OET or PTE for nursing registration: which test should you take?

OET is built for 12 healthcare professions. Listening (about 40 minutes) and Reading use general healthcare topics; Writing is a nursing task such as a referral or discharge letter, and Speaking is a nursing role-play. You can sit it on paper, on computer at a venue or as OET@Home (OET). OET says computer results are released in as little as 48 hours, with 95% within 6 calendar days, and paper results for candidates tested in India and the Philippines in as little as 5 days (OET booking).

PTE Academic is a general academic test of about two hours on computer, with no examiner and AI scoring, and results typically within two days (Pearson). It costs INR 18,900 in India (Pearson price finder). We did not verify an OET fee for this page, so check the price on OET's booking page.

The speaking bar is the trap on PTE: Australia and VisaScreen both ask for 76 in speaking even though the overall minimum is 63 or 55, so a strong overall score can still fail on one skill.

Choose OET if the UK, Ireland or New Zealand is on your list now or later, if you want a test whose writing and speaking use the tasks you do at work, or if you want an at-home option the NMC accepts (OET@Home).

Choose PTE Academic if you are certain you will register only in Australia, Ontario or the USA, you are comfortable with computer-scored speaking, and you want results in about two days. PTE Academic is also on Australia's Home Affairs list for visas, as is OET. For IELTS against OET, see OET vs IELTS for nurses.