The 2023 IMAT exam will be held on the 17th of October. We have previously detailed everything you need to know about the 2023 IMAT exam in another article including how to register, and test centres. In this article we will take an in-depth look at the exam itself and it’s detailed syllabus.
The original syllabus as released by MUR can be found here.Â
General Guidelines for IMAT
The IMAT includes 60 questions, each with five possible answers. The admission test takes place over a total of 100 minutes during which candidates must select only 1 correct option. The breakdown of the exam subjects and number of questions are:
- Four questions of reading skills and general knowledge questions
- Five logical reasoning questions and problems
- Twenty-three biology questions
- Fifteen chemistry questions
- Thirteen physics and mathematics questions
AÂ maximum of 90 points is awarded, taking into account the following criteria:
- 1.5 points for each correct answer
- Minus 0.4 (- 0.4) points for each wrong answer
- 0 points for each omitted answer
Breakdown of scoring in the IMAT
Regarding the students from EU and “non-EU countries residing in Italy”, only those who have a score of 20 or more will appear in the ranking. Whereas, for the students residing abroad, a score of 0 will be enough to enter the ranking. It is important to understand how the IMAT ranking and scrolling works.
If there is a tie in the IMAT scores, the ranking order will be determined by the following:
- The scores in the following areas, in this order: biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, logical reasoning, problem-solving, reading skills, and knowledge gained in studies.
- Language Certification
- Disability Certification
- Age (younger candidate higher)
Detailed IMAT Syllabus (2023)
There are the topics and necessary skills listed for each discipline in the official attachment of the degree, translated into English.Â
Reading Skills and General Knowledge
The ability to understand written English texts of various kinds and for different communication purposes is an essential skill for this test. This is because all the questions, including those that use symbolic language, will be presented in English. In other words, no matter the nature or intent of the questions, they will all require a good understanding of English to answer.
The following skills will also be specifically tested:
- Understanding abstract, uncommon or specialized vocabulary in real contexts
- Identifying the phenomena of textual cohesion and coherence
- Extracting and inferring informative specificities from the text.
These skills will be tested from short texts of scientific nonfiction or classic and contemporary fiction, or short texts of current events published in newspapers and general or specialized magazines.
It will include questions based on short texts covering a wide range of types and themes. These questions will assess skills and knowledge gained from previous studies and general cultural awareness, including topics of international importance or subjects currently debated in public. Specifically, the questions will be designed to determine the following:
- The ability to orient oneself in represented space and time, that is, to place relevant historical and cultural phenomena in space and time
- Knowledge of major national and international institutions
- The understanding of phenomena pertaining to the fields of law, economics and citizenship.
Logical Reasoning
These questions are made to check how well you can finish a logical argument based on given statements. These statements might be expressed in symbols or words, and they might present abstract problems or scenarios. To solve them, you’ll need to use various types of logical thinking.
Biology
- The chemistry of the living.
- The biological importance of weak interactions.
- Organic molecules found in organisms and their respective functions. The role of enzymes.
- The cell as the basis of life. Cell theory. Cellular dimensions. The prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell, animal and plant. Viruses.
- The cell membrane: structure and functions; transport across the membrane. Cellular structures and their specific functions.
- Cell cycle and cell reproduction: mitosis and meiosis-chromosome kit and chromosome maps.
- Reproduction and heredity. Life cycles. Sexual and asexual reproduction.
- Mendelian genetics: Mendel’s laws and their applications. Classical genetics: chromosomal theory of inheritance – patterns of inheritance. Molecular genetics: structure and duplication of DNA, the genetic code, protein synthesis. DNA of prokaryotes. The structure of the eukaryotic chromosome. Genes and the regulation of gene expression. Human genetics: mono- and polyfactorial character transmission; autosomal and X-chromosome-related inherited diseases.
- Mutations. Natural and artificial selection. Evolutionary theories. The genetic basis of evolution. Heredity and environment.
- Biotechnology: recombinant DNA technology and its applications.
- Anatomy and Physiology of animals and humans. Animal tissues. Anatomy and physiology of systems and apparatuses in humans and their interactions. Homeostasis.
- Bioenergetics. The energy currency of cells: ATP. Oxidation-reduction reactions in living things. Energy processes: photosynthesis, glycolysis, aerobic respiration and fermentation.
Chemistry
- The constitution of matter: the states of aggregation of matter; heterogeneous systems and homogeneous systems; compounds and elements.
- Laws of perfect gases.
- The structure of the atom: elementary particles; atomic number and mass number, isotopes, electronic structure of atoms of various elements.
- The periodic system of elements: groups and periods; transition elements. Periodic properties of the elements: atomic radius, ionization potential, electronic affinity, metallic character. Relationships between electronic structure, position in the periodic system and properties of the elements.
- The chemical bond: ionic bond, covalent bond and metallic bond. Bond energy. Polarity of the bonds. Electronegativity. Intermolecular bonds.
- Fundamentals of inorganic chemistry: nomenclature and main properties of inorganic compounds: oxides, hydroxides, acids, salts.
- Chemical reactions and stoichiometry: atomic and molecular mass, Avogadro’s number, mole concept and its application, elementary stoichiometric calculations, balancing simple reactions, the different types of chemical reactions.
- Solutions: solvent properties of water, solubility, the main ways of expressing the concentration of solutions.
- Equilibria in aqueous solution.
- Elements of chemical kinetics and catalysis.
- Oxidation and reduction: oxidation number, concept of oxidant and reductant. Balancing of simple reactions.
- Acids and bases: the concept of acid and base. Acidity, neutrality and basicity of aqueous solutions. pH. Hydrolysis. Buffer solutions.
- Fundamentals of organic chemistry: bonds between carbon atoms, crude and structure formulas, concept of isomeria. Aliphatic, alicyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Functional groups: alcohols, ethers, amines, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, amides. Elements of nomenclature.
Physics
- Physical quantities and their measurement: Fundamental and derived physical quantities. Systems of units of measurement: International and Technical. Multiples and submultiples. Scientific notation. Main conversions between units of measurement of different systems. Scalar quantities and vector quantities. Vectors and operations on vectors.
- Kinematics: Description of motion. Velocity and angular velocity, acceleration and centripetal acceleration. Uniform rectilinear motion, uniformly accelerated motion, uniform circular motion, harmonic motion.
- Dynamics: Concept of force as interaction between bodies. Forces as applied vectors. The principle of inertia. Mass and the 2nd principle of dynamics. Examples of forces: weight force, elastic force, static and dynamic friction. Action and reaction: the 3rd principle of dynamics. Impulse and momentum. Principle of conservation of momentum. Momentum of a force and angular momentum. Work and kinetic energy. Conservative forces and potential energy. Principle of conservation of mechanical energy. Power.
- Fluid mechanics: Density and compressibility of fluids. Gases and liquids. Hydrostatics: pressure and principles of Pascal, Stevin and Archimedes. Fluid dynamics: one-dimensional motion, flow and flow rate, continuity equation. Ideal fluids and Bernoulli’s equation. Viscous forces in real fluids.
- Thermodynamics: Equilibrium, concept of temperature, thermometers. Concept of heat and calorimetry. Modes of heat propagation. Heat capacity and specific heat. Changes of state and latent heats. Laws of perfect gases. First and second principles of thermodynamics.
- Electricity and electromagnetism: Electric charges. Forces between charges and Coulomb’s law. Electric field and potential, equipotential surfaces. Dielectric constant, capacitance, capacitors. Electrostatic energy. Series and parallel of capacitors. Generators. Electric voltage. Electric current. Resistivity, resistance, resistors. Ohm’s law. Series and parallel of resistors. Kirchhoff’s principles. Work, Power, Joule effect. Direct and alternating current. Period and frequency. Magnetic field of an electric current. Forces on electric currents in a magnetic field. Electromagnetic induction.
Mathematics
- Number sets and algebra: natural, integer, rational, real numbers. Sorting and comparison; order of magnitude and scientific notation. Operations and their properties. Proportions and percentages. Powers with integer, rational exponent) and their properties. Radicals and their properties. Logarithms (in base 10 and base e) and their properties. Hints of combinatorial calculus. Algebraic expressions, polynomials. Notable products, n-th power of a binomial, factor decomposition of polynomials. Algebraic fractions. Algebraic equations and inequalities of first and second degree. Systems of equations.
- Functions: fundamentals of functions and their graphical representations (domain, codomain, sign study, continuity, maxima and minima, increasing and decreasing, etc.). Elementary functions: whole and integer algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, goniometric. Compound functions and inverse functions. Goniometric equations and inequalities.
- Geometry: polygons and their properties. Circumference and circle. Measurements of lengths, surfaces and volumes. Isometries, similarities and equivalences in the plane. Geometric places. Measurement of angles in degrees and radians. Sine, cosine, tangent of an angle and their notable values. Goniometric formulas. Resolution of triangles. Cartesian reference system in the plane. Distance of two points and midpoint of a segment. Equation of the line. Conditions of parallelism and perpendicularity. Distance of a point from a line. Equation of the circumference, parabola, hyperbola, ellipse and their representation in the Cartesian plane. Pythagorean theorem. Euclid’s theorems (first and second).
- Probability and statistics: frequency distributions according to character type and main graphical representations. Notion of random experiment and event. Probability and frequency.
Further Preparation for Exam day
We recommend reading our other articles on the IMAT exam to understand other details such as scrolling, how to apply, and access to past exams. There is also a playlist on our youtube channel about medicine in Italy that has information about the IMAT timeline, as well as other preparation tips.Â
22 thoughts on “2023 IMAT Exam – Detailed Syllabus Breakdown”
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Hi
Do you provide preparation classes for IMAT 2024?
Regards
Khurram
Not yet! I recommend using free resources such as coursera, edx, youtube, etc. we just recently wrote an article about it 🙂
If I was born ion Italy went to africa when I was 13 years and returned July of last year aged 20 and have a soggiorno of 1 year 1 month and still not a eu citizen but a Ghanaian citizen do I need to still pre unroll as a non eu student or I am seen as a eu student?
If you have a valid permesso for at least 1 year you are considered EU.
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Can you please rate the difficulty level of IMAT out of 10?
5/10
Hi if I don’t do physics for my leaving cert will I be able to learn this for the imat, and should I prioritize studying for the imat ahead of the leaving cert?
It’s doable but definitely a lot harder
Hi, did you do three sciences for yours? I checked the leaving cert syllabus and the imats and very few chapters from imat are on the leaving cert.
There were very small gaps in chemistry from what I remember and I just used A level books to bridge the gaps.
Hi
If i have permesso di soggiorno. Whats the process of imat for me?
Regards
Rafiath
Depending on how long you’ve had it, you can be considered EU by most of the universities, do you would just register for the IMAT!
Hello! Will the syllabus remain the same this year or will it change? If yes, then how much could it vary this year?
Usually it doesn’t change much from year to year, but it’s impossible to tell until the test specifications are officially released, which is usually around late April. I can’t imagine this year it’s going to change much either 🙂
The annual examination for 2nd-year FSc students in Pakistan is scheduled for next month, April 2024. The result of this examination will probably be announced in late July. If the date for pre-enrollment is announced during this period, then students of part 2nd can apply with a hope letter or through other means.
You can do pre-enrollment with a “predicted results” or letter from the president of your school saying that the results are not out yet, but will be by X date.
What is the typical pre-enrollment period for IMAT?
It’s actually open now, and usually closes around mid summer, but you should check with the university that is your first choice 🙂
Is 6 months enough to prepare for IMAT. Note that I have a pretty good knowledge of biology and can say decent if not good for chemistry and physics.
If you are an efficient studier it’s more than enough.