REVIEW OF Ontario Virtual School BY student, Yara Al Rifai

(5) Student Experience

OVS was an amazing experience for me personally due to the freedom I had to study autonomously, since that’s when I do my best. You still have many resources if, unlike me, you study with the help of others, but I did not require most of them. I honestly feel like I learned and understood better than at any other school too. The teacher was so kind and understanding. I feel like there isn’t much need for change from my experience because I loved studying that way. Having the opportunity to pause the educational videos and go back whenever I needed to helped me reach my learning goals. I also loved how interactive the lessons are, considering this is online. To add to this, the practice tests and homework really help when it comes time for the tests and exams. And finally, whenever I sought any sort of help from either the teacher or the admin, they were so quick and got things done fast.

(5) School Leadership

Again, when I needed any sort of assistance, they managed to get things done very fast, and that was super convenient for me, considering I’m a Grade 12 student. They were so helpful and kind, and I never felt the need to hesitate to reach out for any reason. I would also like to say that I don’t see the need to change anything, honestly. However, I did not contact them that frequently, so maybe that could be the reason why.

(5) Teaching

As it was an online school, the teacher never asked much and was very flexible. The teachers are very clear and friendly, and make me feel like they are seeking my success and what’s best for me in the MCV4U course. They offered so many resources for people who needed to add a little bit more effort in the course (like I did) and did not make me feel like I was any less productive than the other students in the course. When she received my tests, she would mark them in less than TWO hours! And if I ever had any sort of question, she would always reply and help as fast as she could, which to me felt amazing because I would always ask questions.

(5) Academics

The work, to me, is just right because it’s not so challenging to the point where I feel like I cannot do well in the course, but it is also not so easy that I can do the tests without much studying. I still had to put a lot of effort, but that’s also because math is a harder subject for me. Math will obviously help me in the future, especially in university, because chemistry, for example, has a lot of math. And I’m planning to take many chemistry courses over my university years. It is one of the main reasons why I took the course MCV4U. I might even take some math courses in university, too, but I’m not too sure this early on yet.

(5) School Life

The school is online; however, there are so many places you can go on their website with different ways to help yourself get better at whatever it is you are studying. It’s so easy to manage and understand where to click and what to do. They have goal trackers and other fun tools to keep track of your learning. All the instructions are super clear and make it way easier to navigate their website whether I want to do homework, a test, or even exam prep. They even had a whole diagram to explain the process and the steps I should take to pass and complete the course.

(5) Admissions

It was very easy and smooth. All I had to do was complete a questionnaire where I entered all my info and created an account so I could buy the MCV4U Calculus and Vectors course. After that, I had to email the admin my prerequisite course to prove that I had completed it, and that’s a quick summary of the process. It was absolutely not stressful in any way. The only advice I would give is to be patient, because the process might take a couple of days at most.