Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

All students must pass the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test in order to earn a Secondary School Diploma. This test is designed by the Ontario Education Quality and Accountability Office.

Accommodations may be made only for students with an IEP and in accordance with EQAO policies. Students whose Individual Education Plan indicates that the student is not working towards a Secondary School Diploma may, with parental consent and the approval of the principal, be exempted from writing the test.

Students who might benefit from a deferral of the test may include students who have been identified as exceptional and students registered in English as a Second Language courses. A parent may request such a deferral. As well, the principal in consultation with the parent may initiate a deferral. In order to achieve an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, deferred students must successfully complete the test.

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is given every year to assess the reading and writing abilities of Grade 10 students. The test is designed to determine whether students have the necessary literacy skills for success in high school. It also provides the Ontario education system with accurate, comparable data with which to assess current policies and curriculum. Students who don’t pass the OSSLT can retake it a number of times. Students who have been eligible to write the OSSLT at least twice and have been unsuccessful at least once are eligible to fulfill the requirement through the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC). Successful completion of the OSSLT or OSSLC is a graduation requirement.

The test is written in one morning. Students must complete two test booklets. Each booklet is comprised of both reading and writing sections.

Reading
Students are given examples of different types of reading selections:
the information paragraph
a news report
dialogue
real-life narrative
graphic selection.
Students are then tested on their comprehension of what they have read.

Writing
Students are required to demonstrate their writing skills through different formats:

short writing tasks that require a response in six lines
a series of paragraphs expressing an opinion
a news report
There are also multiple-choice questions testing writing skills.

There are many ways you can prepare for the test. See the Test Preparation page for exercises, and take advantage of the materials available at the EQAO site for sample test booklets, a Planning and Preparation Guide, and a Getting Ready Guide.