What Your Grade 9 Child Is Actually Tested On in MTH1W

Your teen's Grade 9 math course in Ontario now ends with one online test that makes up a fifth of the final mark. Knowing exactly what is on it, and what is not, takes most of the guesswork out of the months before it.

Does the Grade 9 EQAO math test count toward the final mark?

Yes. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, the EQAO Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics counts as the written exam for the de-streamed Grade 9 math course, MTH1W, and it is worth 20 per cent of your child's final mark in every publicly funded Ontario school (Ontario Ministry of Education, October 2026). Last year each school could weight it anywhere from 10 to 30 per cent, so families with an older child may remember a different number.

The rest of the mark follows the same split as other Grade 9 courses: 65 per cent from classroom work across the course and 15 per cent from attendance and participation. Our guide to Ontario's attendance and participation mark explains how that last part is scored.

The test itself is online and runs in two sessions, A and B, each designed to take about 60 minutes. There are 54 questions in total, but four are field-test questions that do not count, so 50 decide your child's result. It is adaptive: each session has two stages, and how a student does on the first stage decides whether the second stage is a little easier or a little harder (EQAO, 2026). Questions are multiple choice, multiple selection, drag and drop, drop-down menus and typed answers, and all of them are scored by computer.

What is actually on the Grade 9 EQAO math test?

The test covers five strands of the MTH1W course: Number, Algebra, Data, Geometry and Measurement, and Financial Literacy. The Mathematical Thinking and Making Connections strand is not tested as content, although students use those skills to solve the problems. EQAO's blueprint fixes how many of the 50 scored questions come from each strand, and Algebra is the biggest share by far (EQAO Framework, 2026).

• Algebra. Writing and solving expressions and equations, comparing linear and non-linear relations, and connecting slope to rate of change and the y-intercept to a starting value. Coding sits here too: students read short pieces of code, predict what they do and change them to fit a new situation.
• Number. Powers and exponents, including scientific notation, and problems with fractions, integers, rates, percentages and proportions.
• Data. Box plots and quartiles, scatter plots and correlation, and mathematical modelling, where students judge how well a model fits a real situation and what it predicts.
• Geometry and measurement. Circle and triangle properties, converting between units and measurement systems, and the volume of prisms, pyramids, cylinders and cones.
• Financial literacy. Everyday money decisions, such as appreciation and depreciation, and how interest rates, borrowing time and down payments change the cost of a purchase.

The full list of expectations is in the Ontario Grade 9 math curriculum, which every MTH1W teacher works from.

The three kinds of questions your teen will see

Every question is also matched to one of three categories. Knowledge and Understanding questions check that a student knows a concept or procedure. Application questions ask them to pick the right tool or fit information to a problem. Thinking questions ask them to sequence several tools or reason their way through a plan (EQAO Framework, 2026).

That matters for how your child studies. EQAO marks the answer, not the method, and a question can move from Knowledge to Application when it is wrapped in a real-life context or the tool is not handed over. A student who can solve an equation on a worksheet can still lose marks if they have not practised spotting that a word problem needs that equation.

When does the Grade 9 EQAO math test happen?

Students write it at the end of their MTH1W course. For 2026-2027, the winter window runs from January 12 to February 5, 2027, for semester one courses, and the spring window from June 8 to June 30, 2027 (EQAO, 2026). Your child's school picks the days inside that window, so ask the math teacher for the date once the semester plan is set.

Results last year give a useful sense of where students land. In 2025-2026, 59 per cent of Grade 9 students in English-language schools met the provincial standard, up from 58 per cent the year before and 54 per cent two years before (EQAO, September 2026). Another 16 per cent of all students had a high Level 2, close to the standard. In the same year, 52 per cent of students said they think they are good at math.

How can I help my teen prepare for Grade 9 EQAO math?

Start early and keep it small. A few short, regular sessions between now and the test will do more than a long review the week before.

1. Try the official sample test together. The EQAO Grade 9 math page has a free sample test in the same two-stage format, with the same tools: calculator, highlighter, zoom and text-to-speech. Twenty minutes on it removes most of the surprise.
2. Work through released questions. EQAO publishes released questions from the 2025 test. Use them to see which strands your teen finds easy and which ones slow them down.
3. Give algebra the most time. With 36 per cent of the scored questions, graphs and equations of linear relations are where steady practice pays off most.
4. Practise the word problem, not just the skill. Ask your teen to explain which tool a problem needs before they start. That habit is what the Application and Thinking questions reward.
5. Use the course's own work. Returned unit tests show what this teacher emphasizes. Keep them in one folder and revisit the shaky topics every couple of weeks.

EQAO is also running a free online math session for parents and guardians on November 26, 2026, listed on the same EQAO page. For a wider view of the year, see what Grade 9 is really like in Ontario, and for last year's numbers by grade, our summary of the 2025-26 EQAO results.

How Connect Education Can Help

If your teen is stuck on linear relations, rusty on fractions or simply nervous about a test that now carries a fifth of the mark, a tutor who knows the MTH1W course can help them practise the right things. Every tutor on Connect Education is a licensed teacher in good standing. Your child's tutor builds a personalized one-on-one learning plan around the strands that need work, using the course's own tests and EQAO's practice material, online, in person or at a public library, at times that fit your family.

Sign up for free and book your first tutoring lesson with a certified tutor, start with a free 15-minute assessment, or browse certified tutors first.