Course Selection
Ontario High School course selection guide and tips.
Posted: November 18, 2024 - Last Updated: May 26, 2025 - Tags:
After recently graduating high school and receiving my OSSD, I've decided to share some of my thoughts on the High School course selection process. I will also be including my grades for my grade 11/12 courses should you be interested.
Grade 9
Congratulations! You've made it to your first year of high school, unfortunately, in terms of courses, you have basically no say in what you will take. You will likely be able to choose between Art/Music/Drama and possibly French/Spanish, however, the rest of your courses will be mandatory. With some of these courses you'll also be able to select applied or academic. This part is easy, if your final goal is to go to university, choose academic, if your final goal is to go to college, choose applied.
My courses in grade 9 were:
- English (ENG1D1)
- Math (MPM2D1)
- Science (SNC1D1)
- Core French (FSF1D1)
- Geography (CGC1D1)
- Phys Ed (PPL1OM)
- Art (AVI1O1)
- Exploring Technologies (TIJ1O1)
I was fortunate enough to take an accelerated math course in grade 8 which I completed the year prior giving me a grade 9 credit. This program was later discountinued but this also helped me have more flexibility, if you have something similar I highly recommending taking it.
I unfortunately didn't have a choice for my Art/Music/Drama course since at this time we were in cohorts/online learning due to COVID-19.
Don't worry too much about grades, you don't need high grades (unless you're trying to apply to international schools)
Summer School
I have mixed opinions about summer school, I took summer school for my Grade 10 English (ENG2D1) credit and it was fun and not a terrible experience, however, it definitely did not cover everything that the regular course would have. On the other hand, it gave me a lot more "leeway" in the future as you'll see later on, maybe take it, maybe don't.
Grade 10
Grade 10 is similar to grade 9, you'll have a few more choices but again not too many, you aren't required to take French anymore and you'll have some more freedom in tech courses. You'll also be required to take a Civics/Career Studies Course which will be split half and half throughout a semester. Finally, you'll also have to take a history class.
My courses in grade 10 were:
- English (ENG3U5) [96%]
- Functions (MCR3U1) [97%]
- Science (SNC2D1)
- Civics (CHV2O1) .5 Credit
- Canadian History (CHC2D1)
- Career Studies (GLC2O1) .5 Credit
- Core French (FSF2D1)
- Phys Ed (PPL2OM)
- Construction Technologies (TCJ2OW)
This year was probably the most fun I had in high school, I was still playing hockey and I was doing quite well in most of my classes. Most notably I did quite well in my 2 Grade 11 Courses with little amounts of studying.
Most importantly, I took core french, and this is something I push every student to do. For one, if you are good at French and want to learn another language, this is a perfect opportunity, secondly, if you complete this course you're freed up from taking other filler courses such as grade 11/12 anthropology, sociology, etc. This is because you must have a single course from 3 sort of categories. French acts as a "wildcard" here, it can be used to fill any of the other 3 and therefore allows you to take more courses you're interested in later on instead of filling it with a course you really don't care about.
I would say that I found Construction Technologies quite fun and interesting.
Don't worry too much about grades, you still don't need high grades (unless you're trying to apply to international schools)
Summer School
I ended up taking grade 11 Physics (SPH3UO) [92%] since it was literally the only course offered over the summer due to some scheduling issues. Due to the sped up nature and this being the first time I was taking a physics course, I did not do too wel.
Grade 11
Wow, grade 11 already, this is where things start to get serious. You'll have a world of courses to pick from and you'll really have to try if you want to get into top schools/programs. At this point you should already have a general idea of the courses you want to take in grade 12 since you will need to make sure you fulfill course requirements to even apply to some programs.
My courses in grade 11 were:
- English (ENG4U5) [96%]
- Advanced Functions (MHF4UP) [92%]
- Phys Ed (PAF3O1) [92%]
- Chemistry (SCH3U5) [91%]
- Physics (SPH4U1) [93%]
- Computer Science (ICS3U1) [96%]
- Biology (SBI3U1) [91%]
- Computer Engineering (TEJ3M1) [99%]
This was probably the most stressful year in high school. Between juggling Hockey and Basketball, participating in many clubs, as well as volunteering, I had basically no time at this point in my life. This was reflected in my first semester where I did poorly relative to previous years. I also took it upon myself to try some advanced placement courses (Calculus AB and Computer Science A).
This unfortunately gave me Chemistry, Grade 12 Physics, Advanced Functions (AP) and English, Computer Sceince A all in the same semester. Suffice to say, I was not prepared for this. Chemistry was always one of my weak points so this didn't really make a difference, however I struggled in Physics and Advanced Functions. I did relatively well in English however due to my advanced functions course being in preparation for Calculus AB, we ended up having unit tests nearly every week (We finished the course in about 2 months). This, paired with the fact I was also self studying Computer Science A did not help.
A small piece of advice would be to do a little research in the teachers for every course you're considering. Looking back, I would've not taken CS purely due to a teacher with a terrible reputation. Since universities only see the final grade, this can truly make a huge difference, and so avoiding a bad teacher can help quite a bit.
University Applications
Here is where your grades do matter. If you do truly bad in a course I would recommend looking at options to retake it or study up and prepare heavily for grade 12.
University's will use your grade 11 courses as a predictor to what you'll get in grade 12. For example, if you get a 90% in some course, they'll expect you to get a 90% in the grade 12 equivalent. This makes it extremely important if you're doing early admissions since this is the only way they can really judge you as a student (apart from AIF's).
Sciences
Generally Students end up taking 2-3 of the sciences, especially if they want to go into engineering, my thoughts were that if you're good at memorizing and understanding how processes and systems work, biology is probably for you. On the other hand if you like calculations and math, take physics, if you want a bit of both, take chemistry. Make sure you do plan out which ones your taking though as the grade 12 courses require you have to have the grade 11 equivalent.
AP Sidenote
Advanced Placement for those of you who don't know is a program where you can take what the US Collegeboard thinks a university would teach in first year. You should note that this has 0 effect on Canadian University Applications. I took these courses because I was interested in them, I ended up scoring a 4 and a 5 in AP Calc AB and AP CSA respectively (Out of a max score of 5). My only advice here is if you are truly interested or you already have a great grasp on the foundations of these courses, take them, otherwise I would avoid them.
Grade 12
Finally! You can start applying to university!
I took the following:
- Data Management (MDM4U1) [100%]
- Chemistry (SCH4U1) [92%]
- Computer Engineering (TEJ4M1) [100%]
- Computer Science (ICS4U1) [97%]
- Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U5) [99%]
- Cooperative Education (2 credits) (TEJ4M8) [100%]
This year was my best academically and I was able to achieve 3 100's in Data, Computer Engineering, and Coop.
This was one of the most interesting years for me academically since I was finally only taking courses I was truly interested in (minus Chemistry, sorry Mrs. Kelly...) Overall I had a great time, I found and refined my studying methods to a point where I was able to quite well in most of my courses. I also found that I was able to balance my time much better and in the meantime I also had fun clubs and activites to lead.
My best tip here is to make sure you have a good relationship with your teachers. At this point they're looking to help you do well and they'll be more than happy to help you out with any questions you'll have.