Still, English has him worried, especially looking ahead to Grade 12 when it could potentially drag down his overall average. It’s not his favourite subject, nor his best. He’s not even sure how it will help with a career in medicine. 

For Farhan, who has his eye on programs where a percentage point can make a difference between an offer or rejection, his worry isn’t whether he’ll do well in ENG4U, but whether “well” will be enough.

That anxiety is echoed in online forums where students debate whether to take, or retake, ENG4U in summer school, night school, online or through private credit options, each pathway weighed for its potential to boost final grades. “ENG4U is the biggest academic gamble if you take it normally,” concludes one commenter.

And despite concerns about how alternatives may affect university applications, students appear willing to take the risk. In Ontario’s public and Catholic systems, online ENG4U enrolment has surged 333 per cent over the past decade, even as the Grade 12 population has slightly declined. Alternative providers such as Blyth Academy say ENG4U is one of their most popular Grade 12 offerings, particularly in summer, while TVO ILC says ENG4U enrolment has risen 20 to 25 per cent annually since 2022-23.

After weighing his options, Farhan — whose last name was withheld out of concern it could affect his post-secondary prospects — has opted to take it this July, through a free, online asynchronous course offered by his board.

The Vaughan student says the condensed format — nearly a week’s course load in one day — will help him focus, and finishing English early will make fall more enjoyable.

But there was another persuasive factor.

“People say it’s easier to get a high mark in summer school,” he says, before pausing.

“I don’t know how true that is.”

When teacher Cathy Coelho began noticing fewer students in ENG4U classes at her Mississauga school, she began to wonder: Where did they all go?

What she discovered was they were getting the credit elsewhere, at summer school or online, either through the board, or private academies where an ENG4U course can cost $600.

“These kids are under pressure to get the highest marks they can,” says Coelho, an English department head who has taught the subject for 31 years. “It’s in their top six; they know English counts.

“So they’re doing what a smart person would do, which is pick the easiest option in their busy lives in order to get through.”

In addition to equity issues, Coelho questions the rigour and oversight of non-day-school options, particularly online learning given the rise of AI and the challenge of verifying who is actually completing the work. She argues ENG4U is not a course where students can simply “pull it together in Grade 12” and significantly boost their average, given how scaffolded the subject is over years of language acquisition.

Ontario’s Grade 12 curriculum, updated in 2007, is about “reading critically, writing reflectively, understanding deeply and communicating effectively,” says Lorenzo Cherubini, a Brock University professor of English Education. “These skills require sophisticated development.”

Where once high school seniors might have just memorized passages from “Hamlet,” today’s students focus on analyzing texts and finding connections to their own lives and the wider world.

The goal, Coelho explains, is to show these aren’t just the words of “some dude sitting with a quill 400 years ago,” but ideas still playing out today.

Yet for students, that very shift toward interpretation and personal voice can, despite clear curriculum rubrics, make grading seem arbitrary.

“If I’m getting a low mark” in science or math, says Farhan, “it’s because I studied less. With English, I can work very hard, but get a low mark because it’s about the mindset. It’s not very objective.”

He’s going to aim for 100 per cent but settle for 97.5.

“An 80 used to be such a great mark that the provincial government gave you a cheque and a certificate, and now students are upset with an 80,” says Coelho.

“That feeds a cycle that is really messed up.”

Can English be fast-tracked? 

When Elaine entered her final year of high school last fall, she wasn’t sure getting an 80 in ENG4U was even possible.

Her teacher was known as a hard marker. “I worried that I wouldn’t meet the requirements or have a competitive average to get into the university I wanted,” says the Markham teen, who typically scores 99 in math and wants to study computer science at Waterloo.

Elaine, whose last name was withheld while she fields offers, considered dropping out, maybe taking it again elsewhere.

Friends had already opted for online or summer school. “You can get a higher mark,” she says. “Because of how fast-paced the course is, the assignments tend to be easier.”

Day school alternatives, especially those structured around asynchronous models, may not be formally condensed, but tend to be marketed that way. The Ontario Virtual School, which did not respond to the Star’s questions, boasts students can upgrade courses “in as little as four weeks with a 98% post-secondary acceptance rate.” 

Such options can meet curriculum expectations, says Brock’s Cherubini, but he warns that condensed and asynchronous formats are not ideal for developing higher-order thinking needed for university. The full writing process, from brainstorming and drafting to feedback and revising, as well as proper assessment of that, requires time and sustained interaction with a teacher, he argues.

That said, alternative schools say outcomes depend less on format than learning conditions. Blyth spokesperson Sarah A. Coles explains while students “generally speaking … do see an improvement in their grades,” she attributes it to the academy’s small classes, engaged teachers, strong communication and focusing on one course at a time.

Researcher Ceara Khoramshahi, a PhD candidate at OISE studying post-secondary access, cautions that condensed course formats are not as easy as they sound. And, she believes, repeating a course, if needed, can strengthen learning: “If you do things better the second time, then I think that’s effective.”

But students worry what this could mean on their transcripts and to their chances of admission.

Ontario universities told the Star that while some programs set minimum thresholds for ENG4U, a mark in the 70s is typically sufficient, though not necessarily competitive. Many consider the highest mark from a repeated attempt, and most generally treat any Ministry of Education-accredited ENG4U course equally regardless of format.

However, there is some nuance: The University of Waterloo, for example, advises engineering and mathematics applicants to avoid repeating courses or taking them outside of regular day school “if possible,” noting admissions wants to see how students perform while balancing a full course load and extracurricular commitments.

That caution is what ultimately convinced Elaine to stick it out, even as she risked dropping to 79.

“I underestimated how hard it would be,” she says. 

When final report cards arrived in February, Elaine scored 84 in ENG4U, well above the course median of 70.

“I think I did pretty well,” she says, relieved to already have some university offers in hand, even if she feels she wasn’t on equal footing with other applicants.

“Some schools are just prone to grade inflation … I don’t have any control over it. Ideally, we would be a fair world, but life isn’t ideal.”

Students generally agree ENG4U should be required, but would prefer it count in admission averages only if it is a top mark. Meanwhile, educators say a partial fix would be for universities to require ENG4U be taken in day school, at least on first attempt, reducing the incentive for grade shopping.

In any case, the skills learned in ENG4U are integral to any post-secondary success, says Coelho, be it in the humanities or engineering.

“If you have the most brilliant idea in the world but you can’t communicate it, then it stays in your head.”