Welcome to the Robert F. Hall Literacy Information Page
The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT)
The OSSLT measures whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9.
Successful completion of the literacy test is one of the requirements to earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
All students across the province write this test.
All Grade 10 students will write the OSSLT in their homeroom classroom in the month of November 2024
Resources:
Students in Grades 10 and 11 can prepare for the OSSLT by :
- complete the exercises posted in the library google classroom
Students who complete the entire Practice Test can see their scores for the Multiple Choice questions after the review and submit their test. Click on the question to see the score.
The Long Writing Opinion Essay will be scored using the following two rubrics:
Opinion Essay Rubric - Writing Conventions
Opinion Essay Rubric - Topic Development and Sample Answers
OSSLT Preparation Videos from DPCDSB
What is the OSSLT?
Tips and Strategies to help you prepare for the OSSLT
Tools available to all Students:
(Please familiarize yourself with these helpful tools)
THE LISTENING TOOL
ZOOM IN AND ZOOM OUT TOOL
THE LINE READER TOOL
HIGH CONTRAST MODE
ANNOTATION TOOLS
ROUGH NOTES
FLAGGED QUESTIONS
Test Day Information:
Arrival - 8:05
Login/Minds-On - 8:15
Session A (Day 1) - 8:30 until 9:30
Session B (Day 2) - 8:15-9:30
- Please go straight to your homeroom class on the day of your test.
- You will find your last name and login codes on a computer.
- You must be in full uniform.
- At 8:15 am: you will receive a login card and read the instructions.
- You can bring headphones or borrow some from the Library (no bluetooth).
- Absent students will be removed from the Test Portal and reassigned to another day.
- No cell phones are allowed.
- You are allowed extra time on this test.
- Results will be available in Janurary 2025.
This is the format of the online OSSLT:
The OSSLT is a computer-based assessment that comprises two sessions (Session A and Session B) containing a total of 33 questions: 31 multiple-select questions (e.g., multiple-choice, drag and drop, drop-down menu, checklist, text selection) and two constructed open-response questions.
Each session is designed to be completed in 60 minutes, and students will complete each session in one sitting.
The two sessions are presented to students in six groupings of the following types of questions:
- Real-Life Narrative (RLN): a reading selection and seven multiple-select reading questions.
- Information Paragraph (IP): a reading selection and six multiple-select reading questions.
- News Report (NR): a reading selection, one written response and five multiple-select reading questions.
- Dialogue (DI): a reading selection and five multiple-select reading questions.
- Writing Multiple-Select (WMS): eight multiple-select writing questions.
- Opinion Essay (OP): one written response composed of a series of paragraphs supporting an opinion.
HOW TO BEST PREPARE FOR THE OSSLT
Reading Strategies:
Understanding unfamiliar words #1
Understanding unfamiliar words #2
Understanding unfamiliar words #3