OET Writing Self-Assessment: How to Mark Your Own Letter

Self-assessment is one of the most underutilized strategies in OET preparation. Many candidates write letter after letter without checking their work systematically. While professional feedback is essential, learning to evaluate your own writing helps you recognize common error patterns and fix them under exam conditions.

Use this step-by-step checklist to self-assess your practice letters. For instant grammar checks and automated marking, you can run your text through our free OET writing checker before getting your final review.

Step 1: The Purpose Audit

The first sentence of your letter is the most critical. Read your opening paragraph and answer these three questions:

1. Who is being referred? (Is the patient’s name and age/DOB clear?)
2. Why are they being referred? (Is the primary symptom, diagnosis, or concern stated?)
3. What is the required action? (Is it clear if the recipient needs to assess, admit, provide home care, or review medications?)

If your opening sentence is “I am writing to refer this patient for further management,” you have failed the Purpose audit. Rewrite it to state the exact reason (e.g., “for urgent colorectal assessment due to suspected malignancy”).

Step 2: The Content Filter

Review the case notes and highlight the “must-include” details. Compare these against your letter:

• Did you include the primary complaint and onset details?
• Are key diagnostic test results present (with dates and units)?
• Did you list active medications that are relevant to the referral?
• Did you omit historical, unrelated details (e.g., a resolved childhood fracture or stable, long-term conditions unrelated to the acute issue)?

If your letter includes more than two details that do not impact the recipient’s immediate care, you are losing marks under Conciseness & Clarity.

Step 3: Paragraphing and Organization

Look at the overall structure of your letter. It should have a clean, balanced layout:

• Paragraph 1: Purpose and patient details.
• Paragraph 2: Current situation, main clinical findings, and test results.
• Paragraph 3: Relevant medical history, current medications, and allergies.
• Paragraph 4: Closing request and immediate action required.

Each paragraph should focus on a single theme. If you jump from medical history back to today’s symptoms in the same block of text, the letter lacks logical organization.

Step 4: The Tone and Register Check

Examine the vocabulary you used to describe the patient and clinical findings:

• Are there informal phrases like “he has been coping fine” or “she got better”? (Replace with “the patient has managed well” or “her condition has improved”).
• Did you write out numbers from one to nine? (Use words for single-digit numbers, except for clinical values like “3 mm”).
• Are all drug names capitalized correctly? (Brand names are capitalized, generic names are written in lowercase).
• Did you write out abbreviations that could be ambiguous?

Step 5: The Grammar and Spelling Pass

Finally, proofread for technical accuracy. Check for these common errors:

• Subject-verb agreement: “The results of the test shows…” (should be “show”).
• Definite articles: Make sure you do not use “the” before conditions (e.g., “diagnosed with diabetes,” not “the diabetes”).
• Prepositions: Verify common clinical prepositions (e.g., “referred to a specialist,” “commenced on medication”).

Self-Assessment Summary