OET Test Dates: How Often the Test Runs, and How to Plan Around It

The OET does not run on one calendar. OET publishes three separate date tables, each with its own rhythm, its own closing rule and its own list of professions, and which table governs you depends on the mode you book and, for paper, on your region: the Americas run their own list. This page sets out what those tables contained when we re-read them on 26 September 2026, the arithmetic between a test date and a result, and how to work backwards from a registration deadline instead of forwards from today. If the test itself is still new to you, what the OET is covers the ground underneath this.

Three date tables run in parallel, and only one of them governs your booking

The date lists sit on OET’s book a test page, stacked one under another, which is where the confusion starts. We parsed all three on 26 September 2026.

Source: OET book a test, all three tables parsed on 26 September 2026. Counts are ours.

Candidates in India read the global paper table or the computer table, never the Americas one, so a Friday date seen on a forum is either the Americas list or a computer date. And the computer table carries roughly four times as many dates as either paper table, which is the difference that decides most bookings made against a deadline.

Paper runs fortnightly on Saturdays, and every second date drops five professions

The global paper table is the most regular thing OET publishes. All 24 dates in 2026 fall on a Saturday, 20 of the 23 intervals are exactly 14 days, and three stretch to 21: 7 to 28 March, 23 May to 13 June, and 17 October to 7 November.

The profession pattern is just as strict and much easier to miss. Twelve dates carry seven professions, and the twelve dates between them carry Nursing and Medicine only, alternating through the year. A dentist, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist or a veterinary candidate therefore has a paper date roughly once a month, not once a fortnight. The other five professions do not appear on the paper table at all, though an FAQ on OET’s own paper page states that both modes are available for all 12. Which venues open on a given date is a separate question, answered in our guide to where to sit the OET.

Here is what remains of the 2026 paper calendar, with OET’s own booking and result dates.

Source: OET book a test, global paper table, read 26 September 2026. OET marks its closing dates subject to change.

Four of those dates were still bookable on 26 September, and two of the four were open to nurses and doctors only.

The computer schedule spreads across the working week, and its published window closed on 3 June 2026

The computer table behaves nothing like the paper one. It renders 100 rows for 99 distinct dates, because 12 January is listed twice. Of those 99, 17 fell on a Monday, 17 on a Tuesday, 17 on a Wednesday, 16 on a Thursday, 16 on a Friday and 16 on a Saturday. Not one fell on a Sunday, and every single date carried all 12 professions.

That pattern is why candidates with an awkward profession or a tight deadline drift to the computer mode, and our comparison of taking OET on computer sets out what else changes when they do.

One caveat belongs beside those numbers rather than in a footnote. The published computer table ran from 12 January to 3 June 2026 and had not been extended when we checked on 26 September, so the table alone cannot tell you what is bookable this week. Treat the live search as the schedule and the table as the pattern.

Booking closes 24 days before a paper date and seven days before a computer date

OET states both booking closing rules on the same page: paper closes 24 days before the test date, marked subject to change, and computer and OET@Home close seven days before, at 11.59pm UTC. Checked against the 24 paper dates in 2026, the 24-day rule held on 23 of them, with one date closing 26 days ahead.

The gap between those two numbers reshapes a plan. Deciding in the last three weeks before a Saturday rules out that Saturday on paper altogether, while the same decision still leaves room for a computer date, and the sequence for either is in our walkthrough of how to book the OET.

Two rules in OET’s Test Regulations sit behind the tables and are worth knowing before you choose. Only one booking is allowed per test administration across all delivery modes, so you cannot hold a paper date and a computer date inside the same administration as insurance. And on computer, candidates select from the available start times and days within an administration, which is why two people booking the same date can sit at different hours.

Your Speaking date sits inside the same test administration, not on a calendar of its own

On computer and at home, the date you book is really a pair of dates. OET’s computer page places Listening, Reading and Writing at a venue on one day and the Speaking sub-test at home up to five days before or after it, subject to the dates available, while its Test Regulations say Speaking must be completed within the same test administration, usually eight days either side. Miss that window at a venue and the sub-test scores zero; miss it at home and you have to book another administration. The two figures differ, so treat the shorter one as the safe assumption and confirm what the booking system offers.

That has three consequences for planning. Your working week may need two clear slots rather than one. Rescheduling works differently by mode: on paper every sub-test moves together, while on computer and at home you can move the Speaking session on its own or all four at once. And the result clock does not start until the later of the two is finished, which is the point candidates most often miss when they count days to a deadline.

Paper avoids the split. The four sub-tests run on the same day at the same venue, with a short break before Speaking, according to OET’s paper test day guide, so one Saturday covers the whole test. The Americas reverse the order and take Speaking first, which is one more reason the two paper tables are not interchangeable.

Paper results carry a published date 13 to 17 days after the test, and India sees them sooner

Every paper date in the tables comes with a result date, which makes the wait measurable rather than folkloric. Across the 24 global paper dates in 2026, the published result date fell exactly 13 days after the test on eleven dates and exactly 17 on the other thirteen, and the two groups are not random: every 13-day date publishes on a Friday and every 17-day date on a Tuesday. OET moved paper publication from Friday to Tuesday at 11 July, with one earlier exception, 23 May, whose result landed on Tuesday 9 June at 17 days. Every remaining 2026 date publishes at 17 days. The Americas table runs wider, from 14 to 20.

India sits ahead of both. OET’s booking page publishes paper results in as little as five days after the test date for candidates tested in India and the Philippines, against 13 days or more elsewhere, while computer results start at 48 hours after the final sub-test, with 95 per cent inside six calendar days. Its results page prints a slightly different set of figures for the same thing, five days for India, six for the Philippines and 12 elsewhere, so read the booking page figure as the earliest case rather than a guarantee.

Sources: OET book a test for closing and result dates, and OET results and scoring, which prints 12 days for regions outside India and the Philippines where the booking page prints 13. Day counts are our arithmetic from the published tables; the shortest-cycle row is our estimate, not an OET figure.

One detail catches computer candidates out. The six-day result window opens only when the last sub-test is done, so a Wednesday written date with Speaking the following Monday starts its clock five days later than the booking suggests.

A missed registration deadline costs more than a missed test date

Dates matter because something downstream depends on them, and the cost of a slipped result is rarely the fee. In our sample of 824 Reddit threads about the exam posted between 1 February and 18 September 2026, three titles named a deadline outright and two more asked about a last date, five in all. Nearly nine in ten of those threads came from one subreddit for candidates pursuing US certification, so the deadlines discussed there are ECFMG and Match deadlines rather than Indian nursing ones, and the mechanism transfers more readily than the dates do.

One of them is instructive. A candidate applying in the 2026 Match reported that a delayed OET result meant certification could not be verified before the NRMP deadline, that the application was withdrawn from the Match and from SOAP, and that the withdrawal could not be reversed once the result arrived. Another thread from September 2026 weighed results expected around the 11th against pathway approval landing near the ERAS deadline on the 23rd.

The lesson is not to hurry. It is to count backwards, and to treat OET’s published windows as the earliest case rather than the expected one, since OET states that results may take longer where extra quality or security checks apply.

Counting backwards from a registration deadline gives four dates, not one

Work through these in order. Each one is fixed by the row above it, which is why booking first and planning afterwards so often ends in a second sitting.

Sources: closing rules and result windows from OET book a test. The buffer and preparation rows are our recommendation rather than OET policy.

Preparation length is the row candidates argue with, and the honest answer is that it depends on where you are starting. If the date is already close, our 30-day OET plan shows what a month can realistically cover, and what the test looks like sets out the parts you would be preparing for.

When your date is gone, three moves remain, and two of them cost money

The first move is free: take the next date in the same table. On paper that is a fortnight later, unless you land on one of the three three-week gaps. On computer the table listed a date on almost every following day, 82 of the 98 intervals being a single day, though two gaps of nine days and one of sixteen break the run, and the seven-day closing rule means the next date you can actually book sits a week out.

The second is to switch modes. A computer date accepts bookings until seven days before, served all 12 professions across the published window and returns results faster, and since the AU$587 fee is the same across all three modes, a fresh booking costs no more. Switching an existing booking to another mode is not a reschedule, though: OET’s Test Regulations require you to cancel, take a partial refund less AU$120 before the closing date or AU$200 after, and pay for the new test in full.

The third is to move an existing booking. Paper bookings can be deferred until 23.59 the day before the test and computer bookings up to two days before the first sub-test, which is the Speaking session when it falls first. Both carry a fee, and a booking made with a discount code cannot be rescheduled at all.

Whichever move you make, check the profession list on the new date before you commit, because the alternating paper pattern means the next fortnight is not always open to you.

A date on the calendar is a preparation deadline in disguise

Booking creates a fixed point, and the weeks before it decide the result. Candidates who book first and study later usually meet the alternating paper calendar twice, once for the sitting they were not ready for and once for the sitting that follows it a fortnight later.

If you want those weeks structured rather than improvised, our OET preparation programme runs online and at the Egmore centre in Chennai, in the weeks before the date you have booked.

Frequently asked questions

How often is the OET exam held?

It depends on the mode. Paper runs fortnightly on Saturdays outside the Americas, with 24 global dates in 2026 and three three-week gaps. The computer mode runs on most days from Monday to Saturday: the table OET published for 12 January to 3 June 2026 carried 99 dates and no Sundays.

What are the remaining OET test dates in 2026?

On the global paper table: 3 October, 17 October, 7 November, 21 November, 5 December and 19 December. Bookings for the first two closed in September. The Americas paper table runs on Fridays with its own six remaining dates.

How late can I book an OET test date?

Paper bookings close 24 days before the test date, and computer or OET@Home bookings close seven days before, at 11.59pm UTC. OET marks the paper closing rule subject to change, and one 2026 date closed 26 days ahead.

Are all professions available on every OET date?

No. On the global paper table, 12 dates in 2026 carry seven professions and the other 12 carry Nursing and Medicine only. Every computer date in the published window carried all 12 professions.

When will my result arrive after the test date?

OET attaches a published result date to every paper date, 13 to 17 days after the test on the global table. Candidates tested in India can receive paper results in as little as five days. Computer results start at 48 hours after the final sub-test, with 95 per cent inside six calendar days.

How far ahead of a registration deadline should I sit the OET?

Leave about three weeks for paper and two for computer between the test date and the deadline, then add the booking lead time of 24 or seven days. Those buffers are our recommendation, not an OET rule, and they exist because OET says results can take longer when extra checks apply.

Can I hold two OET bookings as a backup date?

Not within the same test administration. OET’s Test Regulations allow only one booking per administration across all delivery modes, and holding more than one may cost you a full refund.

Is there a busy season for OET bookings?

Search interest in India ran highest in July 2026 and peaked in the week of 30 August 2026, and the last 13 weeks of the series averaged about a fifth above the first half of the same twelve-month window. Search interest is not the same as seat availability, but it points at the busier months.

What happens if I miss my booked date?

A no-show forfeits the fee, though OET gives you five business days to contact support with evidence of your situation, and each case is assessed individually. Rescheduling beforehand is cheaper: paper until 23.59 the day before, computer up to two days before the first sub-test, both for a fee.

Does the test get easier or harder on different dates?

No. The OET Test Handbook 2026 states that all delivery modes use the same test format and specifications and are marked to the same standard, so the date you pick changes your logistics rather than your odds.