1. Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
OSSLT
Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
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.

2. Overview Test Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013 Test Materials :
Two test booklets
Reading and writing tasks in both booklets
One Student Answer Sheet
Duration:
Each booklet takes 1¼ hours
Total test time: 2½ hours
Extended time for Spec Ed and ESL is 5 hours (double per booklet)
Student 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

3. More Details... Test set by EQAO - Your OSSLT is evaluated by teachers
Education Quality and Accountability Office
Your 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)
You need a mark of 300 to pass the OSSLT
No record of number of attempts
Results:
Successful OR Unsuccessful (tell you where you need to improve)

4. A total of FIVE selections found in both test booklets.
Reading Selections
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

6. Reading Selections 2 Narrative Texts
Includes a dialogue or conversation (225 to 250 words)
and a real life account (about 600 words)

8. Reading Selections 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

10. Read each question fully and carefully.
Types of Questions
Read each question fully and carefully.
Multiple Choice – 5 potential marks each
Accompanies each reading text
Each question has four options
Students select the best or most correct answer
Answer each question - NO blanks!!!

12. Read each question fully and carefully.
Types of Questions
Read each question fully and carefully.
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)
Answer each question – NO blanks!!!
Write legibly or your answer will not receive marks

13. State a main idea of this selection and provide one specific detail from the selection that supports it.

14. SIX types of writing tasks and questions:
Long writing tasks – 100 potential marks each
News report (1 page)
Series of paragraphs supporting an opinion (2 pages)
Short writing tasks – 50 potential marks each
Six lines each, based on a prompt or question (unrelated to any reading selections)
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

15. Writing a Series of Paragraphs Supporting an Opinion
Task: Give an opinion on a topic in a minimum of 3 paragraphs

16. Writing the News Report
Task: To inform readers of a newspaper about an event

18. Write using your knowledge & personal experiences.
Short Writing Tasks
Write using your knowledge & personal experiences.

20. Writing Multiple Choice Questions: -organization of ideas -sentence structure + paragraph structure -language conventions: capitalization + punctuation

21. How can you prepare?
Write the Mock Literacy Test next Tuesday & Wednesday in your period 1 class!
Attend workshops recommended for you based on your Mock results, as well as any “open” workshops
Try a practice under Student Resources and look at the Scoring Materials to check your answers
(Mrs. Bollinger will help if you have difficulty finding these resources)