Test Prep
CEnT-S or IMAT: Which Test Do You Actually Need?
You have decided you want to study in Italy, in English, and you have heard that there is an entrance test involved. Then you go looking for details and suddenly there are two acronyms staring back at you: IMAT and CEnT-S. Forums say different things. University websites are sometimes vague. And the last thing you need, months out from a high-stakes decision, is to prepare for the wrong exam.
This article untangles the confusion. It explains what each test is, why both exist, what each one looks like on the day, and — most importantly — how to find the authoritative answer for whichever programme you are actually targeting.
Why There Are Two Tests at All
The short version: the two tests serve different purposes and were created by different bodies.
IMAT — the International Medical Admissions Test — was designed specifically for entry into medicine and surgery programmes taught in English at Italian public universities. For years it was the only name international students needed to worry about if they wanted an English-taught degree in Italy. It became strongly associated with medical school, and for good reason: that is exactly what it was built for.
CEnT-S is a newer arrival. It stands for the English-language version of the CEnT family of admission tests administered by CISIA, the Italian consortium that manages standardised university entrance assessments across a wide range of faculties. Where IMAT covers medicine specifically, CEnT-S was developed to serve the growing number of English-taught programmes across other disciplines — engineering, architecture, science, and beyond — that needed a rigorous, standardised admissions instrument in English.
The simplest way to remember the distinction: IMAT is the gate for English-taught medicine in Italy. CEnT-S is the gate for most other English-taught degree programmes at Italian universities that use CISIA testing.
That said, the word "most" is doing real work in that sentence, which brings us to the most important point in this entire article.
The Only Answer That Actually Counts
No blog, forum thread, or well-meaning peer group chat can tell you with certainty which test you need for a specific programme at a specific university in a specific year. The only reliable source is the university's own official admission announcement, sometimes called the bando or avviso di selezione, published for the academic year you intend to enrol.
Universities in Italy have a degree of autonomy in how they structure admissions for their English-taught programmes. Some may use IMAT. Some may use CEnT-S. Some may use both for different programmes. Some may use neither, relying instead on their own internal selection process or portfolios. Requirements can also change from one year to the next.
Finding the right document is not complicated once you know where to look:
- Go directly to the official website of the university you are targeting. Not a ranking site, not an aggregator — the university's own domain.
- Navigate to the admissions or international students section.
- Search for the admission announcement or bando for the specific degree programme and the academic year you are applying for.
- If the document is in Italian, use a reliable translation tool or ask for help — but always refer back to the original, since translations can miss nuance in official requirements.
- If you cannot find the document or it has not yet been published for your intake year, contact the university's international admissions office directly. Most have dedicated email contacts and many have online enquiry forms.
The programme page itself will often name the required test explicitly. If it does not, treat that as a signal to contact the university rather than to assume.
What IMAT Actually Looks Like
IMAT has 60 questions and runs for 100 minutes. The content reflects what medicine programmes need: a strong grounding in the natural sciences, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension. The test has historically been managed in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing, though you should verify current administrative arrangements directly with the relevant authority, as these details can change.
Because IMAT is purpose-built for medicine, the science content is weighted toward biology and chemistry alongside physics, and the reasoning sections are designed to reflect the kind of analytical thinking required in clinical education. The scoring system uses a positive mark for correct answers and a penalty for incorrect ones, so blind guessing is not a sound strategy.
Preparation for IMAT rewards a systematic approach: mastering the science content first, then drilling past papers under timed conditions. The 100-minute window for 60 questions sounds generous until you are in the room and the clock is running.
For a full breakdown of the IMAT structure, scoring, and preparation strategy, visit the IMAT guide on AxoPrep.
What CEnT-S Actually Looks Like
CEnT-S has 55 questions and allows up to 110 minutes, giving candidates slightly more time per question on average. The test is divided into five sections:
- Mathematics
- Reasoning on texts and data
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
The breadth of CEnT-S reflects its broader audience. Because it needs to serve programmes across science and engineering as well as other fields, it covers more disciplinary ground than IMAT. A student applying to an English-taught engineering programme, for example, will want to be especially strong in mathematics and physics. Someone applying to a life sciences programme might lean more heavily into biology and chemistry preparation. But the test is taken in full by all candidates regardless of their target programme — there is no option to skip sections.
The five-section structure also means CEnT-S rewards candidates who have maintained a genuinely broad science curriculum, rather than those who have specialised narrowly early on. If your secondary education covered mathematics, the sciences, and analytical reading in English, you are building on a solid foundation.
For a detailed look at the CEnT-S format and how to prepare, visit the CEnT-S guide on AxoPrep.
Common Points of Confusion
"Can I just take both to cover my bases?"
In theory, you can prepare for elements of both, since the content overlaps substantially. Both tests cover biology, chemistry, and physics. Both reward logical reasoning. The structural differences — number of questions, time limits, section weighting — mean that timed practice needs to be test-specific, but core subject knowledge transfers.
Whether you can or should register for both on the same cycle depends entirely on the programmes you are applying to and the logistics of test dates. Check whether the dates conflict and whether your target universities require a specific one before investing registration fees in both.
"My target university says it uses CISIA. Does that mean CEnT-S?"
Not necessarily. CISIA administers several tests across its portfolio, and different universities use different ones. CEnT-S is CISIA's English-language offering, but a CISIA test is not automatically CEnT-S. Always confirm which specific CISIA test is required by reading the programme's admission announcement directly.
"I am applying to medicine but the university is not on the IMAT list. What do I use?"
Some medical programmes in Italy, including certain private universities and some programmes that have launched more recently, may use their own admissions processes or different standardised tests rather than IMAT. Again: the admission announcement for your programme is the only document that answers this question definitively.
"The test requirement changed from last year. Which version do I trust?"
Always trust the most recently published official announcement for your intake year. Do not rely on what a programme required in a previous year, and be careful with secondhand information from students who applied in earlier cycles. Italy's higher education landscape for international students has been evolving, and requirements that were accurate eighteen months ago may no longer apply.
How Preparation Differs in Practice
Once you know which test you need, the preparation logic is fairly straightforward, but the framing matters.
For IMAT, the tight time window relative to the number of questions means speed and accuracy are both critical. Science content is non-negotiable — you cannot reason your way through biology questions you have not studied. The penalty marking system rewards careful, selective answering over guessing. Most successful candidates spend several months on structured content review before shifting to intensive past-paper practice.
For CEnT-S, the broader content scope means candidates need to audit honestly where their weaknesses are across all five sections. The additional time per question provides slightly more room to think, but that is not a substitute for content knowledge in mathematics or the sciences. Because CEnT-S is newer than IMAT, the pool of available past papers may be smaller, which makes working through the CISIA's official practice materials especially important.
In both cases, working in English is part of the challenge. If English is not your first language, allocating time to reading speed and comprehension in English — particularly reading scientific texts quickly and accurately — is an investment that pays off across both tests.
What This Means for Your Application Timeline
The test is only one part of an Italian university application. Most programmes also require certified transcripts, language proficiency evidence, passport documentation, and for international students outside the EU, coordination through the Italian consular pre-enrolment process. Check current requirements for your nationality and programme directly with both the university and the relevant Italian consulate or embassy, since procedures and timelines are updated regularly.
The practical implication: do not leave test identification to the last moment. You want to know which test you are sitting well before registration opens, so that preparation time is not wasted on the wrong material.
A Note on Researching This Year's Requirements
Information about Italian university admissions that you find on third-party websites, including this one, is written to be as accurate and durable as possible, but it cannot substitute for official sources. Admission processes change. Test formats evolve. Programme structures are updated. Fees, deadlines, quotas, and visa requirements are all subject to change from one academic year to the next, and the current figures for any of these are ones you should verify directly with the university and the relevant authorities.
The sequence that protects you: identify your target programmes first, locate the official admission announcement for your intake year, confirm the required test, and then build your preparation plan around that confirmed information.
Choosing the Right Support
Navigating two overlapping but distinct test systems, across universities with varying processes, in a country where official documents may be in Italian, is genuinely complex. Many students find that a structured preparation programme alongside knowledgeable advising makes the process significantly less stressful and more efficient.
If you are unsure which test applies to your situation, want help interpreting an admission announcement, or are trying to build a preparation plan that fits your timeline, the advisors at AxoPrep and our Atlas platform are available to help. Reach out for a free conversation — no pressure, no commitment, just a clear-eyed look at your options and a plan you can actually act on.
