OSSLT failed twice - what's actually different about the third attempt?
I'm a grade 11 student in Ontario and I've failed the OSSLT twice now - scored 63% both times and the threshold is 67% to pass. I know that sounds close but I'm genuinely stuck on the same kinds of questions both times. The reading sections feel manageable but the writing tasks are where I lose points. I've been told my writing is 'too informal' but I don't fully understand what that means in the context of this test specifically.
I've got about 8 weeks before my third attempt. Right now I'm working through an OSSLT practice test to see where my gaps are, but I'm not sure what to do with the results once I have them. My English teacher has offered to help but she's busy and I don't want to rely entirely on one person.
The writing component has two tasks - a news report and an opinion piece - and I'm not sure which one I'm losing more points on. The feedback from the test is pretty vague. I just know my final scores came out the same twice and I'm frustrated because I can write fine for class assignments.
Has anyone gone from failing twice to passing? I'm feeling like there's something specific I'm missing about the format and not just a general writing weakness. Would appreciate any insight from people who've been through this.
Your class writing being fine but OSSLT writing struggling is super common - the test is about demonstrating you can follow a specific format, not that you can write well in general. Once you internalize that it's a format test the prep becomes much clearer.
63% twice is really close to passing and it means something specific is costing you those 4 points. For the opinion piece, making sure you have a clear thesis in the first sentence and a concrete example in the body is usually worth 10-15 points on its own. Generic opinions without evidence score low every time.
I failed once and passed on my second try. What changed was I stopped writing the way I do for class essays and started treating the writing tasks as fill-in-a-template exercises. The markers are looking for specific structural features, not creative expression.
Look up the OSSLT scoring rubric - it's public and it tells you exactly what gets full marks vs partial marks for each task type.
The 'too informal' feedback almost always means contractions and personal anecdotes in the news report section. News report format wants third-person, no contractions, and a specific inverted pyramid structure. Once I learned that format and practiced it 5-6 times I went from failing to passing in one attempt.