OSSLT Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test The OSSLT

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.

OVERVIEW Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013 Test Materials : Test 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

MORE DETAILS. . . Test set by EQAO - 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)

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 v. Presents ideas and information on a topic

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

Reading Selections 1 Graphical Text (fewer than 150 words) ◦ May be a diagram, photograph, drawing, sketch, pattern, timetable, map, chart or table v. Presents ideas and information visually but will include fewer than 150 words

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 v Answer each question - NO blanks!!!

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!!! v Write legibly or your answer will not receive marks v

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

Writing 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 v Answer each question – NO blanks!!! v 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

Short Writing Tasks Write using your knowledge & personal experiences.

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

How can you prepare? Semester 1: Write the Mock Literacy Test in class! Get experience using former test materials. Semester 2: Try a practice test @ www. eqao. com under Student Resources and look at the Scoring Materials to check your answers