Need Help?
We receive a lot of questions from applicants regarding the IMAT Test.
Below are some of the questions that have been sent to us. Feel free to send us your own!
The IMAT (International Medical Admissions Test) is the official entrance exam used by public English-taught medical programmes in Italy. It assesses applicants on scientific knowledge, critical reasoning, problem solving and general aptitude. This page answers the most common questions about the IMAT test, including what it is, how it works, how to prepare, eligibility requirements and scoring.
For a full breakdown of the IMAT exam format, scoring system, and preparation strategy, see the complete IMAT 2026 guide to studying medicine in Italy.
To understand what topics are assessed, see the full IMAT 2026 syllabus.
The IMAT (International Medical Admissions Test) is the official entrance exam used for admission to English-taught medical degrees in public universities in Italy. Often referred to as the “IMAT test Italy”, it is required for courses such as Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, and some medical technology programmes.
The IMAT is a standardised, multiple-choice exam that assesses a student’s knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and logical reasoning. Unlike many other countries, admission to medical school in Italy is based almost entirely on your IMAT score, rather than interviews, personal statements, or extracurricular activities.
The test is used by a number of highly ranked Italian universities, including institutions in cities such as Milan, Rome, and Pavia. It is also used for select international programmes, including the Albanian campus of the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Because places are limited and competition is high, achieving a strong IMAT score is essential for securing admission to a medical degree in Italy.
It also serves as the entry test for dentistry, veterinary and med-tech studies at certain public universities in Italy, as well as medicine and surgery in the Albanian campus of one Italian university (Tor Vergata).
For a full breakdown of the exam format, syllabus, and how to prepare, see the complete IMAT 2026 guide to studying medicine in Italy.
The official IMAT 2026 exam date has not yet been announced by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). The exam date is typically confirmed a few months before the test takes place.
In recent years, the IMAT has usually been held in September, so a similar timeframe is expected for the 2026 exam. However, students should wait for official confirmation before making any travel or application arrangements.
It is important to monitor updates regularly, as registration deadlines and key dates are released alongside the official exam date. Preparing early is recommended, as competition for IMAT places continues to increase each year.
For the latest updates, registration timelines, and preparation strategies, see the complete IMAT 2026 guide.
To apply to a public medical school in Italy in English you must sit the IMAT. There are no exceptions for students wishing to start in the first year of medical school.
If you are a current medical student you can apply for a transfer to an Italian public medical school without sitting the IMAT, but spaces are very limited and your prior studies will need to be equivalent to the university in question.
Recently, about 10,000-12,000 students will take the IMAT per year. However, the IMAT is growing in popularity, so you can expect this number to steadily increase.
The Italian language admission test for medicine taught in the Italian language was also recently abolished, meaning a lot of Italian candidates are now more interested in the IMAT. We can thus expect competition to increase.
The average score changes every year and is often around mid 30s to 40s, but this can change year to year. However, the average score is of little importance as your aim is not to be above average. Your aim is to exceed the cutoffs.
It is important to remember that being EU or non-EU is relevant, as EU seats are not available to non-EU students and vice versa.
The IMAT is assessed at high school level, thus is generally easier than other medical admission tests like the MCAT. It also experiences fewer applicants compared to tests like the UCAT, making it easier in that sense. If we compare it to private medical school admission tests in Europe, it is generally harder due to greater competition and the number of applicants.
This is hard to answer as what is best for you may not be best for others. Generally speaking however, the top ranked universities for medicine in Italy tend to be the northern universities and the ones in Rome such as the University of Milan, University of Padua, Sapienza University Rome, University of Milano-Bicocca and the University of Turin. These are usually the ones that receive the most interest as well, but it does not necessarily mean they are the best.
Always remember to choose the university that best matches your preferences. Students often look at university rankings, but these often mean very little at the end of the day. The city where you will live, the tuition fees, scholarship opportunities and university specifics tend to be far more impactful on your experience than the global rankings of the university.
You can take the IMAT once a year, for as many years as you like. If you fail the IMAT it will not impact you in the future year that you decide to take it.
There are no interviews or subjective assessments of your past performance. You should thus not hesitate to take the IMAT out of fear that it will impact future admission years.
The IMAT score you receive is only valid for the year you take it in. You cannot save your score and apply in the next year. You would in that case need to take the test again.
No. The IMAT can only be taken at an approved test venue.
No. The IMAT can only be taken at an approved test venue. You cannot sit the test in the Italian consulate or embassy of your home country.
The IMAT can be taken in multiple countries, including of course Italy, but also in countries located in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. If your country does not have an IMAT test venue you will need to travel to another country to sit the IMAT.
Yes. The University of Siena and the University of Rome La Sapienza offers dentistry in English, and they use the IMAT as their admission test. It works the exact same way as for medical students.
Yes. The University of Bologna offers veterinary science in English, and they use the IMAT as their admission test. It works the exact same way as for medical students.
If you are an EU candidate, you can apply for all the medical schools, dental schools and veterinary schools in one year. You will be considered for all of them. How you rank them is however important, as you cannot get an offer for a lower ranked university if you are eligible for a university that you placed higher in your preferences.
If you are a non-EU student you can only be considered for one university. This is because you can only pre-enroll to one university at a time. You may notice that when filling out the IMAT application that you can select as many universities as you want. You MUST choose the university you pre-enrolled for as your first choice!
The cost of registering for the exam is around €150. While this amount can change slightly in the future, it will not be anything considerably higher. Some universities also have a pre-application which sometimes involves a small fee of about €10.
There are also other indirect costs associated with applying to university in Italy, such as document translation and verification, the visa process and travel costs to sit the exam.
A candidate eligible for the IMAT is generally considered one that is eligible for university in their home country. Usually, you do not need any prerequisite courses, and your grades are typically not relevant. There can be exceptions to this however, depending on what country you graduated from. The USA and UK are typical examples of schooling systems where certain required subjects are needed for university studies in Italy.
You will need to have at least 12 years of schooling. For most candidates this means 12 years of high school, but if you did not complete 12 years of high school then any missing years can come from university.
If your country of schooling has a general admission test for university, this is also typically required. This is not the same as the medical admission test in your country but refers to an admission test to be eligible for university studies in general.
The tuition fees for medical school in Italy generally hover around 2000 to 6000 euros annually. However, in many cases these fees can be dropped to just a few hundred euros per year, sometimes almost zero.
Each university has its own way to calculate your fees. Some have fixed fees based on your country of residence/origin. Others let you use the ISEE to reduce your fees based on family financial status. In some cases, combinations exist.
Italian regions also offer generous scholarships that can even result in you obtaining free tuition and annual scholarship payments. These are mainly awarded based on your ISEE. Italian private medical schools have their own fees, typically between 15,000 to 22,000 euros per year.
The IMAT exam consists of 60 multiple-choice questions that must be completed within 100 minutes. Each question has five answer options, with only one correct answer.
For a full breakdown of the IMAT exam format, scoring system, and preparation strategy, see the complete IMAT 2026 guide.
The exam is divided into several subject areas, including logical reasoning, biology, chemistry, and physics and mathematics. In recent exams, biology has made up the largest portion of the test, followed by chemistry and logical reasoning.
Each correct answer is worth 1.5 points, while incorrect answers receive a penalty of -0.4 points. Unanswered questions receive 0 points. This scoring system means that accuracy is just as important as speed when taking the IMAT.
Although the exact distribution of questions can vary slightly each year, the overall format of the IMAT exam has remained consistent, making past papers a reliable guide for preparation.
The IMAT exam is considered challenging, both in terms of content and competition. The questions are based on high school-level subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and logical reasoning, but the exam is taken under strict time pressure and without aids like calculators or formula sheets.
In addition to the difficulty of the questions, the IMAT is competitive. In recent years, approximately 10,000–12,000 students sit the exam for around 1,500 places in English-taught medical programmes in Italy. This means that simply passing is not enough — you need to achieve a high score relative to other candidates.
Difficulty can vary slightly from year to year depending on the exam paper, but competition has generally increased as more international students apply. Success in the IMAT therefore depends not only on understanding the syllabus, but also on strong exam strategy, time management, and consistent practice.
The lowest IMAT cut off score for each university changes every year and depends on whether you come from an EU country or not.
In the past during the Cambridge era of the IMAT, cutoffs were generally in the 40+ range for EU students, and 50+ for non-EU. Recently cut off scores have increased, but each university has its own cutoff and it is not possible to give a minimum score in advance.
The difficulty of the exam also plays a role. Easier test papers have sometimes resulted in 70+ cutoffs for certain universities for non-EU candidates.
Med school anywhere is hard. There is a lot of content that you need to learn, so you will need to dedicate a lot of time to study. However, compared to most countries Italian med school is probably less stressful. This is because you can retake exams as many times as you want. You are generally not given homework or assignments that you are graded on either. This allows for a great deal of flexibility compared to other systems around the world.
The maximum score is 90 since there are 60 questions worth 1.5 points each. However, you will get -0.4 if you answer a question incorrectly. You will get 0 if you do not answer a question.
Generally speaking, you should strive for a 60+ or higher as an EU or 70+ as a non-EU. Your choice of university is however relevant to the score. More competitive universities can require higher scores and likewise less competitive universities can require lower scores.
You should spend about 3-6 months studying biology, chemistry, math and physics, depending on how much experience you have with these subjects. IMAT Buddy offers a complete course that will prepare you for this, but you are of course free to use other materials. The ideal student will study everything in the syllabus, but it is very common to run short on time as the syllabus is vast. Make sure in this case to focus on the high yield topics for each section.
Simulators will also help you since they are similar to the IMAT and provide a realistic simulation of the test day experience. Quizzes and practice questions are of course also essential.
Closer towards the end of the exam you should attempt past IMAT papers. These should be done with pen and paper to best simulate the test day.
The minimum study time in our opinion is 3 months full time before the test. However, if you do not have a science background in high school it is recommended you study 4 to 6 months full time. If you have other commitments and need to study part time this will of course make the study time longer.
The IMAT can only be taken in English, thus you will need to be comfortable with the English language. A B2 is sometimes required by some universities as well, which can be proven by an English language certificate such as TOEFL, IELTS or similar qualifications. If you studied in an English speaking school these certificates are not required.
No Italian language competency is needed to take the IMAT or commence medical school via the IMAT. You will ideally learn Italian during your medical studies, so that you can speak with patients during your clinical rotations. You will have about 2-3 years to learn this before you start your rotations.
Immediately after the IMAT they generally release a copy of the test where all the correct options in the multiple choice questions are A. That means if you remember what you answered you can work out your score. A few weeks later the official results come out and you start being ranked. If given an offer, you need to accept it within 4 days. You will then enrol into your chosen university.
It is thus vital you are alert after the IMAT. Enrolment deadlines are very strict. After enrolment, you will also need to make sure you prepare for other things like the visa process in the case of non-EU candidates.
Your Italian MBBS is not just restricted to Italy. It will be accepted throughout the EU, USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and many other countries. The degree might need to undergo verification depending on where you wish to work.
Each country has its own requirements for residency, some requiring additional admission tests (such as the USMLE in the USA). You might thus have to prepare for these requirements before you graduate.
Exactly how the admission process works in these countries for graduates with international degrees may vary. Keep in mind that how things work in other countries can change, so always check with that country's relevant institution.
Your degree is also of course valid in Italy and a major reason for the offering of English taught medical degrees is to attract foreign future doctors to Italy.
While Italy has many benefits regarding cost and quality of education, it may not be for everyone. It will be a very new environment for international students, so you need to be ok with leaving your family and friends. You will also need to learn Italian by the start of the 3rd/4th year of university so you can talk with patients and get the most from your practical experiences. There are of course culture shocks as well that may be daunting. Overall, however, Italy is fantastic for most international students.
Failing the IMAT means you did not score high enough to secure an offer. This means you cannot start medical school for that year. However, there is no restriction on taking the IMAT again, your past scores do not prevent you from trying again next year.
If you do not pass the IMAT, you can of course try again next year. You could alternatively apply for private medical schools in Italy, which are generally less competitive. These universities have higher tuition fees which is the main drawback.
There are of course also other medical schools around the world you can apply to, with popular options for international students being in Poland, Bulgaria, Georgia to name a few.
