only after a full sitting, and most regulators want all four sub-tests from the same sitting anyway.

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Once you have a date in the calendar, the next question is whether you are ready for it. Our free OET practice test gives you one question from each sub-test with the answers explained, and the full Vol.01 set is free on the app.