Describing LIFESTYLE in OET Letter- How WORDS & NUMBERS can be used

Precision and accuracy are two key factors that will be of high demand when attempting the Writing sub-test in OET, especially at times when you are given the task of communicating the lifestyle of a patient to a fellow doctor or a colleague.

Read on to find out how exactly this can be done.

Health care professionals are humans and just like humans, they vary in various aspects, thoughts being one of them. 

Let's clarify with an example:

You have to convey a patient's smoking habits to someone. You write:

 

Mr. Silverstien is an addicted smoker.

Fair enough !

Well, now if I ask 4 different health care professionals "How many stubs might one find in an addicted smoker's cigar tray?", answers will range anywhere from 30-50 stubs which is a fairly big range for anybody.

But this is quite easy to solve. Just use factual numbers instead of adjectives.

Here are some samples

Stevens has a bad alcohol habit. = Stevens consumes an average 10 units of alcohol in day.

Mr. Bartley is obese = Mr. Bartley is overweight by 26 Kgs.

Ms. Stanley had a narcotics addiction = Ms. Stanley was addicted to methamphetamine at 21 years of age.

Go ahead and try out this new method!