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Disclaimer: This is based on my own experience. I took my OET at Academies Australasia, Singapore. The test starts at 8:00am but I arrived at 7:00am thinking that I have a plenty of time; I was wrong. There’s a long queue going to locker area and another long queue going to the registration.

Arriving

1. When you arrive at the test venue, you have to go directly on the second floor and queue to the locker area. 2. At the locker area, you will leave your bag. You will need to turn off your mobile and put it and your watch, if you are wearing one, inside your bag. You will be given a number to be able to collect your bag after the test. On my case, my husband was with me carrying all of my belongings including my food. He was sitting on the waiting area at the lobby. 3. You will then be directed to register. The staff will check your passport and then take your photo, which will be used on your Statement of Results. The staff will tell you which room you’re going to take your Listening, Reading and Writing test. Mine was on the 4th floor. 4. This is a good time to go to the toilet as you cannot leave the room during the Listening test. You can request to go to the toilet during the combined time for Reading Parts B and C and the Writing test but not during the first 10 or last 10 minutes, and you will not be given extra time. If you leave the room to go to the toilet, your identity will be checked again.

Entering the test room

5. When it is time to go into the test room, you will be asked to find your desk. An invigilator will check your ID document (passport) again. 6. Take your seat, put your stationery, water bottle and passport on your desk. There’s a clock at the front of the room which you can refer to during the test. 7. When everyone is seated, the invigilator will read out some general instructions about the tests such as not speaking and not copying another student’s work. There were two (2) invigilators, the other one is basically for technical stuff like checking the headsets and the audio.

Test time

8. The Listening papers will be given out. Everyone has a personalised paper which have your candidate number, name, profession, venue, test date and profile photo printed on the front. You need to check the information and sign the front to confirm it is correct. 9. Once everyone has done this, the Listening Test will start. You can complete Listening Part A using pen or pencil but you must mark your answers for Listening Parts B and C using a 2B pencil. There are instructions about how to do this and what to do if you make a mistake on the front of the test booklet. The invigilators will also explain the instructions. You can adjust the volume of your headset according to your preference. 10. At the end of the Listening Test you will be told to put your pens and pencils down and the papers will be collected in. 11. This process will be repeated for Reading Part A and then Parts B and C which are completed together. Like Listening, Reading Part A can be completed in pen or pencil but Reading Parts B and C must be completed in pencil. 12. The invigilators will tell you when you have 5 minutes left for each part so don’t waste too much checking out how much time is left on the clock. 13. The same process is also repeated for Writing. The writing papers will be given out by profession. The invigilators will remind you that you cannot write anything at all during the first 5 minutes. They will also tell you when you have 10 minutes and then 5 minutes left. 14. After the writing test, you will leave the test room. If there is some time before your allocated speaking test, you will be able to collect your bag from the cloakroom area and have some snacks. You will need to repeat steps 2 and 3 before you can go to the waiting area for your speaking test so make sure you come back in good time to do this. My schedule was 1:00pm, so I didn’t have to wait that long. 15. If you have some time, go to the toilet, drink and eat something and try to get some fresh air if possible to refresh your brain.

Speaking test

16. When you go into the room for your speaking test, the interlocutor will greet you and then start the recording device before they check your identity. You will be asked a few questions to help you to relax but these are not assessed. You will have say your test number and your full name for recording purposes. 17. You will be given your first role-card and 2-3 minutes to prepare before the 5 minutes speaking time starts. You will not be able to see the time during the test so continue talking until the interlocutor asks you to stop. This process is repeated for the second role-card. 18. At the end of the Speaking test, you will be directed to collect your belongings from the cloak area and leave. You should not speak to any candidates still waiting to complete their speaking tests.