The OSSLT is a provincial test of the reading and
writing skills students have acquired by Grade 10. It is
based on the reading and writing skills expected in The
Ontario Curriculum across all subject areas up to the
end of Grade 9.
OVERVIEW
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013
 Test Materials :
 Test
Two test booklets
– Reading and writing tasks in both booklets
 One Student Answer Sheet
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 Duration:
Each booklet takes 1¼ hours
 Total test time: 2½ hours
– Extended time for Spec Ed and ESL is 5 hours (double per booklet)
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 Student
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Questionnaire:
Questions at the end of the test about you, your computer use, and
your reading and writing habits
Not marked, but answer honestly and respectfully
MORE DETAILS...
 Test
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Education Quality and Accountability Office
 Your
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set by EQAO -
OSSLT is evaluated by teachers
Teachers are assigned ONE question to mark for the duration of
the marking period (about 6 days)
Each question is marked by at least 2 teachers
Teachers are fully trained & become experts on responses
Students are not identified by name or by school
 You
must be successful in order to receive an
OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma)
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You need a mark of 300 to pass the OSSLT
No record of number of attempts
 Results:
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Successful OR Unsuccessful (tell you where you need to
improve)
A total of FIVE selections found in both test booklets.

2 Informational Texts (225 to 250 words)
◦ Includes a single paragraph
◦ and a news report
Presents ideas and information on a topic
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2 Narrative Texts
◦ Includes a dialogue or conversation (225 to 250 words)
◦ and a real life account (about 600 words)

1 Graphical Text (fewer than 150 words)
◦ May be a diagram, photograph, drawing, sketch,
pattern, timetable, map, chart or table
Presents ideas and information visually but will include
fewer than 150 words
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Read each question fully and carefully.
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Multiple Choice – 5 potential marks each
Accompanies each reading text
 Each question has four options
 Students select the best or most correct answer
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Answer each question - NO blanks!!!
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Read each question fully and carefully.
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Open Response – 30 potential marks each
Accompanies the information paragraph, news report and
dialogue
 Responses are based on the reading selection (HINT! Use the
question in your answer)
 Use the space provided as a guide to length (six lines – usually
requires 4 sentences)
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Answer each question – NO blanks!!!
 Write legibly or your answer will not receive marks

State a main idea of this selection and provide one specific
detail from the selection that supports it.
SIX types of writing tasks and questions:
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Long writing tasks – 100 potential marks each
› News report (1 page)
› Series of paragraphs supporting an opinion (2 pages)
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Short writing tasks – 50 potential marks each
› Six lines each, based on a prompt or question (unrelated
to any reading selections)
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Multiple-choice – 5 potential marks each
› Organization of ideas
› Sentence and paragraph structure
› Language conventions: capitalization and punctuation
 Answer each question – NO blanks!!!
 Write legibly or your answer will not receive marks
Writing a Series of Paragraphs
Supporting an Opinion
Task: Give an opinion on a topic in a minimum of 3 paragraphs
Writing the News Report
Task: To inform readers
of a newspaper about an
event
Write using your knowledge & personal experiences.

Semester 1: Write the Mock Literacy Test
in class! Get experience using former
test materials.
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Semester 2: Try a practice test @
www.eqao.com under Student
Resources and look at the Scoring
Materials to check your answers