Quick answer: both tests are accepted by the major healthcare regulators, including the UK's NMC and Australia's AHPRA. OET tests the English of your actual clinical work: consultations, case notes, referral letters. IELTS tests general academic English: essays, lectures, abstract passages. For most working nurses and doctors, OET fits better, because its difficulty is familiar. But the right answer depends on your regulator, your purposes, and your budget, and the five question match below decides it for you, with your personal OET versus IELTS percentage.
Every week, students ask me the same question before they ask anything else: sir, OET or IELTS? And every academy answers with whatever they happen to sell. I will answer it honestly, as someone who has taught OET for three years, sat it multiple times, and watched thousands of students walk both roads. There is no universal answer. There is a right answer for you, and it comes from five questions, not from anyone's marketing.
The Match. Five questions. Your percentage.
Before any table or opinion, let us find your answer. Tap through these five questions honestly and submit. Your personal match appears instantly, your percentage for OET and your percentage for IELTS, and then the article below explains every force behind your number.
The match
Five questions. Your personal match.
Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored. Your percentage appears the moment you finish, here on this page.
0 of 5 answered
Answer all five to see your match.
OETIELTS
Now scroll down. The article explains every force behind your match.
Now, whatever your match said, here is the full picture behind it.
The two tests, side by side
| OET | IELTS Academic | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Healthcare professionals, 12 professions | Everyone: students, migrants, professionals |
| Reading | Healthcare texts: guidelines, workplace documents, research | Academic passages on any topic: history, science, culture |
| Listening | Consultations, handovers, healthcare talks | Conversations and academic lectures on general topics |
| Writing | A clinical letter from case notes, your daily work | Essays and data descriptions on abstract topics |
| Speaking | Role plays with a patient, your daily conversation | Interview and talk on general topics |
| Scoring | 0 to 500 per skill, grades A to E | Bands 0 to 9 per skill |
| Cost | Higher per attempt in most countries | Lower per attempt |
| Test dates | Regular, fewer locations | Very frequent, almost everywhere |
What the scores mean for your registration
The regulators publish their own required scores, and they are not always the same shape as each other. Two worked examples, both checked against the regulator's own page on the day this was written.
| Regulator | OET | IELTS Academic |
|---|---|---|
| UK, the NMC | B (350) in reading, listening and speaking, with C+ (300) accepted in writing | 7 in reading, listening and speaking, with 6.5 accepted in writing |
| Australia, AHPRA, tested on or after 23 April 2026 | Listening 350, Reading 360, Writing 350, Speaking 360 | Overall 7, with Listening 7, Reading 7, Writing 6.5, Speaking 7 |
| Australia, AHPRA, tested on or before 22 April 2026 | B in listening, reading and speaking, with C+ in writing | 7 in listening, reading and speaking, with 6.5 in writing |
Two things in that table catch people out. First, writing is usually the lower bar. Both the NMC and AHPRA accept a lower writing score than they ask for in the other three skills, which changes how you should spend your preparation time. Second, AHPRA moved on 23 April 2026. Sitting on or after that date, reading and speaking need 360, which is above a plain B, so a result that would have passed in March may not pass now. Anyone quoting you “B in all four” is reading an old page.
Most regulators also have rules about combining two test sittings, and those rules can save a retaker months, so read your own regulator's current page before you book anything. One more thing many students confuse: your registration English requirement and your visa English requirement are separate rules, and visa rules change. The UK raised the Health and Care Worker visa from B1 to B2 on 8 January 2026, with B1 kept only for people who already held the visa before that date. Always check both doors, not one.
The honest difficulty answer
Now the question everyone really wants: which one is easier? Here is the truth from inside both worlds.
Neither is easy, and I will not pretend otherwise, because OET has clearly moved harder over recent years, and I have tracked it exam by exam. But here is the difference that decides it for most clinicians: OET's difficulty is familiar. IELTS's difficulty is foreign.
Think about what each test actually asks of you. OET Writing asks you to turn case notes into a referral letter. You have written handovers your whole career. OET Speaking asks you to talk to a patient. You do it every shift. OET Listening plays a consultation. You live inside consultations. The exam is hard, but it is hard in your own house. IELTS asks you to write an essay about whether museums should be free, to read a passage about the history of glass, to discuss a topic you last touched in school. The English level is comparable, but the world is not yours. For a working nurse or doctor, fighting a hard exam in your own house beats fighting a hard exam in a stranger's house.
But hear the warning inside this: familiar does not mean automatic. Doctors and nurses fail OET every single day, usually for three reasons that have nothing to do with English. The three reasons retakers keep failing are here.
How your match was calculated. The five forces.
Your percentage above came from five forces, and knowing them makes the decision fully yours.
- The profession force. OET exists for 12 healthcare professions. Outside them, the question answers itself.
- The purpose force. One goal, healthcare registration, points to OET. Many doors, university, other visa pathways, point to IELTS, because IELTS travels further.
- The writing force. A referral letter is your daily work. An essay about museums is not. Whichever page feels like home is a real signal.
- The world force. OET's difficulty is familiar, IELTS's difficulty is foreign, and for a working clinician, fighting hard in your own house beats fighting hard in a stranger's house.
- The money force. OET costs more per attempt, but the cheapest test is the one you clear on fewer attempts, never the one with the smaller fee.
My honest bottom line
If you are a working healthcare professional whose only goal is registration abroad, OET is usually the smarter road, because every hour of preparation also sharpens the clinical English you will use for the rest of your career. Nothing you learn for OET is wasted on exam day plus one. If your journey needs one test for many doors, or your budget is the deciding voice, IELTS is a respectable road too, and I will never tell you otherwise just because I teach OET. Decide with the five questions, not with anyone's advertisement, including mine. And whichever road you choose, walk it with current materials, a guide who has sat in the chair, and your real level measured before the exam measures it for you.
The complete free systems for every OET skill are here: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking.
About the author. Dr. Nasir Bukhari, MBBS, is an OET Certified teacher. He completed OET's official Teacher Training in all four skills, Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking, certified by OET's Head of Education. He has taught OET to healthcare professionals in more than 40 countries. He is the founder of CliniVerba, the house behind OET HQ.