IMPORTANT Updates About the IMAT 2023: Registration Date, Location, Syllabus, and More

IMAT Application Date

Applications will be available from the 18^th of September to the 29^th of September 2023 and will be done solely on the Universitaly portal. Applications will close at 15:00 on the 29^th of September 2023. During the registration phase, the candidates are required to register on the University portal indicating their personal details, and email address and to provide, in order of preference, the university choices, as well as any possession of an English language certificate (the certificate is not mandatory to upload on Universitaly).

Other Important Dates

The most important date is the application date, since if you miss this you will be excluded from the exam. Make sure to apply early in case there is a shortage of space! Here are some other important dates…

• Release date of candidates’ scores: October 26
• Publication date of each candidate’s record: October 31
• Ranking release date: November 7

IMAT 2023 Format 

As usual, there are 60 questions in the IMAT this year, where a correct answer results in +1.5 points, an incorrect answer results in -0.4 points, and no answer results in 0 points. There are 100 minutes to complete the test. This is the same general format as before. However, the allocation of the questions based on the sections of the IMAT has changed a bit…

– four (4) questions about reading skills and knowledge acquired during study

– five (5) questions of logical reasoning and problem solving

– twenty -three (23) biology questions

– fifteen (15) chemistry questions

– Thirteen (13) physics and mathematics questions

As usual, biology and chemistry are the most important topics, these are what you should have put most of your focus on anyway, so this should not come as too big of a surprise. Logical reasoning and problem solving remain the same as last year, with 5 questions. 

There is a slight increase in physics and math, with 13 questions instead of 10 as compared to the IMAT 2022. If you previously considered skipping physics, this may impact your decision to do so, since physics will likely account for 6 to 7 questions. If you feel that it is too late to learn the entire subject from scratch at this point, you can focus on certain topics in physics and skip others, since the IMAT generally does not ask more than 1 or 2 questions on a certain topic, especially when there are not that many questions allocated to physics. 

No More General Knowledge and Critical Thinking?

The biggest change regards general knowledge and critical thinking, which have been replaced by a section that tests you on both your ability to understand texts and general knowledge. This is of course frustrating for many since we do not have any past IMAT questions on this section. However, the skills you acquired from Critical Thinking, and the knowledge you gained from studying General Knowledge will definitely help you in this section. However, I advise you to not spend too much time on these former sections, since the new section is only 4 marks. 

Here is what has been officially mentioned about this section…

“The ability to understand texts written in English of different nature and with different communicative purposes constitutes a transversal competence, given that all types of questions will be formulated in English, using even sometimes symbolic language. The following capacities will also be subject to specific verification:

• understand abstract, uncommon or specialized vocabulary in real contexts;
• identify the phenomena of textual cohesion and coherence;
• extract and infer specific information from the text.

These skills will be verified starting from short texts of scientific essays or classic and contemporary fiction, or from short current affairs texts published in newspapers and generalist or specialized magazines.

Always starting from short texts of various types and themes, the skills acquired in previous studies and the knowledge of general culture, including supranational ones or topics subject to contemporary public debate, will be tested. In particular, the questions will aim to ascertain:

• the ability to orient oneself in the space and time represented, or to place relevant historical-cultural phenomena in space and time;
• knowledge of the main national and international institutions;
• the comprehension of phenomena related to the judicial, economic and citizenship fields.”

What does this mean? Basically, a short text will be presented, where you will require use of English proficiency, textual analysis and general knowledge to answer the question. It can thus be considered a mix of the two former sections General Knowledge, Critical Thinking as well as the addition of English vocabulary and text analysis. 

IMAT 2023 Test Centres 

The IMAT test centers 2023 have remained international, with the following countries available…

• Azerbaijan: Baku
• Brazil: Sao Paolo
• Canada: Toronto
• China: Beijing
• Cyprus: Nicosia
• France: Paris
• Germany: Frankfurt
• Germany: Munich
• Greece: Athens
• Hong Kong
• India: New Delhi
• Italy: Bari -Università degli Studi di Bari
• Italy: Milan: Università degli Studi di Milano
• Italy: Milan: Università degli Studi Milano – Bicocca
• Italy: Rome: Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”
• Italy Rome: Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”
• Italy Naples: Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
• Italy Naples: Università di Napoli Federico II
• Italy Bologna: Università di Bologna
• Italy Turin: Università degli Studi di Torino
• *Italy Catania: Università degli Studi di Catania
• Italy Pavia: Università degli Studi di Pavia
• Italy Parma: Università degli Studi di PARMA
• Italy Siena: Università degli Studi di Siena
• Italy Messina: Università degli Studi di Messina
• Italy Padova: Università degli Studi di Padova
• Italy Ancona: Politecnica delle Marche
• Pakistan: Lahore
• Poland: Warsaw
• Saudi Arabia: Jeddah
• South Africa: Johannesburg
• Spain: Madrid
• Switzerland Zurich
• Turkey: Ankara
• Turkey: Instanbul
• UAE: Dubai
• UK: London
• USA: New York

*In the accreditation phase

IMAT 2023 Syllabus

The syllabus is finally released, and thankfully there have been no changes to the science sections. As mentioned previously, general knowledge and critical thinking have been removed and a new section that combines the two (but in a different format than before) has been announced for 2023. This is the only major change to the syllabus. 

Official Information

You can find the official documents relating to this information here, which you are recommended to read.

https://www.mur.gov.it/it/atti-e-normativa/decreto-ministeriale-n-1082-del-7-08-2023