OET Speaking Grade B: assessment criteria

Published 2026-09-20

For UK Nursing and Midwifery Council registration, OET Speaking, Listening and Reading each require at least Grade B (350); Writing requires at least C+ (300). Other regulators may set different thresholds, so check the requirements for your profession and destination.

How Speaking is assessed

OET publishes two sets of Speaking criteria. The Linguistic Criteria cover intelligibility, fluency, appropriate language, and grammar and expression. The Clinical Communication Criteria cover how you build a relationship, understand the patient's perspective, structure the conversation, and gather and give information.

Read OET's Speaking preparation and criteria guidance alongside any practice feedback. A checklist on this site can help you notice a problem; it cannot assign an official grade.

A concrete practice example

In our nursing role play, a patient has refused to walk after surgery because movement hurts and a relative previously had complications. If you explain the benefits of walking before finding out what the patient fears, you may cover a task on the card but miss the concern driving the conversation.

After recording your attempt, listen for two separate things: was your explanation clear and easy to follow, and did you ask about and respond to this patient's particular fear? The first question concerns language; the second concerns clinical communication. Both matter in OET Speaking.

What to practice

Try the same card again. Open by asking what worries the patient about moving; then explain the plan from the card in plain language and check what the patient understood. Compare the two recordings, noting one response you improved and one that still needs work. For the actual test format and official sample cards, use OET's own sample materials.