Free · Ontario curriculum

Biology Placement Test · Grades 9–12

Ontario biology from SNC1W ecosystems and SNC2D tissues and systems through SBI3U and SBI4U. Find the grade your child is working at and which units need attention.

Start the test

Test and report are free · 10 minutes or more

What it covers

The units each grade is tested on

Grade 9 covers ecosystems from SNC1W and Grade 10 covers cells, tissues and systems from SNC2D. Grades 11 and 12 cover every unit of SBI3U and SBI4U.

Grade 9

SNC1W · Grade 9 Science
  • Ecosystems & interactions
  • Energy flow & nutrient cycles
  • Human impact & sustainability

Grade 10

SNC2D · Grade 10 Science (Academic)
  • Cell structure & function
  • Cell division & cancer
  • Tissues, organs & systems

Grade 11

SBI3U · Biology, Grade 11 (University)
  • Diversity of living things
  • Evolution
  • Genetic processes
  • Animals: structure & function
  • Plants: anatomy, growth & function

Grade 12

SBI4U · Biology, Grade 12 (University)
  • Biochemistry
  • Metabolic processes
  • Molecular genetics
  • Homeostasis
  • Population dynamics
How it works

From sign-in to report

  1. Sign in and choose the student

    Use a free STEMRise account, the same one used to book a trial class. Then pick who is taking the test: you, one of your children, or a child you add.
  2. Answer 12–26 questions

    It takes 10 minutes or more, about 25 at most. The questions are in English and start at the grade you picked: a right answer moves up a level, a miss moves down, and then each unit of the grade it settles on gets its own questions.
  3. Read the report on screen

    The grade level the answers support, next to the grade you picked, and every unit marked Solid, Needs practice or Needs targeted tutoring, with the questions that were missed. Download it as a PDF or print it.
  4. Optional: go through it with a teacher

    The report ends with a short form: leave your contact details and a teacher sets a time to go over the results with you and suggest courses.
Start

Choose the grade the student is in now

Tap a grade and sign in, or create a free account. The test opens on its own page, where you choose the student.

High school

FAQ

Before you start

Is the test free?

Yes. The test and the report cost nothing; you need a free STEMRise account to start. The only paid item is the optional 30-minute consult the report offers for Grades 9–11, and its price is shown before you book.

How long does it take?

At least 10 minutes, about 25 at most. The test is adaptive, so the number of questions depends on the answers: 12 to 26.

Which curriculum are the questions from?

The Ontario curriculum: the biology strand of SNC1W (ecosystems, Grade 9) and SNC2D (tissues, organs and systems, Grade 10), then SBI3U (Grade 11) and SBI4U (Grade 12). Every question is tagged with the unit it tests, and the report is organised by those units.

Science, or Chemistry, Physics and Biology?

Science covers Grades 7–10 and asks about all four areas each year. Chemistry, Physics and Biology each cover one subject from Grade 9 to Grade 12, including the Grade 11 and 12 university courses. In Grade 9 or 10 either works; a student taking or planning SCH3U, SPH3U or SBI3U learns more from the single-subject test.

Are the questions in English or Chinese?

The questions are in English, the language OSSD science is taught in. The instructions, the unit names and the report follow the language you use on this site: English, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese.

Which grade should we pick?

The grade the student is in now. The test starts there and moves up or down as they answer, so the report shows where they actually are.

Not sure where to start?

Ask a teacher about OSSD science

Tell us the grade, the courses taken so far and the goal. A teacher will suggest which test to take, or which course comes next.

See OSSD science courses