Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, Ontario secondary students will see the return of mandatory written final exams and a new attendance-based grading component, both introduced under Bill 101. The legislation, formally known as the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, was tabled by Education Minister Paul Calandra in April 2026 and marks one of the most significant changes to Ontario secondary assessment since final exams were scaled back during the pandemic. This guide breaks down exactly how Ontario high school exams 2026 will work, which courses are affected, and what students and parents should expect once the changes take effect.

Ontario High School Exams 2026: What Bill 101 Actually Changes

Bill 101 Ontario schools legislation covers a wide range of governance and funding reforms, but the two changes with the most direct impact on students are the reinstatement of mandatory written exams and the introduction of an attendance and participation mark. Before this bill, individual boards and teachers had considerable discretion over whether to hold formal final exams at all, and many schools had moved toward project-based or continuous assessment models instead. Bill 101 removes that discretion for a defined set of subjects and replaces it with a fixed, province-wide minimum weighting.

Ontario final exams mandatory status is now written into the assessment framework itself rather than left to local policy, which means the requirement applies consistently across public secondary schools once the new school year begins.

The New Exam Weightings, Grade by Grade

The exam weighting differs depending on both grade level and subject. In grades 9 and 10, a written exam will count for 20 percent of a student’s final mark in math, English, and science. In grades 11 and 12, that same written exam requirement rises to 25 percent of the final mark in those three subjects. The increase reflects the greater weight universities and colleges place on senior-year academic performance, particularly for students applying through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) or the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS).

Outside of math, English, and science, other credit courses such as computer studies and humanities follow a different structure. Rather than a single written exam, these courses use a 10/15 split between a written exam and a final project, giving teachers more flexibility to assess subjects where practical or creative work is a meaningful part of the curriculum.

Here is how the new weighting breaks down across grade levels and course types:

Grade Level	Math, English, Science	Other Credit Courses	Attendance & Participation	Exempt Courses
Grades 9–10	20% written exam	10% exam / 15% project	15% of final mark	Workplace preparation, co-op
Grades 11–12	25% written exam	10% exam / 15% project	10% of final mark	Workplace preparation, co-op

A small number of courses are exempt from the new exam requirement altogether. Workplace preparation courses and cooperative education placements fall outside the mandatory exam structure, since their assessment is already tied to hands-on or workplace-based outcomes rather than a single test day.

How the Exam Weighting Affects a Final Grade

The math behind the new exam weighting is straightforward once the percentages are in place. Consider a grade 12 student in a course subject to the 25 percent exam requirement. If that student earns 88 percent across coursework, worth 75 percent of the total mark, and then scores 72 percent on the mandatory written exam, worth the remaining 25 percent, the final grade works out to (88 × 0.75) + (72 × 0.25), or 66 plus 18, for a final mark of 84 percent. Under a coursework-only model, that same student’s mark would have been 88 percent. The four-point difference illustrates why a single exam performance now carries more influence over a final grade than it did when exams were optional or lightly weighted.

The effect is somewhat smaller in grades 9 and 10, where the exam counts for 20 percent rather than 25 percent, but the underlying principle is the same. A strong coursework average no longer guarantees a proportionally strong final mark if exam performance lags behind it.

This is one reason more students may look to upgrade a course after receiving their final grade under the new weighting. Since exam performance now carries more weight, students in this position can retake or upgrade a course through OES, where the same subject is taught by an Ontario Certified Teacher on a self-paced schedule, giving them another chance to reach the mark they need without waiting for the next semester.

Attendance and Participation Now Count Toward Grades

Attendance counting toward grades Ontario is the other major shift under Bill 101, and it applies independently of the exam changes. Under the new framework, attendance and participation will make up 15 percent of a student’s final mark in grades 9 and 10, and 10 percent in grades 11 and 12. This is a formal, legislated component of the grade rather than an informal consequence of missing class.

In practical terms, a student’s participation mark is meant to reflect classroom engagement over the course of a semester, not simply a raw attendance count. The province has indicated that excused absences, such as documented illness or observance of a holy day, will not be held against a student’s participation mark in the way an unexcused absence would be. Even so, chronic absenteeism now carries a direct grading consequence in addition to the more obvious problem of missing instructional content ahead of a mandatory final exam.

For students in senior university-preparation courses, the combination of a 25 percent exam and a 10 percent attendance component means that roughly a third of the final grade now sits outside day-to-day coursework entirely. That is a meaningful shift from the assessment model many current students have known throughout their secondary years.

How This Compares to the Previous Assessment Model

Formal final exams were a standard part of Ontario secondary assessment for decades before many boards scaled them back during the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, disrupted school schedules and concerns about student wellbeing led a number of boards to reduce the weight of final exams or replace them with smaller, ongoing assessments spread across the term. Some schools moved away from a single high-stakes exam day entirely, relying instead on cumulative assignments, presentations, or portfolio-style submissions to determine a portion of the final grade.

That flexibility was never standardized at the provincial level, which meant the exam weighting a student experienced could vary significantly from one school or board to the next. Bill 101 removes that variability for the subjects it covers, setting a single minimum exam weight that applies regardless of school board. For students transferring between boards, or families comparing course requirements between a public day school and an online provider, this creates a more consistent baseline than existed over the previous several years.

Why This Matters for University-Bound Students

The subjects most directly affected, math, English, and science, are also the courses most commonly required for competitive university and college programs. Grade 12 university-preparation courses such as ENG4U, MHF4U, MCV4U, MDM4U, SBI4U, and SCH4U all fall under the higher 25 percent exam weighting, since each is a core academic credit rather than a workplace or co-op course. Students planning to apply through OUAC or OCAS should expect their final grades in these six courses to reflect a formal written exam and an attendance component in addition to regular coursework, a departure from the more flexible marking many senior students experienced over the past several years.

This is particularly relevant for students using these courses to meet program prerequisites. ENG4U is a near-universal admission requirement, MHF4U and MCV4U underpin most engineering and physical science programs, MDM4U is commonly accepted for business and social science applications, and SBI4U and SCH4U are standard prerequisites for health sciences, nursing, and pre-medical pathways. A single weak exam result in any of these courses now has more influence on a final mark than it would have under the previous, more coursework-heavy model.

For students who want to get ahead of these changes, or who need to retake or upgrade one of these six courses, OES offers all of them on a self-paced, year-round schedule with no fixed start date, and each course ends with a fully proctored online final exam, so the new emphasis on formal exams is already built into how OES teaches these subjects.

When Do the Changes Take Effect?

The new rules apply beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, which starts in September 2026 for the large majority of Ontario school boards. Students completing courses during the 2025-2026 school year remain under the previous assessment model. Any course taken from September 2026 onward, including summer school and upgrade courses completed after that date, falls under the new exam and attendance requirements. Students in grade 11 or 12 who are planning to apply to university or college in the next application cycle should confirm with their school or provider whether a given course will be assessed under the new or previous framework, since the timing can affect how a final mark is calculated.

How Students Can Prepare

With written exams now carrying a fixed and, in senior courses, substantial weighting, treating exam preparation as an afterthought is riskier than it was under previous marking schemes. A few habits make the biggest difference under the new rules:

• Space out review sessions. Spreading study across a semester rather than concentrating it in the final week tends to produce better retention, particularly for subjects like math and science where concepts build on one another.
• Ask about the exam format early. Knowing whether an exam will be multiple choice, written response, or a mix allows students to practise the right kind of thinking well before exam day arrives.
• Revisit earlier units before exam period. The mandatory written exam tests cumulative understanding, not just the most recent unit, so reviewing older tests and assignments matters more than it did under a coursework-only model.
• Practise under timed conditions. Working through past tests or sample questions with a clock running helps students adjust to the format of a proctored exam, especially if they haven’t written one in several years.
• Treat attendance as exam preparation. Consistent attendance supports the participation portion of the grade directly, and it also keeps students on pace with material that will appear on the final exam.

FAQs about the New Ontario High School Exam Rules

Are written exams now mandatory in all Ontario high school courses starting in 2026? 

Written exams are mandatory in math, English, and science for grades 9 to 12, and other credit courses follow a 10/15 exam-project split. Workplace preparation and co-op courses are exempt. The requirement takes effect in the 2026-2027 school year.

How much do exams count toward a final grade under the new rules? 

Written exams count for 20 percent of the final mark in grades 9 and 10, and 25 percent in grades 11 and 12, for math, English, and science. Other courses use a 10 percent exam and 15 percent project split.

Does attendance count toward grades in Ontario high schools now? 

Yes. Attendance and participation count for 15 percent of the final mark in grades 9 and 10, and 10 percent in grades 11 and 12, under the new Bill 101 framework.

What is Bill 101 and how does it affect Ontario students? 

Bill 101, the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, reinstates mandatory written exams and introduces an attendance-based grading component for Ontario secondary students, alongside broader changes to school board governance.

When do the new exam and attendance rules take effect? 

The changes apply starting with the 2026-2027 school year, beginning in September 2026. Courses completed before that date remain under the previous assessment model.

Enroll in an Ontario High School Course That Already Meets the New Standard

Formal written exams are not a new addition at OES High School. As a Ministry-inspected Ontario online high school, OES courses already include proctored final exams, so our students’ credits meet the new standard by design. If you have questions about how the new provincial rules apply to your upgrade or fast-track plans, book a 15-minute academic guidance call with our team.