Understanding Courses & CRedits

Understanding Course Codes in Ontario Secondary Schools

All courses are identified by a 6-character code common to all secondary schools in Ontario. For example, MTH1W1 is the code for the Grade 9 Destreamed Mathematics course. 

The following chart explains how to interpret course codes:

Credits

A credit is granted in recognition of the successful completion (that is, completion with a final percentage mark of 50% or higher) of a course that has been scheduled for a minimum of 110 hours, and that has been developed from a Ministry of Education curriculum guideline or that has been approved by the Ministry. 

Half-credit courses may also be offered, and the amount of scheduled time will be assigned accordingly (e.g., 55 hours required for a half-credit course).

For the purpose of granting a credit, the scheduled time is defined as the time during which students participate in planned learning activities designed to lead to the achievement of the curriculum expectations of a course. Planned learning activities include interaction between the teacher and the student and assigned individual or group work (other than homework) related to the achievement of the overall learning expectations in the course. 

Prerequisites

Courses in Grades 10, 11 and 12 may have prerequisites for enrolment.  A prerequisite is a course that must be completed before being allowed entry into another course. Prerequisite courses help students to gain the knowledge and skills needed in later grade levels.

All prerequisite courses are identified in Ministry curriculum policy documents, and no courses apart from these may be identified as prerequisites. 

Procedures for Students Who Wish to Change Course Types

Some students may change their educational goals as they proceed through secondary school. When they decide to embark on a new pathway, they may find that they have not completed all of the prerequisite courses they need.

In Grades 10 to 12, a student may change to a different type of course in a given subject provided that the student has taken any course specified as a prerequisite for that course. If the student has not done so, they may take one of the specified prerequisite courses through their regular day school, or, if it is not available, through alternate avenues, such as summer school, eLearning, etc.

If the principal believes that a student can be successful in a particular course without having taken the specified prerequisite, the principal may waive the prerequisite.