EQAO Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The OSSLT writing scores are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 4. What does a score of 4 indicate?
- The student met the minimum literacy standard
- The student's response was incomplete
- The student exceeded the literacy standard with strong control of conventions (Correct answer)
- The student passed only the reading portion
Correct answer: The student exceeded the literacy standard with strong control of conventions
A score of 4 on the OSSLT writing rubric indicates the student demonstrated strong, consistent control of writing conventions and ideas beyond the standard.
Question 2: Which type of text would be classified as an 'information text' on the OSSLT?
- A short story about a student's summer vacation
- A poem describing autumn leaves
- A magazine article explaining how glaciers form (Correct answer)
- A personal diary entry about a difficult day
Correct answer: A magazine article explaining how glaciers form
An information text presents factual content to explain, describe, or inform; a magazine article about glaciers fits this category.
Question 3: A student writes: 'The students was excited for the field trip.' What grammatical error is present?
- Incorrect verb tense
- Subject-verb disagreement (Correct answer)
- Misplaced modifier
- Incorrect pronoun reference
Correct answer: Subject-verb disagreement
The plural subject 'students' requires the plural verb 'were,' not the singular 'was,' making this a subject-verb agreement error.
Question 4: On the OSSLT, students are assessed on their ability to make 'inferences.' What does making an inference require?
- Copying a sentence directly from the text
- Combining text clues with prior knowledge to draw a conclusion (Correct answer)
- Summarizing only the first paragraph of a passage
- Identifying all the adjectives in a passage
Correct answer: Combining text clues with prior knowledge to draw a conclusion
An inference goes beyond what is stated explicitly by combining evidence from the text with the reader's background knowledge.
Question 5: In the OSSLT news report task, which question should the opening paragraph answer to meet the standard?
- Only 'who' and 'where'
- Only 'why' and 'how'
- The 5 W's: who, what, where, when, and why (Correct answer)
- Only the opinion of an eyewitness
Correct answer: The 5 W's: who, what, where, when, and why
A strong news report opening addresses all five W's — who, what, where, when, and why — to give readers a complete snapshot of the event.
Question 6: A passage states: 'Despite the rain, the outdoor concert attracted thousands of fans.' What is the relationship between the two parts of this sentence?
- Cause and effect: rain caused the large crowd
- Contrast: the large crowd occurred despite an obstacle (Correct answer)
- Sequence: rain happened before the concert
- Addition: rain and the concert both happened
Correct answer: Contrast: the large crowd occurred despite an obstacle
The word 'despite' signals a contrast, showing that the large attendance happened in spite of unfavorable weather.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes a 'topic sentence' in a paragraph as assessed on the OSSLT?
- The sentence that provides the most detailed evidence
- The concluding sentence that restates the main argument
- The sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph (Correct answer)
- A sentence that only contains a transition word
Correct answer: The sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph
A topic sentence states the main idea of a paragraph and signals to the reader what the paragraph will discuss.
EQAO Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test 3
The OSSLT writing scores are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 4.
What does a score of 4 indicate?