Exam prep
OSSLT prep: how to get ready for Ontario’s Grade 10 literacy test
What’s on the test, what the opinion essay needs, and a plan for the weeks before it.
Correction, October 30, 2026 We corrected how this post described the writing. The test asks for an opinion essay, and its other written answer is about a news report you read, not one you write. Spring results come by the end of May 2027, not June.
Contents
What’s on the OSSLT
The OSSLT (Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test) checks the reading and writing skills expected across every subject by the end of Grade 9. EQAO, the Education Quality and Accountability Office, runs it. Most students write it in Grade 10, online at school, and passing it is one of the requirements for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
| Part | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Sessions | Two, online at school: about 65 minutes and about 75 minutes |
| Questions | 37 that count: 35 selected-response and 2 written |
| Reading | A real-life narrative, an information paragraph, a news report and a dialogue, with 23 selected-response questions and one written answer about the news report |
| Writing | An opinion essay of several paragraphs, and 12 selected-response questions on organizing ideas and using language correctly |
| Pass mark | 300 on a scale of 200 to 400 |
| Tools | Text-to-speech, zoom, a line reader, high contrast and tools for marking up the text |
Reading and writing count about the same: 38 and 40 of the test’s 78 points. The opinion essay alone is worth 20 points, about a quarter of the score, which makes it the single most valuable thing to practise.
“Selected-response” covers more than multiple choice. You’ll also drag answers into boxes, pick from drop-down menus, choose more than one answer and fill in checklists.
When it’s written in 2026–27
| Window | Dates | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | November 3 to 30, 2026 | By January 31, 2027 |
| Spring 2027 | March 30 to April 19, 2027 | By May 31, 2027 |
From the official schedule, checked September 28, 2026. Everything else about the test is on its page: Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT).
Your school picks the days inside each window, so ask which window you’re in. The last two days of each window are kept for students who missed a session.
How to prepare: a five-step plan
- Take EQAO’s practice test early. It runs on the same platform as the real test, with the same tools. Doing it weeks ahead means the platform is familiar on the day, and it shows you which kind of reading slows you down.
- Practise the four kinds of reading. Read a real-life narrative, an information paragraph, a news report and a dialogue, and for each one find the main idea and the details that support it. Most reading questions reward careful reading over speed.
- Write opinion essays. State your opinion at the start, then support it over several paragraphs with specific details, and stay on the prompt. Scorers mark the essay as a first draft, on how well you develop your topic and on conventions: spelling, grammar and punctuation. For the short written answer about the news report, answer exactly what the question asks and back it up with details from the report.
- Practise your timing. Rehearse sessions of about 65 and 75 minutes so you leave enough time to write, not just read. The essay is a quarter of the score, so give it its full share of the time.
- Get feedback on every practice answer. The score on a practice test matters less than what you learn from it. For each wrong answer, find out why the right one is right; for each essay, find the one change that would make it clearer.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating it like a content test. There’s nothing to memorize. It tests reading and writing skills, which grow over weeks, not overnight.
- Skipping essay practice. The opinion essay is a quarter of the score. Don’t spend all your practice on the selected-response questions.
- Ignoring the tools. Text-to-speech and the markup tools help, but only if you’ve used them before the day.
- Not reading every choice. In selected-response questions, the almost-right answer is there on purpose.
If you’re not successful
You write it again at the next sitting. After two chances to write it, with at least one not successful, you can take the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) instead, and your principal can allow that sooner. Some school boards also hold adjudication panels at the end of the year, for students otherwise able to graduate who couldn’t meet the requirement because of illness, injury or other circumstances. Once you’ve passed, you don’t write it again.
Preparing for the first try pays off. In 2025–26, 86% of students in English-language schools writing it for the first time were successful, against 49% of those writing it again.
Practising with MapleMind
MapleMind has practice for the OSSLT’s reading and writing questions. Its tutor explains why an answer is right, works through a passage with you step by step, and gives feedback on your writing, at your level. It’s free, with 4 activities and 30 tutor messages a day. Preparing for Ontario’s Grade 9 math assessment too? See our EQAO Grade 9 math guide.
Sources
- EQAO, Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) (opens in a new tab). Checked October 30, 2026.
- EQAO, Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test Framework (opens in a new tab). Checked October 30, 2026.
- EQAO, OSSLT Highlights of the Provincial Results, 2025–2026 (opens in a new tab). Checked October 27, 2026.
- Government of Ontario, Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements, §6.1.3 (opens in a new tab). Checked October 27, 2026.
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