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Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

My Test Prep Experience: Tips, Practice Questions, and What You Need to Know for the OSSLT

Hey there! I have prepared for many many tests not too long ago, and I wanted to share my experience to help you get through this with confidence. The OSSLT is a pretty big deal in Ontario since you need to pass it to graduate, so I totally understand if you’re feeling a bit nervous. But don’t worry—I’ve got some tips and practice resources that I hope they’ll help you too.

What’s the OSSLT All About?

The OSSLT it’s a standardized test that checks if you’ve got the essential reading and writing skills you’re supposed to learn by the end of Grade 9. The test includes reading passages with questions (reading comprehension) and some essays. It might sound a bit intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s totally manageable.

My Practice Routine (For any test)

One thing that really helped me was practicing with questions that were just like the ones on the actual test. I always got old tests or practice questions.  Here’s how I broke it down:

Reading: I practiced reading different kinds passages and then considering them.  What is the main idea?   Opinion or fact?  Like that. The test has lots of different types of texts—stories, articles, opinions even charts. Practicing these helped me get faster at figuring out what the questions were asking and finding the right answers.

Writing: This part was a bit trickier for me, especially the opinion essay and the news report. But practicing writing these out over and over made a huge difference.

Grammar and Vocabulary: I spent some time brushing up on grammar rules and vocabulary too. Even though it wasn’t the most exciting part of studying, it definitely paid off on test day.  Grammar questions aren’t really on the test but you gotta know your grammar to write an essay.

Recommended OSSLT Practice

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is important for because most jobs involve a lot of reading, analyzing, and communicating information effectively.

Communication. In the course of your career, whatever that may be, you will communicate with a wide variety of people, including customers or clients, colleagues, and members of the public. You must accurately read and understand written messages, such as emails, reports, and memos.

Types of reading questions that generally appear on the exam.

  • Drawing logical conclusions
  • Make predictions
  • Analyze and evaluate the use of text structure to solve problems or identify sequences
  • Vocabulary – Give the definition of a word from context
  • Summarizing

Composition

Grammar, composition, and vocabulary questions are not on the test, but take my advice –  if you want a good essay you are going to need to know both really well.  Here are some practice questions that you may want to look over quickly and make sure you can answer them.  If not, get started!

Written by, Brian Stocker MA., Complete Test Preparation Inc.

Date Published: Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024
Date Modified: Thursday, October 3rd, 2024