Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a compulsory standardized test for secondary school students in Ontario who wish to obtain the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. For students who entered Grade 9 in 1999–2000, successful completion of the test is not a graduation requirement. However, for those students who took the field test of the OSSLT in 2000–2001, failed the test, and chose to retake the OSSLT in October 2001, successful completion of the provincial literacy graduation requirement became a diploma requirement. It is administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).

The OSSLT is written every year in March in all public, private and Catholic secondary schools in the province of Ontario. It is used to assess students' reading and writing skills.

The OSSLT consists of two booklets that must be completed by students in two and a half hours. The first booklet includes multiple-choice and short answer questions, as well as a question asking the student to compose a newspaper article based on the headline and picture provided. The second booklet also includes multiple-choice and short answer questions, as well as a question asking the student to write an opinion piece on a given topic (series of paragraph). The test is out of 400 marks.

Students are asked to read a variety of selections and answer questions about each of them. The questions asked are designed to measure students understanding of ideas and information that are directly or indirectly stated in the text. Students are also expected to make personal connections related to the reading selections.

The selections used in the OSSLT consist of common reading materials, including information materials (e.g. instructions, newspaper articles), graphic materials (e.g. graphs, diagrams, legends) and literary materials (e.g. stories).

Students have to produce four pieces of writing for the OSSLT. The writing component is designed to measure the student's ability to develop a main idea, provide supporting details, organize and link ideas and information, use a tone for the particular type of writing and use correct spelling and grammar.

Examples of pieces requested in the OSSLT include summaries, opinion pieces, news reports and information paragraphs.

Marks may be deducted due to a lack of detail. However, the inclusion of too much information can also result in penalties.

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