Reading Part C, everybody says it…
OET Reading Part C is probably the most difficult area of the entire OET exam.
Not only are we tested on more complex vocabulary, we are also tested on our deeper understanding of the text. In truth a lot of questions in this section of the test can be very tricky and challenging. Almost unfair in fact!
That said, our teachers have four important secrets we like to pass on to our students about this test.
1. A few dropped marks don’t matter – move on!
Don’t be afraid to get tactical. As long as you get a passing grade, you have achieved your goals.
As we mentioned in a previous article, the passing grade for OET reading is 29/42 which means that…
… it isn’t the worst thing in the world if you don’t get the full marks in Part C of the exam. If you can consistently achieve around 17/20 in Part A and 4/6 in Part B that means you will only need to achieve 8/16 in Part C – which is certainly possible!
Focus on achieving as high a grade as possible in the first two sections of the test to make things as easy for yourself as possible.
If you are not 100% sure about an answer, make an educated guess and move on!
2. Reading questions are answered in order
This one is a simple but useful one: the answer to question 1 will likely be in the first paragraph and the answer to the last question will likely be the last paragraph.
The questions are answered in order. That means, if you are unable to find the answer to question 4, it will likely be somewhere in the passage between the answer that you found for questions 3 and 5.
You can use this tip to narrow down to a rough area of where the information may be presented.
3. Don’t overwhelm yourself with information
Ironically, this is the tip with the most information!
Similarly to the earlier parts of the test, you do not have time to read everything in the passage.
There is too much information to take in. There is only so much information your brain can process and if you waste your energy focusing on specific details, it may not even be relevant to the questions you eventually answer.
When you first start OET Reading Part C, quickly read through the text to get a good idea of how the information is presented and what it is about. Make any notes/underline information related to the main ideas. This will give you a guideline of where information can be found generally and then you can return to it easily later.
The questions will guide you where to look based on your notes.
Cross out any answers that are definitely wrong and if you still can’t answer the question make an ‘educated guess’ based on any details you can find and move on.
4. Understand ‘referencing’ in reading
Many of the difficult questions in the Part C will relate to ‘referencing’. There will usually be several questions that use this trick and it can make understanding the text a real challenge.
Consider the sentence below:
The patient was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. It has returned this year.
In this sentence, what does ‘it’ refer to? Does it relate to the patient? To 2018? To the cancer?
Here, ‘it’ relates to cancer. This use of ‘it’ is known as ‘referencing’ an it stops the writer from having to use repetitive nouns such as this one.
The patient was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. The cancer returned this year.
Sounds repetitive doesn’t it? If you are unsure what ‘it’ refers to try replacing the other words in the sentence to see which best fits. If it makes sense, your answer is likely correct.
Now, let’s consider another example:
90% of patients find a catheter to be uncomfortable. Results of a recent study on this matter discovered that it was due to the shape of the tube.
What does ‘this’ refer to in the sentence? The study? The patient? The shape of the tube? The discomfort of the catheter? The catheter itself?
The correct answer here would be ‘this (matter)’ relates to ‘patients finding a catheter to be uncomfortable’.
Practice looking for these referencing words and then checking back through the sentence to see what it is they are referring to. This is an essential skill in the OET reading exam.
Common referencing words are:
- It
- This
- That
- These
- He
- She
- Her
- His
How are you finding Part C of the reading exam? Do you find it to be one of the most difficult sections?
We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to ask us any questions in the comments below and our teachers will get back to you.