What grade do you write the OSSLT in?

Students normally write it in Grade 10, their second year of secondary school.

Is the OSSLT required to graduate in Ontario?

Yes, but there is more than one route through it. The literacy requirement is met either by successfully completing the OSSLT or by completing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course, the OSSLC. It sits alongside the 30 credits and the 40 hours of community involvement as a separate diploma requirement.

What happens if you fail the OSSLT?

Nothing final. A student who has had two opportunities to take the OSSLT and has been unsuccessful at least once is eligible to enrol in the OSSLC, the literacy course, which meets the requirement instead. A principal can also allow a student to enrol earlier where they determine it is in the student's interest.

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course. Completing it satisfies the literacy graduation requirement in place of passing the test. Eligibility normally follows two opportunities to take the OSSLT with at least one unsuccessful result, though a principal may allow earlier enrolment.

Are accommodations available for the OSSLT?

Yes. EQAO states that accommodations are available based on student need, including assistive technology and alternative test formats. Arrange them through the school well before the test date rather than close to it.

Can the OSSLT be deferred?

Principals can grant deferrals. EQAO does not publish a list of qualifying circumstances, so this is a conversation with the school rather than something to work out from a website.

For parents and students

The OSSLT: Ontario's Literacy Test, and What Happens If You Fail

What the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test is, when your teenager writes it, what counts as passing, and the routes through it if they do not - including the OSSLC course and who is eligible.

Published September 28, 2026Last reviewed September 28, 2026How we research and correct this

The short answer

The OSSLT is Ontario's literacy test. Students normally write it in Grade 10, and passing it — or completing the literacy course instead — is one of the requirements for the diploma.

It is one of the three graduation requirements that are not credits, alongside the 40 hours of community involvement and, for anyone who started Grade 9 in 2020-21 or later, two online learning credits. The full diploma guide covers all of them.

If your teenager has just failed it

Read this part first, because it is what you came for and the panic is worse than the problem.

Failing the OSSLT does not stop anybody graduating. There is a second route, and it is a normal one rather than a last resort. A student who has had two opportunities to take the OSSLT and has been unsuccessful at least once is eligible to enrol in the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course, the OSSLC. Completing that course meets the literacy requirement.

A principal can also allow a student to enrol earlier, where they judge it to be in the student's interest. If the test is clearly not the right instrument for your teenager, that conversation is worth having sooner rather than after a second attempt.

EQAO administers the OSSLT, so this is the source rather than any board's summary of it. The OSSLC eligibility rule, the Grade 10 timing and the availability of accommodations are all published here.

Source: EQAO — Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

What it actually tests

EQAO describes it as measuring whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9. Two things follow from that wording, and both are useful.

It is not an English exam. It is reading and writing across subjects, which is why a student who is fine in English can still struggle with it.
It covers work up to the end of Grade 9. It is not testing Grade 10 content, so a student writing it in Grade 10 is being tested on material they have already covered.

Accommodations, and asking early

Accommodations are available based on student need, including assistive technology and alternative formats. The part worth acting on: arrange them through the school well ahead of the test date. A request made the week before is a harder ask than one made in September, and a student who has never used the technology before will not be helped by meeting it for the first time on test day.

Deferrals can be granted by the principal. EQAO does not publish the circumstances that qualify, which means the honest answer is to ask the school rather than to work it out from a website — including this one.

What a parent can usefully do

Find out the date early. Schools set their own administration window. Knowing it in September beats discovering it in March.
Treat reading across subjects as the practice. Not English homework — instructions, articles, forms, anything real with information in it.
Do not let it become the whole story. It is one requirement among several, it has a second route built into it by design, and no university or employer will ever ask which route your teenager took.
Ask guidance what support the school runs. Most schools run preparation sessions, and most students do not know about them.

Where it sits in the rest of the diploma

Thirty credits, forty hours of community involvement, the literacy requirement, and for most current students two online learning credits. The full requirements are here, including the 2024 change from 18 compulsory credits to 17 that most published guides still get wrong.

If the bigger question is what your teenager is heading towards rather than how to clear the next hurdle, the free career test takes ten minutes and stores nothing, and the Ontario pathway guide sets out every real route from age 12 onward. If it has gone past reading and into worry, this is what one-to-one coaching involves.

Questions people ask

Straight answers

What is the OSSLT?: The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. EQAO describes it as measuring whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9. Successfully completing it, or completing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course instead, is a graduation requirement.
What grade do you write the OSSLT in?: Students normally write it in Grade 10, their second year of secondary school.
Is the OSSLT required to graduate in Ontario?: Yes, but there is more than one route through it. The literacy requirement is met either by successfully completing the OSSLT or by completing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course, the OSSLC. It sits alongside the 30 credits and the 40 hours of community involvement as a separate diploma requirement.
What happens if you fail the OSSLT?: Nothing final. A student who has had two opportunities to take the OSSLT and has been unsuccessful at least once is eligible to enrol in the OSSLC, the literacy course, which meets the requirement instead. A principal can also allow a student to enrol earlier where they determine it is in the student's interest.
What is the OSSLC?: The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course. Completing it satisfies the literacy graduation requirement in place of passing the test. Eligibility normally follows two opportunities to take the OSSLT with at least one unsuccessful result, though a principal may allow earlier enrolment.
Are accommodations available for the OSSLT?: Yes. EQAO states that accommodations are available based on student need, including assistive technology and alternative test formats. Arrange them through the school well before the test date rather than close to it.
Can the OSSLT be deferred?: Principals can grant deferrals. EQAO does not publish a list of qualifying circumstances, so this is a conversation with the school rather than something to work out from a website.

Two ways to take the next step

Start with ten minutes. Or start with a person.

Future Finder is a free, 10-minute interest explorer for teens — no account, nothing stored, a snapshot of what they're drawn to and a few career worlds worth a closer look. For families who want someone to work through it with them, Launch League runs a six-week one-to-one Sprint for Grades 7–12, anywhere in Ontario.

Try Future Finder — free Career coaching, anywhere in Ontario

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