Ontario OSSD

Overview

The Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) is the main high school diploma in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is not a single terminal exam. Students earn it over four years of secondary school by passing individual courses one at a time, each marked on its own, rather than by sitting one combined final test. The Ontario Ministry of Education sets the curriculum and diploma rules, and a student's own school board (public, Catholic, or an approved private or international school teaching the Ontario curriculum) issues the diploma once every requirement is met.

Who can apply

The OSSD is earned by students in Grades 9 through 12, typically around ages 14 to 18, enrolled at a school that teaches the Ontario curriculum. This includes Ontario's publicly funded school boards, Catholic boards, registered private schools, and a number of international schools outside Canada that are authorised to award Ontario credits. Adults who did not finish high school as teenagers can also work toward the OSSD later through adult day school or night school credit programs offered by Ontario school boards. A student does not apply to the Ministry directly; they enrol at a school, and the school tracks their progress toward the diploma.

Requirements

To earn the OSSD, a student must meet all of the following at once: the credit requirement, the literacy requirement, and the community involvement requirement. A financial literacy requirement is also being added for a future cohort (see below).

Credits

A minimum of 30 credits is required: a mix of compulsory (required) credits across core subject areas and elective (optional) credits the student chooses. For 2026, the split depends on when a student started Grade 9:

• Students who entered Grade 9 in the 2023-2024 school year or earlier need 18 compulsory credits and 12 elective credits.

• Students entering Grade 9 from the 2024-2025 school year onward need 17 compulsory credits and 13 elective credits instead; the total of 30 stays the same.

The compulsory credits for the earlier cohort cover English (4 credits, one per grade), mathematics (3 credits, with at least one in Grade 11 or 12), science (2 credits), Canadian history (1 credit), Canadian geography (1 credit), the arts (1 credit), health and physical education (1 credit), French as a second language (1 credit), career studies (0.5 credit), and civics (0.5 credit), plus one credit each from three further defined subject groups (for example, a second English/French course, a social science, a technological or business subject, or a Grade 11 or 12 science). Unless a student has opted out or been formally exempted, at least two of the 30 credits must be earned through online learning.

Literacy requirement

Students must also meet the provincial literacy requirement, most commonly by passing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), a provincial assessment developed and administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). Students are first expected to write the OSSLT in their second year of secondary school (Grade 10). The test is computer-based and split into two sessions that can be taken back-to-back or on separate dates: it checks the reading and writing skills students are expected to have built across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9, through a mix of selected-response questions (multiple choice and similar formats) and two longer written responses, one shorter and one longer piece of writing. EQAO reports whether a student has met the required literacy standard rather than giving a percentage mark for the test. A student who does not succeed can rewrite the OSSLT in a later administration; a student who has had at least one unsuccessful attempt can also become eligible to complete the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC), a credit course that satisfies the same requirement in place of passing the test.

Community involvement

Every student who started secondary school from the 1999-2000 school year onward must complete a minimum of 40 hours of community involvement activities, done outside of class time, at any point during their four years of secondary school (a student may start counting hours over the summer before Grade 9). A student who completes well beyond the required 40 hours before graduating can receive a Minister's Certificate of Recognition for Community Involvement, awarded at three levels based on total hours logged.

Financial literacy requirement

Ontario is adding a Financial Literacy Graduation Requirement starting with the 2026-2027 school year, for students who enter Grade 9 in the 2025-2026 school year or later. It does not apply to students who are already further along in secondary school as of 2026.

Course types and credit value

One credit is granted for successfully completing a course scheduled for a minimum of 110 hours of instruction, with a final mark of 50% or higher. In Grades 9 and 10, courses are offered at four levels: Academic, Applied, Open, and, in some subjects, Locally Developed. In Grades 11 and 12, the levels change to University, College, University/College, Workplace, and Open, matching the kind of postsecondary pathway (university, college, workplace, or apprenticeship) a course is meant to prepare a student for. A student's choice of level in each subject affects which courses they are eligible to take later and which university or college programs they can apply to.

Marking and results

Because the OSSD is course-based, there is no single diploma-wide result. Each course is marked independently throughout the semester or year through a mix of assignments, tests, and projects, and the student's performance is reported as a percentage mark on their report card at the end of the course, alongside percentage marks issued at set points during the course. A credit is only awarded for a course once the final percentage mark reaches 50% or higher. The OSSLT, by contrast, is reported as meeting the literacy standard or not, separately from any single course's percentage mark.

After graduation

Current Ontario high school students who meet (or are on track to meet) OSSD requirements apply to Ontario universities through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), which collects applications and sends final and interim secondary school marks to universities on the student's behalf; most university offers are conditional on the final marks a student earns in their Grade 12 University or University/College preparation courses. Applicants who are not current Ontario high school students, including international students, mature students, and applicants from other provinces or countries, apply to Ontario universities through a different OUAC application route and generally have their secondary or post-secondary record assessed for equivalency. A student who leaves secondary school before completing every OSSD requirement can instead be issued a Certificate of Accomplishment, which records the credits and hours completed up to that point without being the full diploma. Students can also retake individual courses to improve a mark, or rewrite the OSSLT, after graduation if needed.

Preparation tips

• Plan your Grade 9 and 10 course levels with an eye on the university, college, or workplace pathway you are aiming for in Grades 11 and 12, since later course levels build on earlier ones.

• Take OSSLT preparation seriously in Grade 9 and 10 rather than leaving it to the week before the test; the reading and writing skills it checks come from across all subjects, not one dedicated literacy class.

• Start logging your 40 hours of community involvement early and keep records of each activity, instead of trying to find 40 hours of eligible activities close to graduation.

• Track your running credit count and compulsory-credit checklist with your school's guidance counsellor each semester so a missing requirement is caught well before Grade 12.

FAQs