NMC OET Score for Nurses: Grades, Combining and MyOET

The NMC asks for grade B in reading, listening and speaking, and grade C+ in writing on the OET.

The scores are the easy part. Two other things decide whether your result is usable: booking the right profession version, and giving the NMC permission to verify it before you submit rather than after.

If speaking is the sub-test you are short in, SpeakShark is free with three AI conversation sessions a day and no card, each capped at five minutes and four turns.

In this guide: the four grades · which OET counts · the profession trap · combining two sittings · worked examples · the MyOET step · what to practise · what we could not verify · how we researched this · FAQ

Key takeaways

• OET for the NMC: B (350 or above) in reading, listening and speaking, C+ (300 or above) in writing.
• All three deliveries are accepted: OET on Paper, OET on Computer and OET@Home.
• You must book the Nursing examination from the OET Professions list.
• Combining has a floor as well as a pass score, and the floor applies to every score in both sittings.
• You must give verification permission through MyOET before you submit, or the application can be delayed.

The four grades you need

The NMC's wording is that it will accept an OET certificate confirming at least grade B (350 or above) for reading, listening, and speaking and at least grade C+ (300 or above) for writing.

There is no overall grade in that requirement. Four sub-tests, four separate bars, and one below the line fails the submission on its own. That is the same structure as the NMC's IELTS requirement, where 7, 7, 7 and 6.5 are also stated domain by domain.

Writing is the only sub-test with a lower bar, and it is worth being suspicious of that. A lower required grade attracts less preparation, and less preparation is exactly how a sub-test becomes the one that holds up an application for months.

Which OET deliveries the NMC accepts

All three, which is unusually relaxed:

• OET on Paper
• OET on Computer
• OET@Home

The NMC's reasoning is that these include the same tasks, difficulty, format and timings, and are marked according to the same assessment criteria. It goes further and allows OET@Home to be combined with OET on Paper or OET on Computer, so a mixed pair of sittings is fine.

Now compare that with the other accepted test. The NMC does not accept IELTS Online, and does not accept IELTS Indicator, on the stated grounds that Indicator's security measures are not comparable to the face-to-face test.

Same regulator, opposite verdicts on two at-home products. If you have read somewhere that regulators reject remote testing, that is too broad. If you have read that remote testing is fine now, that is also too broad. The answer is per test, per regulator, and the only safe move is the page for the exact product you are about to pay for. Australia's visa pages reject several online versions by name, which is the same lesson from the other direction.

The profession version trap

OET is not one exam. It publishes profession-specific versions, and the NMC is explicit:

All applicants should choose the Nursing examination from the list of OET Professions versions.

The reading and listening sub-tests are shared across professions, but writing and speaking are built around each profession's real tasks. A nurse who books another profession's version sits a legitimate exam, receives a legitimate certificate, and cannot use it for NMC registration.

This is a dropdown on a booking form, which is exactly why it gets clicked past. Slow down on that one field.

For what the Nursing version actually asks, see OET speaking for nurses, OET role play cards, breaking bad news and OET warm up questions. The scoring itself is covered in the OET speaking criteria.

Combining two sittings

Miss one sub-test and you can combine across two sittings. The rule has two halves, and the second half is the one that quietly kills combinations.

Half one, the pass grades. Across the two sittings you must achieve:

• One reading at B (350 to 440)
• One listening at B (350 to 440)
• One speaking at B (350 to 440)
• One writing at C+ (300 to 340)

Half two, the floor. Every score across both sittings must be at or above:

• C+ (300 to 340) for listening
• C+ (300 to 340) for reading
• C+ (300 to 340) for speaking
• C (250 to 290) for writing

Read that with your own two certificates in front of you. A bad sitting is not discarded and forgotten. If any single score in either sitting falls under the floor, the whole combination fails even though your best grades look comfortable.

On top of this sit the general conditions: same test type, so two OET results and never one OET with one IELTS, sittings within 12 months of each other, and both no more than two years old when the NMC assesses your complete application. The NMC counts from your test date, not your certificate date.

The NMC's own worked examples

Accepted

This works because across the two sittings there is a B in listening, reading and speaking and a C+ or better in writing, and every individual score clears its floor. Note the C in writing in Test 2: allowed, because the writing floor is C rather than C+.

Not accepted

Two failures at once. The listening C in Test 2 is below the C+ floor, and there is no B in listening anywhere across the two sittings.

The NMC hosts a combining calculator on its own site, which is where a real pair of certificates should be checked rather than against a table on a blog, this one included.

The MyOET permission step

This is the administrative step that delays applications, and it is not about your English at all.

The NMC needs your OET certificate and your candidate number to verify the result. If you are combining two sittings, it needs both certificates, verified with the same candidate number.

The part people miss:

It's important you have given permission for us to verify your OET results before you submit your application through your MyOET account, otherwise this may delay your application. If you are submitting two tests, you'll need to give us permission to verify both tests.

Permission is granted in your MyOET account, it applies per test, and it needs to be in place before you submit. A delay here does not just cost time. Your test scores are valid for two years measured to the date the NMC assesses a complete application, so an avoidable hold-up eats the same window your certificate is sitting in.

What to actually practise

Speaking is the sub-test that only improves by speaking, and in the Nursing version it is a role play with a patient.

1. Speak daily, unscripted. OET speaking is an interaction, not a recitation. Free methods to raise fluency and a 30 day plan to improve speaking cover the habit.
2. Rehearse the clinical situations, because that is what the Nursing version tests: role play cards, breaking bad news and speaking practice for nurses.
3. Protect writing even though its bar is lower. C+ is not an easy grade, it is a neglected one.
4. Fix clarity rather than accent. Six pronunciation fixes in fourteen days and reducing mother tongue influence target what stops a listener following you.
5. Get a baseline first. Test your English speaking level free, and read why your English speaking is not improving if study alone has not moved it.
6. Start before you book, because the two year clock starts the day you sit. Start a free session and make it daily.

What we could not verify

We are not claiming OET is easier or harder than IELTS. Neither body publishes a comparative difficulty figure and we are not going to invent one.

We are not reproducing the combining calculator's logic. The NMC hosts one that can read your actual certificates.

We have not verified how other UK healthcare regulators treat OET@Home. This post covers the NMC only.

We are not publishing test fees or booking lead times, which vary by country and change without notice.

How we researched this guide

The four required grades, the three accepted deliveries, the instruction to book the Nursing examination, the two part combining rule, both worked examples, and the certificate, candidate number and MyOET permission requirements all come from the NMC's OET page, read directly.

The IELTS comparison, the 12 month and two year timing conditions and the test date rule come from the NMC's IELTS Academic and accepted tests pages.

Where the NMC gives a reason we quoted the reason rather than the outcome alone, because the reasons tell you which rules are stable. A judgement that OET@Home is equivalent in tasks, difficulty, format and timings is a different kind of decision from a security objection, and they are unlikely to move together.

The NMC pages we read carried a last updated date of 8 March 2024, and the parent English language requirements page carried 31 May 2024. Regulator rules change, so open the page before you book.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and it is our pick for OET preparation because of the sub-test problem above. There is no overall grade to hide behind, so the sub-test that is short is the whole application, and speaking only moves when you speak. You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still going. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card, each free session capped at five minutes and four turns. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a full session.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, not a regulator, and we are not affiliated with the NMC, OET, the IELTS partners, Pearson or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly, and for what registration requires, read nmc.org.uk. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

• Site: speakshark.com
• Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
• Free tier: 3 AI conversation sessions per day, no card

Sources

• NMC, OET: the four required grades, the three accepted deliveries, the Nursing examination instruction, the combining rule, both worked examples and the MyOET verification requirement
• NMC, accepted English language tests: the two accepted tests and the timing and validity conditions
• OET, the test: the profession-specific versions and the three delivery modes behind the NMC's instruction

FAQ