In the reading component of the test, students use strategies to interact with a variety of selections to construct an understanding of the texts by responding to multiple-choice questions and one open-response question. 

These selections focus on three reading skills:

• understanding explicitly stated information and ideas

• understanding implicitly stated information and ideas (making inferences)

• making connections between information and ideas in a reading selection and personal knowledge and experience (interpreting reading selections by integrating information and ideas in a reading selection and personal knowledge and experience)

In the writing component, students respond to multiple-choice questions and demonstrate their ability to communicate ideas and information clearly and coherently through one long-writing response. 

The combination of these written and multiple-choice questions focuses on three writing skills:

• developing a main idea with sufficient supporting details

• organizing information and ideas in a coherent manner

• using conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation) in a manner that does not distract from clear communication 

Since a large-scale assessment does not allow for a complete revision and refinement process, written work on the OSSLT is scored as first-draft (unpolished) writing.