AcadIMAT

Is the 2025 IMAT Cancelled? The Truth Behind the Rumours

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 16:13:33 +0000

There has been a rumour circulating in the “medicine in Italy” circles that the Ministry of Education (MUR) will be canceling the IMAT exam starting from 2025 and onwards. Websites that only care about clicks, desperately trying to promote their mediocre IMAT courses, have used poorly written ChatGPT articles to misrepresent the situation and spread panic among hopeful students. In this article, we will summarise everything in a sourced and objective manner, as well as share our opinions on whether students need to be worried or not. We have read and translated every proposal and official Senate document to present the information as transparently as possible, and have linked our sources so you can follow along.

How did it all start?

On October 17 2023, a proposal was submitted to abolish the “closed number of seats” in medicine and other healthcare related courses. In this context, a closed programme means a preset number of seats available to study medicine at each university, locked behind an admission exam (ie – the TOLC MED exam), with the top-scoring X number of students securing these restricted spots.

Up until January 2024, other sets of laws were proposed to be changed to accommodate the proposed change for the restricted number of seats, adopting a system more similar to the French medical admission system. Under this system, the first semester of medicine would be open access to any student wishing to enroll into medicine, followed by a process that filters a certain number of students to continue into the second semester, effectively reintroducing “restricted access” in the progression of completing a medical degree. Despite concerns from physician associations and educators, the proposal has been amended multiple times and continues to move through the approval process to become an official reform.

To make it clear, as of November 4th when this article is being written, this proposal has still not been completely approved to be officially presented to either the Chamber of Senate or the Chamber of Deputies. Even if the proposal is approved to be presented, it would still need to be accepted by both chambers via a vote (without any requested modifications or contests), after which it must be sent to the President for approval and signature, with again no requests for modifications.

As of right now, while this proposal is gaining significant traction and receiving approval in certain commissions with suggested modifications, there is still not 100% certainty that the medical entrance exam will be cancelled. It has not yet been officially presented to the chambers and is still subject to many processes for approval, including a vote and the final presidential signature.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

Nowhere in any of the documentation or interviews with politicians is there any mention of the international medical course conducted in English or the IMAT exam. There are only references to the Italian programme so far, and while we could assume that it might also apply to the English course as the laws that govern Italian courses are meant to be applied to English courses, it’s important to understand what they’re actually proposing before we start panicking.

What are the key points from this proposal?

The proposal is actually quite complex and can be considered more of a reform across the entire healthcare education system in Italy, and not just about the cancellation of the medical admission exam. First, let’s briefly summarise each important and relevant point to understand what the proposal is actually suggesting. Afterwards, we can dissect and better understand it. We have downloaded the proposal in its most current state, pending approval from the 7th Commission, and created a version translated with Google Translate if you prefer to read the original version, which you can find here.

Registration for the first semester of medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine courses will be open access.
Criteria for sustainability will be established, and all universities must declare the maximum number of students they can realistically support.
Key common subjects that must be taught in the first semester of all courses in the biomedical, health, pharmaceutical, and veterinary fields will be identified. These courses will have consistent and coordinated subjects, and their study plans will be aligned. A standardized total number of university credits (CFU) will be set at the national level.
Admission to the second semester of medicine will require students to:
- Complete all university credits (CFU) set for the first-semester exams (as outlined in the previous point).
- Rank highly on a national merit list.
Students who are not admitted to the second semester of medicine will still have their credits from the first semester recognised, allowing them to continue into the second semester of other courses in the related fields mentioned earlier.
- To ensure this possibility, students will dual-enroll in two different courses, one of which will be medicine and surgery. Dual enrollment will be mandatory and free. There will also be exceptions for late enrollment into other courses beyond the usual deadline, even if these courses have reached their capacity.
The teaching methods and syllabus of other courses will be restructured to align with a uniform first semester while maintaining the continuity of high-quality education.
Students will have the opportunity to participate in theoretical-practical training under the supervision of tutors. These tutors will be senior medical and healthcare workers in university and non-university hospitals and facilities, public and private accredited institutions, and Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalisation, and Healthcare (IRCCS).
Internship pathways will be introduced for high school students to spark interest in the field of medicine. However, these pathways will be structured in a way that does not give students an unfair advantage.

Note: Additional points in the original document address topics related to Italy’s National Healthcare System (SSN), including discussions on post-graduation placements and sustainability as well as points on the financing and budgeting of these changes. As these are less relevant to the admissions exam discussion, we have not expanded on them here. The full document, linked above, contains all the details.

What does this realistically look like?

Instead of holding an admission exam before the start of university, a national exam will still take place but only after the first semester. This exam will be available ONLY to students who have successfully passed all the first-semester exams. If a student fails the admission exam, their time will not have been wasted, as they can continue their studies in any of the aforementioned related fields (or their other dual enrolled course).

Let’s reconstruct the proposal with a timeline

By June 30th, students must submit a specific application to the university of their choice to DUAL-ENROLL in both a medicine course and an alternative course, such as Biotechnology (L-2) or Motor Sciences (L-22).
Classes will be conducted from September 1st until December 15th.
- Universities can determine the delivery method for courses. Lectures may be conducted remotely, except for human anatomy exercises, which must be carried out in person in groups. Traditional universities may collaborate with online universities for remote learning options.
The following subjects must be taught during the semester:
- Medical Physics
- Elements of Cellular and Genetic Biology
- Principles of Human Anatomy
In December, enrolled students must complete and pass exams for all of the subjects, earning the following CFU credits:
- Integrated exam in biology (BIO/13) = 8 CFU
- Medical physics (FIS/07) = 7 CFU
  - Strangely including a mandatory, anonymous psycho-aptitude self-assessment test, which is not graded of part of the final evaluation.
- Human Anatomy 1 (BIO/16) = 15 CFU
Students who have passed all of the aforementioned exams are eligible to participate in the National Entrance Exam for Medicine Degree Courses (LM-41), held in January across all universities.
- Students can select a preferred university location in addition to their currently enrolled university.
- MUR MUST establish the date, time, and content of the written test for the LM-41 degree course by December 15th at the latest.
- The exam will be standardised nationally across all universities and consist of multiple-choice questions based on the subjects taught during the first semester..
Students who are in a high enough position in the national ranking may proceed with the 2nd semester of the LM-41 degree course (medicine).
- Students who do not qualify or achieve a high enough ranking may continue into the second semester of their alternative degree course (e.g., Biotechnology L-2 or Motor Sciences L-22).

What will a 2025 Admission Exam look like?

There are currently no confirmed details or even official suggestions in the proposals being debated in the Senate regarding the exam. However, the CRUI (Conference of Italian University Rectors), an organisation composed of presidents from universities across Italy, have gathered to discuss what the national exam might entail. After a significant amount of research and reviewing their actual proposal, we can confidently highlight that websites sharing details of this conference as if it is a concrete plan for the exam is absolutely laughable and pathetic.

To put it simply (you can access the original document here), the CRUI’s proposal seems to be more of a counterproposal to the Senate’s plans, or lets say a better laid out plan that aligns with the wishes of the senate proposal. It outlines how they believe a reform of healthcare education should look, aligning with many of the ideas present in the Senate’s proposal. However, it’s important to emphasise that these details remain entirely speculative. This was merely a hypothetical suggestion from a group of university presidents offering their recommendations on how the reform might unfold—should the proposal move forward.

According to CRUI, they propose the following improvements:

Mandatory, Free, High-Quality Online Course (January to September):
- The course would include blended modalities (online and in-person)
- Self-assessments
- Courses covering subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology
- Nationwide standardized online quizzes on these subjects, allowing students to earn credits
Standardised National Exam (Mid-September/October):
- CRUI debated the advantages and disadvantages of both September 15th and October 15th as possible dates.
- The exam would follow a similar structure as the current IMAT exam:
  - Duration: 120-150 minutes
  - Scoring: +1.5 for correct answers, -0.4 for incorrect answers, and 0 for unanswered questions
  - Question breakdown:
    - 25% Biology
    - 25% Chemistry
    - 25% Physics
    - 25% Psycho-aptitudinal questions (e.g., logical reasoning)
Pathways Based on Exam Results:
- Students who perform well on the ranking list will proceed into medicine.
- Those who do not qualify can use the credits earned from the free “pre-semester” course to enroll in other predetermined healthcare-related courses, such as:
  - Biotechnology
  - Pharmacology
  - Motor Sciences
  - Biological Sciences
  - Additional courses yet to be defined

The entire proposal is very interesting and, in our personal opinion, a much better approach than the Senate’s current framework. We really recommend you read the full proposal which we’ve translated to English using DEEPL here if you’re interested.

A Rough Timeline for the Proposal

We think it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that these changes will be able to be completed before the usual timeline for the 2025 IMAT exams. While the document includes a clause stating that they would like all of the changes to be completed within 12 months and applied to the academic year following the proposal’s acceptance, this feels ambitious, to say the least.

The clause reads (translated):

The Government is delegated to adopt, within twelve months of the date of entry into force of this law, one or more legislative decrees for the review of the methods of access to the degree courses in medicine and surgery, dentistry and dental prosthetics, and veterinary medicine, in implementation of Articles 32 and 34 of the Constitution and in compliance with the autonomy of the universities.
The provisions of this article shall take effect from the academic year following the date of entry into force of this law.

Let’s keep in mind that the proposal has not yet been officially introduced to the Senate for a vote. It is still undergoing rounds of reviews and modifications by various commissions. Each commission must agree that they have no further objections before it is sent to another chamber for approval or additional modifications.

Once it clears all these rounds and the final version is approved, it can then be presented in the Senate for a vote. If the Senate passes the proposal, it must then be sent to the president for approval. Upon the president’s approval, it must finally be published in the official gazette.

This proposal began in January 2023 and has yet to reach the stage of being approved in its final form for a vote. Considering the time needed for these approvals, votes, and final signatures, it seems unlikely that the process will conclude before 2025.

Additionally, let’s consider the massive amount of work required to implement these changes:

A complete restructuring of every healthcare course to align the first semesters uniformly.
Investigations into sustainability and the development of new infrastructure to accommodate all these students.
The establishment of a new accreditation system for dual enrollment.
The design of a syllabus that can be deployed across every university, and have the same quality of teaching to prepare students for the national exam.

While nothing is impossible, it seems highly unrealistic to expect all of this to be finalised and implemented within just seven months. Even if approved, it would be extremely difficult to meet the timeline for the 2025 intake. Realistically, the earliest feasible implementation date is likely for the 2026 academic year. It’s important to remember that this proposal isn’t solely about altering the exam structure; it involves a complete overhaul of the first semester across multiple courses nationwide, which will inevitably require significant time to achieve.

Why this proposal doesn’t make sense for the IMAT

Nowhere in the proposal is there any mention of international courses, foreign students, or the English-language exam (we searched literally 100s of pages to look). This entire system doesn’t seem feasible for the current state of international courses. Non-EU students already struggle massively with obtaining visas due to highly selective processes; we can’t imagine how much more difficult this process would be for a non-guaranteed course (ie – one that might only last a single semester). This is further complicated by the fact that the permesso di soggiorno in many cities take longer than one semester to even be issued, and when they are done so it’s for the timeframe of a year.

Given the current government’s negative stance on immigration policies, it also seems unlikely that they would make the international course open access, essentially opening the gates to any international student wishing to enroll. This would be especially problematic for those requiring visas that would potentially only cover one semester.

From a practical standpoint, supporting that many international students would also pose a significant burden on universities making it a lot less feasible, both bureaucratically and administratively. Many students also rely on scholarships to study medicine, which would bring additional complexities in providing adequate support. Most importantly, very few universities in Italy offer other English-language healthcare courses, such as Biotechnology, Nursing, or Pharmacology. As a result, there simply isn’t enough English-language options to support students who don’t qualify for medicine but might still want to continue their studies in another degree through the dual enrollment system.

When the Italian medical admission test switched to the TOLC-MED, the IMAT remained untouched. This is likely because it’s already a bureaucratic nightmare to deal with, and adapting it for English-language courses would further complicate matters. Therefore, there is a possibility that even if the Italian courses undergo changes, the IMAT might not be affected—despite the fact that any official law change for Italian courses should, in theory, also apply to English ones.

We’re not saying it’s impossible for these changes to eventually affect the IMAT. However, given the current state of affairs, it’s difficult to feel confident that this system would work for English-language courses. Additionally, the Italian government has historically shown little interest in simplifying processes for foreigners or making it easier for international students to enter the country with a study visa. Implementing such changes for the English course would be against their current (unfortunate) priorities and interests.

What are the next steps?

We have emailed members of CRUI to ask for any insights they might have into how these changes could affect the English medicine course. Unfortunately, we did not receive any informative answers, meaning they are probably just as much in the dark as the rest of us.

“Unfortunately [we] have not information yet. There is a lot of political and technical discussions on the topic.
For now, nothing is changed.

Additionally, we have emailed many members of the commissions, and of the Senate, highlighting the fact that these proposals would not work for international students. We emphasised how international students are a critical backbone of the Italian education system and the importance of considering their needs in any reforms.

We hope to receive replies, and at the very least, to push members of the Senate to propose modifications that exclude the English-language course from these changes. If we receive any updates, we will of course share them in this article—so stay tuned.

In conclusion, is the IMAT cancelled?

There’s no need to panic yet about the IMAT being cancelled. While it’s certainly a possibility, the proposal has not mentioned anything specific to the English-language course, and implementing these changes for international courses would be extremely challenging. It’s not impossible that the IMAT could be abolished, but we believe it’s far too early to start worrying about it. The proposal hasn’t even been approved for the Italian course yet, and there are no direct mentions of international courses.

Additionally, the timeline for all of these changes to be voted on, approved, and brought in would realistically take much longer than the start of the 2025 academic year.

As AcadIMAT, we have emailed and written letters to dozens of senators involved in this proposal to clarify their stance on how these changes might affect the English-language course. While we may not receive clear answers, our hope is that this will at least encourage them to consider writing into the proposal an exclusion for the English course.

The next Senate meeting is scheduled for November 21st, and we will update this article with any new information as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

2024 IMAT Rankings and Cut Offs | Updated Weekly

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 14:50:53 +0000

We are continuously updating this page with the cutoff scores and ranking lists for every public medical and dentistry uni in Italy offering an English programme. As of 13th of December (EU scrolling has been moved to Fridays), this list is correctly up-to-date.

The 2024 IMAT rankings were released on Thursday, 10th of October. Universitaly for EU students, and the specific universities for Non-EU IMAT candidates. You can find below the number of seats for each university based on the 2024 list, and their current cut-off score. EU cut-off scores will change for quite some time due to scrolling, so we will continue updating the page through out the next few months. The EU seat numbers are according to this official document by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MUR), and the non-EU seats from this official document.

You can also compare this years score changes with:

Important Information

In order to enrol online in universities students have received an offer from, candidates must use the FISCAL CODE (codice fiscale) generated on Universitaly. Later, they have to obtain the OFFICIAL FISCAL CODE from an Agenzie Delle Entrate. Here is an overview of Italian bureaucracy to help guide you. After the deadline for enrollment into the university, the online procedure will not be available, and not-properly registered candidates will be considered as renouncing.

EU students who have not received an offer should MAKE SURE TO CONFIRM THEIR INTEREST TO STAY IN THE RANKING. Scrolling can go on for weeks, and you might still have a chance to be offered a seat.

2024 EU IMAT SCORES

University	EU SEATS	Final Cut Off	1st Round	2nd Round	3rd Round	4th Round	5th Round	6th Round	7th Round	8th Round	9th Round	10th Round	SEATS LEFT
La Sapienza	45	65.1	65.5	65.1	65.1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Milano Statale	55	67.8	69.2	68.6	68.1	67.8	67.8	–	–	–	–	–	–
Pavia	103	–	61.8	60.9	60.7	60.6	60.3	60.3	60.2	59.9	59.8	59.7	10
Bologna	97	64.8	65.6	65.2	65.2	65.2	65.2	64.8	64.8	–	–	–	–
Padova	75	63.2	64.6	64.2	64.0	64.0	64.0	63.7	63.7	63.3	63.2	–	–
Tor Vergata	40	–	62.0	61.6	61.6	61.4	61.3	61.3	61.3	60.6	60.3	60.2	3
Turin	70	–	62.4	62.1	62.0	61.8	61.8	61.8	61.8	61.8	61.3	61.3	6
Bicocca	30	64.8	66.7	66.3	66.2	66.2	66.2	65.8	65.4	65.1	64.8	–
Federico II	15	61.4	64.0	63.3	63.3	63.3	63.3	62.8	62.8	61.4	–	–	–
Parma	75	–	60.3	59.9	59.9	59.5	59.5	59.5	59.5	59.4	59.2	59.1	13
Messina	55	–	57.6	57.1	57.1	56.6	56.5	56.5	56.2	56.1	56.0	56.0	25
Luigi Vanvitelli	60	–	59.5	59.1	59.1	58.8	58.8	58.5	58.4	58.1	58.0	58.0	7
Bari	69	–	59.1	58.4	58.4	58.2	58.0	57.9	57.9	57.7	57.6	57.6	13
Catania	30	–	58.4	57.5	57.5	57.3	57.2	56.9	56.9	56.9	56.9	56.9	8
Marche (Ancona)	20	–	60.2	59.7	59.7	59.5	59.4	59.4	59.4	58.8	58.8	58.8	4
Cagliari	80	–	56.9	56.6	56.6	56.5	56.4	56.2	56.1	56.0	55.9	55.8	22
Siena (DENTISTRY)	23	–	59.7	59.5	59.5	59.2	59.2	59.1	59.1	59.1	58.4	58.1	4
La Sapienza (DENTISTRY)	19	61.8	62.1	61.8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

2024 NON-EU IMAT CUT-OFFS

Due to the Marco Polo programme between Italy and China since 2006, some universities reserve certain non-EU seats for Chinese students, colloquially referred to as “Marco Polo seats”. Universities often have additional requirements for such Chinese international students.

However, these spots often remain unfilled and are often allocated to the non-EU seat pool. For example, in 2024 Pavia had a total of 40 non-EU seats, 5 of which were reserved for Chinese students. However, since only 1 Chinese student applied, a total of 39 seats were allocated to non-EU, non-Chinese students.

University	Non-EU Seats	Non-EU Cut-off	Link to Ranking
La Sapienza	13	73.4³	17-10-2024 UPDATE
Milano Statale	15	75.7¹	15-10-2024 UPDATE
Pavia	39 + 1 Marco Polo in 2024	71.2⁵	RANKING PDF
Bologna	20	74.5	RANKING PDF
Padova	25	71.6	RANKING PDF
Tor Vergata	15	60.6	RANKING PDF
Turin	31 + 1 Marco Polo in 2024	70.8	RANKING PDF²
Bicocca	18	72.6⁶	RANKING PDF
Federico II	25	68.1	RANKING PDF
Parma	45	59.1	RANKING PDF
Messina	56	61.4⁴	RANKING PDF
Luigi Vanvitelli	50	63.2⁷	RANKING PDF
Bari	8 + 3 Marco Polo seats	65.8	RANKING PDF
Catania	30	57.2	RANKING PDF
Marche (Ancona)	60	60.3	RANKING PDF
Cagliari	20	56.5	RANKING PDF
Siena (DENTISTRY)	12	69.3	RANKING PDF
La Sapienza (DENTISTRY)	6	73.1	RANKING PDF

¹ On 15 Oct, 2024, Milan-Statale updated their non-EU ranking, adding two students to the top 15 scorers. As far as we know, one of the students was mistakenly placed in the EU scrolling, and subsequently corrected. The cutoff moved 75.3 → 75.7.
The original non-EU ranking can be found here.
² On 16 Oct, 2024, Turin finally released their non-EU ranking.
³ On 17 Oct, 2024, La Sapienza updated their non-EU ranking, as the top scorer renounced a seat. The cutoff score moved from 73.8 → 73.4. The original non-EU ranking can be found here.
⁴ On 17 Oct, 2024, Messina updated their ranking as 4 students renounced their seats. The cutoff score moved from 61.8 → 61.4.
⁵ Pavia updated their non-EU ranking, as one student renounced a seat. The cutoff score moved from 71.5 → 71.2. The original non-EU ranking can be found here.
⁶ Bicocca updated their non-EU ranking, as one student renounced a seat and ranking no.19 was offered one. The cutoff score moved from 72.7 → 72.6.
⁷ Luigi Vanvitelli offered student ranking no. 51 as one student renounced theirs . The cutoff score remained the same at 63.2.

Non-EU Ranking Sources [We’ve noticed websites stealing our work as per usual, please do your own homework you losers :)]

La Sapienza (Medicine and Dentistry) – “Graduatoria EX-UE” uniroma1.it
Milano Statale – “Study Programme Pass-List” unimi.it
Pavia – “Enrollment Stage” unipv.it
Bologna – Must login to unibo.it
Padova – “Graduatoria per candidati non-UE residenti all’estero” unipd.it
Tor Vergata – “Graduatoria di merito candidati Extra-EU per Medicine and Surgery a.a. 2024-25” uniroma2.it
Turin – “Admission to Medicine and Surgery Degree Course (Orbassano)-a.y.2024/25 Non-EU candidates residing abroad Ranking” unito.it
Bicocca – “Ranking list of Non-EU candidates residing abroad (Visa applicants)” unimib.it
Federico II – “Medicina e Chirurgia in Lingua Inglese, Non-EU candidates residing abroad” unina.it
Parma – “Ranking lists and progressions – A.Y.2024-2025” unipr.it
Messina – “Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery, A.Y. 2024/2025 – EU and non-EU candidates enrolment – 1st scrolling” unime.it
Luigi Vanvitelli – COURSE OF DEGREE IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE – A.Y. 24/25 unicampania.it
Bari – “Graduatoria IMAT 2024/2025 candidati non comunitari residenti all’estero” uniba.it
Catania – “Ranking list of non-EU citizens residing abroad (visa applicants) in order of position” unict.it
Marche (Ancona) – “Merit ranking of NON-EU students residing abroad” univpm.it
Cagliari – “Graduatoria candidati extra UE CDL Medicine and Surgery 2024” unica.it
Siena (Dentistry) – “GRADUATORIA STUDENTI EXTRA UE DENTISTRY 2024-2025” unisit.it

Dentistry in English at Sapienza University

Anastasia (AcadIMAT) — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:44:32 +0000

La Sapienza University is the newest addition to Italian institutions that now offer an entirely English dentistry programme. Starting in 2022 Sapienza not only has a medicine in English programme, but now a brand new international dentistry course. The only other university in Italy to offer this unique opportunity is Sienas dentistry in English programme which we’ve written an in depth guide about.

Next to Siena University, which we talked about in a dedicated article, from 2022 it is possible to find a dentistry programme in English at Sapienza University of Rome.

How Many Seats Are There in Sapienza Dentistry?

	EU Seats	EU Final Score	Non-EU Seats	Non-EU Final Score
2023	19	38.7	6	59.1
2024	19	TBA	6	TBA

In 2023 there were only 6 spots available for candidates from non-EU countries residing abroad, with a cutoff score of 59.1 in the IMAT, making it considerably competitive. For EU candidates, 19 spots were available, with a cutoff score of 38.7.

We have written a detailed article on how many seats are available for each course, as well as everything you need to know about the IMAT.

Why Study Dentistry in Sapienza?

First, let’s consider why studying dentistry in Italy could be the right choice. As widely known, universities in Italy are significantly prestigious, ancient and with high-quality teaching, not to mention that Italy is an amazing country to live in, not only because of its food and culture, but also due to its history and the wide variety of places to explore.

Moreover, the Italian healthcare system is incredibly efficient and advanced and, contrary to what one might think given the low tuition fees for dentistry and medicine in english, these programmes have strong foundations and their graduates are licensed to work in Italy, Europe, and globally, as they exceed the standards of most countries.

Sapienza is located in the heart of Rome, one of the most famous cities in the world, with the university itself being the biggest in Europe. The opportunities offered by studying here are unparalleled.

What’s the Structure of Dentistry at Sapienza?

As previously mentioned, Sapienza University is relatively new to offering this course, so many details may change in the next years, but below you can find the overall course curriculum of all six years.

1^st Year

Medical Physics
Chemistry and Introduction to Biochemistry
Biology and Genetics
Human Anatomy
Basic Medical Scientific Methods
Biology and Genetics
Histology and Embryology
Human Anatomy
Basic Medical Scientific Methods
Biochemistry

2^nd Year

Principles of Dentistry
Occupational Medicine and Healthcare Management
Physiology
General Pathology
Microbiology and Hygiene
Biochemistry
Principles of Dentistry
Physiology
General Pathology
Microbiology and Hygiene

3^rd year

Dental Materials and Prosthetic and Laboratory Technologies
Medical Sciences
Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy
Pathological Anatomy
Pharmacology
Oral Pathology and Dermatology
Dental Materials and Prosthetic and Laboratory Technologies
Medical Sciences
Pathological Anatomy
Pharmacology
Oral Pathology and Dermatology

4^th year

Neurology and Psychiatry
Dental Prosthodontics
Forensic Medicine
Orthodontics
Restorative Dentistry
Periodontology
Surgical Sciences
Gnathology
Oral Surgery
Dental Prosthodontics
Orthodontics
Restorative Dentistry
Periodontology
Surgical Sciences
Gnathology
Oral Surgery

5^th year

Orthodontics
Restorative Dentistry
Oral Implantology
Prosthetic and Periodontal Rehabilitation
Maxillo-Facial Pathology and Therapy
Pediatric Dentistry
Orthodontics
Restorative Dentistry
Oral Implantology
Maxillo-Facial Pathology and Therapy
Pediatric Dentistry

6^th year

Integrated Oral and Dental Therapy
TPV Odontostomatological Disciplines I
TPV Odontostomatological Disciplines II
Integrated Oral and Dental Therapy
ADE
Final Exam

For more information, we recommend visiting Sapienza’s course catalogue page.

Class Timetable of Sapienza Dentistry

The academic calendar for the first year at Sapienza University typically has classes from November/December until the end of January for the first semester, and from April until mid-June for the second semester. Exam sessions are usually held in February, June, July, and September. From the second year onwards, classes in the autumn semester start a few weeks earlier.

However, depending on when the Ministry of Education schedules the IMAT exam, classes (and consequently, exam sessions) in the first year may start with a delay of 1 or 2 months. For example, in the 2023-2024 academic year, classes continued until early July.

Below, you can find an example of the calendar for the second semester.

Classes (which are in person) are held both in the morning and afternoon and the schedule varies a lot based on the day of the week. Some days have around 8 hours of lessons from 9am to 8pm (yeah, you read it right, 8pm!!) with a 1.5-hour lunch break, while other days may have 4 or 5 hours.

In the first year, classes are the same as the one of medical students. In the second year, however, dentistry and medical students will have separate schedules.

Again, the class timetable for dentistry at Sapienza University varies each semester, so it’s important to stay updated via the university website.

Facilities in Sapienza Dental School

Sapienza University offers many facilities, with most classes held at the main campus (Piazzale Aldo Moro) and some in the dentistry building. Being the number of students admitted pretty low in the course, each student has the chance to use their own microscope in labs, and the classrooms are in good condition. The small number of students also allows a closer relationship with professors. As for libraries, they are very well-maintained but extremely crowded during exam sessions.

How do the Exams Work in Sapienza Dentistry?

The winter exam session usually starts in February, but as previously mentioned, there could be a delay in the first year based on when the Ministry of Education schedules the IMAT exam. The summer session goes from mid-June until the end of the July. It also includes September for those who couldn’t complete their exams in July, while August is a complete month off. For each exam in a session, there are typically 2 different dates available to choose from.

Below is an example of the exam session calendar of the 1^st year.

As for the modality of exams, it is split between both oral exams and written exams and really varies depending on the professor or the subject, but currently there are more oral exams. A subject can be divided into 2 different parts (written and oral exam), once you pass the written part, you can do the oral one. This latter usually goes into more detail on the topics. Furthermore, there could also be written mid-terms, sometimes 2 per class, and if you pass them you can skip the oral exam.

We suggest you read our dedicated article to better understand how exams work in an Italian university.

Clinical Experience for International Dentistry Students

The actual practical experience begins in the 4^th year, but already in the 2^nd year, you will start doing practical things such as taking dental impressions (of other students, not real patients). To participate effectively in the clinical practice during the 4th year, you are expected to know Italian. Sapienza University offers free Italian classes, but the schedule can be demanding if you attend all your dentistry courses. Moreover, internships are a required part of the programme.

What are the Tuition Fees for Sapienza University?

The tuition fees for international students at Sapienza University depend on your country of origin and income and range from €300 EUR to €1500 EUR per year. If you receive any deductions via scholarship, fees are different. For more detailed information about fees based on your country, you can visit Sapienza’s Tuition Fees Section.

As just mentioned, like every public Italian university, fees at Sapienza University also depend on your financial situation, so if you’re able to provide the documents stating your (or your family) income, the Italian system is usually pretty generous.

Are there Scholarship Options for Sapienza?

As stated on Sapienza’s course page, the tuition fees are based on both the student’s family income (as shown by the ISEE), and on academic merit, and as it is a public university, it will generally offer the same benefits to its students. We have written a guide to scholarships in Italy for international students if you need more information!

How much does Accommodation Cost in Rome?

A room in a shared apartment not too far from the University campus (in the areas of Policlinico, San Lorenzo, Piazza Bologna, Tiburtina, Pigneto and Piazzale delle Province), which is close to all amenities, could cost around €450 EUR a month (no bills included). Bills usually cost around €50 EUR a month. For a one-room apartment, instead, there’s nothing available for less than €600 EUR a month.

As for the housing provided by the university, like most other universities, Sapienza doesn’t have private dorms (LazioDisco, however, can provide free housing to students who qualify for a scholarship), but works with companies (such as Sturent.it) to help students find accommodation. In general, most students opt for finding housing privately on Facebook, or via sites such as Easystanza, Spotahome or Immobiliare.

Finally, to better understand the requirements and how to enroll in Sapienza University’s dentistry course, we recommend reviewing the call for applicants.

IMAT 2024 – Everything You Need to Know

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 13:34:59 +0000

The Ministry of University and Research in Italy (MUR) has FINALLY published all specifications regarding the 2024 IMAT exam for the admission into medicine in Italy in English. The three original decrees in Italian can be found on their official website. In this article, we have translated and summarized all of the published findings, which include the test registration dates, test date, results timeline, test locations, test syllabus and grading system, and tie-breakers in the ranking.

When is the 2024 IMAT Exam and Registration?

The 2024 IMAT will be held on September 17, 2024, at all Italian universities as well as at the foreign locations indicated in the table below. As of writing this article (August 6th 2024, when the decree was published) we only know that there will be centres in all Italian universities, and the countries that will have test centres; there is no information about which cities as of yet. The exam for Italian venues shall begin at 11am (GMT+2), with adjustment for the time to the time zones of the foreign countries where the admission test is held. Registrations for the test will be from September 2, 2024, until 3:00 p.m. (GMT+2) on September 12, 2024, which is a hard deadline with no exceptions. Registering for the admission test will be exclusively through the procedure on the Universitaly portal.

What is the IMAT Registration Process?

When registering for the IMAT exam on Universitaly candidates are required to provide, in order of preference, the list of universities that provide medicine in English they wish to apply to, as well as any possession of a language certification (if you have one, it is not a necessity, only some medical schools in Italy require it). The accepted language certifications have been added to a table at the end of this article. For Non-EU students only the first choice is important and considered. We suggest reading the articles on IMAT scrolling to understand more about what this means.

If the candidate intends to take the test in Italy, their first-choice university automatically constitutes the location at which the test is to be taken. No exceptions are permitted as to the venue of conduct of the test. In the event that candidates intend to take the test abroad, they must also indicate a test centre.

The finalisation of the registration occurs after payment of the fee for participation in the test, according to the procedures indicated on the Universitaly portal. Payment of the test fee is to be made in the manner published on Universitaly when registration opens.

This procedure is mandatory for the purposes of holding the test, under penalty of exclusion from it.

IMAT Test Centres for 2024

The list of all test centres published by the MUR can be found in PDF format at this link. The original publication was lacking the cities, however due to some investigative skills we were able to locate every city with the test centres.

For contact emails for each of the centres, as well as times to show up before the exam, please check out Minerva’s website.

Country	City	Centre Name	Time (Local Time)	Address
Albania	Tirana	British Council Tirana	12:00	Rogner Hotel Tirana Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit Postal Code 1001 Tirana
Azerbaijan	Baku	British Council Baku	14:00	Hyatt Regency Hotel (Guba and Shamakhi Rooms) 6 Izmir street AZ1065 Baku
Brazil	Sao Paolo	Winner Idiomas	09:00	Faculdade Anhanguera Campus Santana Rua Comendador Joaquim Monteiro 44 Santana São Paulo SP 02013-030
Canada	Toronto	CES Exams Toronto	09:00	Centre of English Studies CES Exams Toronto 112 Elizabeth St Toronto ON M5G 1P5
China	Beijing	British Council Beijing	18:00	Beijing Modern Training Tuanjiehu Building No 17 Tuanjiehu Nanli Chaoyang District 100020
Cyprus	Nicosia	British Council Cyprus	13:00	Pavillion Hall 2 Avraam Antoniou Lakatamia 2330 Nicosia
France	Paris	British School of Paris	12:00	British School of Paris 38 Quai de L’Ecluse 78290 Croissy-sur-Seine Paris Île-de-France 78290
Germany	Berlin	GLS Language School	12:00	GLS Language School Berlin Kastanienallee 82 10435 Berlin
Germany	Hamburg	i.H.d. Berufliche Schule für Medien und Kommunikation	12:00	i.H.d. Berufliche Schule für Medien und Kommunikation Eulenkamp 46 22049 Hamburg
Germany	Munich	Münchner Volkshochschule	12:00	Münchner Volkshochschule GmbH Orleansstraße 34 81667 München
Greece	Athens	British Council Athens	13:00	Hotel Crowne Plaza Michalakopoulpu Av 50 11528 Athens
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	ITS Education Asia	18:00	ITS Tutorial School 3/F BOCG Building 136 Des Vouex Road Central Hong Kong City
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	ITS Education Asia	18:00	4/F BOC Group Life Assurance Tower 134-136 Des Voeux Road Central Hong Kong City
India	New Delhi	BC Education India Private Limited	15:30	Radisson Blu – Paschim Vihar Outer Ring Rd Sunder Vihar Paschim Vihar New Delhi Delhi 110087
India	New Delhi	BC Education India Private Limited	15:30	The Suryaa – New Delhi MMA Rd New Friends Colony New Delhi Delhi 110025
India	Chennai	BC Education India Private Limitedv	15:30	Hotel Ramada Plaza Chetty Road T. Nagar Chennai – 600017
Ireland	Dublin	CES Exams Dublin	11:00	Club na Múinteoirí (Teacher’s Club) 36 Parnell Square W Rotunda, Dublin 1 D01 T6V6
Ireland	Dublin	CES Exams Dublin	11:00	Camden Court Hotel Camden Street Lower Saint Kevin’s Dublin D02 W086
Pakistan	Lahore	British Council Lahore	15:00	QASAR-E-NOOR Hall 257 Khursheed Alam Road near Polo Ground Cantt Lahore
Poland	Warsaw	Lang LTC	12:00	Baza Hotelowa Bobrowiecka Steeet No 9 Warsaw
Portugal	Lisbon	British Council Lisbon	12:00	British Council Lisbon Rua Luís Fernandes 1 – 3 1249-062 Lisboa
Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	British Council Jeddah	13:00	Arab Open University Nahdat Al Sharq street As Salamah District Jeddah
South Africa	Johannesburg	British Council Johannesburg	12:00	Rosebank Union Church 40 St Andrews Street Hurlingham Sandton 2196
Spain	Madrid	British Council Madrid	12:00	Paseo General Martinez Campos 31 28010 Madrid
Switzerland	Zurich	Zurich Flying Teachers	12:00	Flying Teachers GmbH Sprachschule Training Center Elias-Canetti-Strauss 7A 8050 Zurich
Turkey	Ankara	British Council Ankara	13:00	Limak Ambassadore Hote – Gaziosmanpaşa Boğaz Sk. No:19 06700 Çankaya Ankara
Turkey	Izmir	British Council Izmir	13:00	FUAR IZMIR – D Hall Zafer SB Mh Şht. Süleyman Ergin Cd. No:2 35410 Gaziemir İzmir
Turkey	Istanbul	British Side	13:00	Yeşilköy Mahallesi Atatürk Havalimanı Yolu No:15-17-19 34149 Bakırköy ISTANBUL
UAE	Dubai	British Council, Dubai	14:00	Dubai World Trade Centre Sheikh Saeed Hall 1 and Sheikh Saeed Hall 2 Sheikh Zayed Rd – Trade Centre – Trade Centre 2 Dubai
UK	London	Mobile Testing Solutions	11:00	The London Irish Centre 50-52 Camden Square London NW1 9XB
USA	New York	Holmes Education Group	09:00	OHC New York 226 West 26th Street New York NY, 10001
Italy	Bari	Università degli Studi di Bari	12:00	–
Italy	Milano	Università degli Studi di Milano	12:00	–
Italy	Pavia	Università degli Studi di Pavia	12:00	–
Italy	Rome	Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” (Medicine)	12:00	–
Italy	Rome	Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”	12:00	–
Italy	Napoli	Università degli studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”	12:00	–
Italy	Napoli	Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II	12:00	–
Italy	Messina	Università degli Studi di Messina	12:00	–
Italy	Bologna	Università di Bologna	12:00	–
Italy	Torino	Università degli Studi di Torino	12:00	–
Italy	Milano	Università Degli Studi di Milano Bicocca	12:00	–
Italy	Padova	Università degli Studi di Padova	12:00	–
Italy	Parma	Università degli Studi di Parma	12:00	–
Italy	Siena	Università degli studi di Siena	12:00	–
Italy	Ancona	Università Politecnica delle Marche	12:00	–
Italy	Catania	Università di Catania	12:00	–
Italy	Cagliari	Università degli Studi di Cagliari	12:00	–

Exam Specifications for IMAT 2024

The admission test includes 60 questions, each with five answer options. Candidates have 100 minutes to complete the test, during which they must choose one correct answer for each question, avoiding incorrect or unlikely conclusions. The breakdown of the exam subjects and number of questions are:

Four (4) questions of reading skills and general knowledge questions
Five (5) logical reasoning questions and problems
Twenty-three (23) biology questions
Fifteen (15) chemistry questions
Thirteen (13) physics and mathematics questions

A maximum of ninety (90) points shall be awarded for the evaluation of the test, 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

A detailed syllabus of specific topics on the 2024 exam can be found here.

When are the IMAT results?

On September 26, 2024, the anonymous ranking will be published. The scores will be on Universitaly, in a section only accessible to candidates, following privacy rules. These scores will remain available until all procedures are finished. The anonymous ranking is essentially a massive list of every single candidates score, but with no way of identifying the owner of each score.

On October 3, 2024, candidates can check their test paper, score, and personal record on their reserved page on the Universitaly portal.

On October 10, 2024 the national ranking with all names will be published in the student area of the Universitaly portal. Students will be “assigned” or “booked” based on their order of preferences, and where they have placed in the ranking starting the process of “scrolling“.

If there is a tie in the IMAT scores, the ranking order will be determined by the following preferences:

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)

What Language Certifications are Accepted for the 2024 IMAT?

2024 IMAT Exam – Detailed Syllabus Breakdown

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 13:26:59 +0000

The 2024 IMAT exam will be held on the 17th of September. We have previously detailed everything you need to know about the 2024 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.

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

A 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 (2024)

There are the topics and necessary skills listed for each discipline in the official attachment of the degree, translated into English.

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.
Genetics:
- 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.
Ideal gas laws.
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.

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.

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.

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.

Parma Medicine in English UltraGuide

AcadIMAT Team — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:13:45 +0000

Parma University

Quick Facts
University Founded In:	962AD
IMS Founded In:	2021
2022 EU Points:	38.3
2022 Non-EU Points:	41.9
Maximum Fees:	€2625
University Size:	32,000 students; 960 professors and researchers
Main Location of IMS:	Piacenza
Special Admission Requirement?	None

Camici in Movimento

Camici in Movimento is ths society for representatives of the medical course in Parma University and will be the most helpful resource for future students.

The University of Parma has recently unveiled a new English Medicine and Surgery Programme aimed at international students. The first cohort began their studies on October 2021.

We have obtained a massive amount of detailed information by visiting & contacting the university, as well as reaching out to the course president. Here below is everything we’ve found out that makes the brand new programme in Parma University SO UNIQUE (important information about enrolment!).

Parma itself is a city with great history, having been a Roman colony since 183BC. Take a walk around and discover the many squares and palaces the city has to offer. Marvel at the frescoes ornamenting the walls and ceilings around the city, as that of the Camera di San Paolo, or find a cozy place to sit and have a taste of local and renowned foods, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or cured meats like Culatello and Prosciutto. Anywhere you look around Parma you’ll be enamoured with its beauty and history.

(All useful reference documents and links can be found at bottom of page.)

Main Location(s) of Parma IMS Course

While the course is offered by Parma University, the sede, or “seat”, of the university is located in the town of Piacenza. Because of this separation between the “main” campus in Parma, the English Medicine programme offers a dedicated hospital (!) exclusive to only those Medicine in English students of Parma University.

Piacenza is a 45 minute train ride away from Parma itself, which leads us to believe that the cost of living and rent will be especially lower. It seems that all lectures and clerkships will take place in that scenic town instead of at the main campus of the university located in central Parma.

Collegio Alberoni

Hospitals of Parma University IMS

Ospedale Guglielmo da Saliceto

All first-year lectures will take place in the Collegio Alberoni of Piacenza and, until the new facility is opened, hospital rotations will take place at the Ospedale Guglielmo da Saliceto. The Collegio also serves as a seismic and astrological observatory, a church, library, and museum of natural sciences.

Number of Seats in Piacenza

	2022	2021
EU	40	40
Non-EU	60	60

Past IMAT Points of Parma

	2022	2021
EU	38.3	44.5
Non-EU	41.9	35.5

Why Choose Parma for Medicine in English?

Every time we have a guest on our “Medicine in Italy Podcast” we’ll update this section for why they think you should go to their university!

The course president Professor Marco Vitale has stated that they would like to prepare doctors with a focus on humanities, scientific & evidence based medicine, and a hope of igniting the passion of life long learning in their future students.

There will be a particular emphasis on the follow skills as stated by him:

1. Excellent communication skills
2. Self-learning and self-assessment skills (continuing education)
3. Ability to independently analyse and solve medical problems
4. Excellent clinical practice based on scientific evidence (evidence-based medicine)
5. Continuing professional development skills
6. Knowledge of scientific research in medicine

Another VERY interesting point he mentions is that in 5th year they will have a focus on studying healthcare systems in OTHER COUNTRIES which is something special and specific to the international course. As there is still only 1st year in this English medical course, we do not know exactly what this means yet, but we’re curious to see if this would actually better prepare international students for post graduate options and specialisation training applications.

The course is organised to have specific areas of focus based on the semester number, with the 6th semester entirely being dedicated to hospital time and thesis writing with no lectures. There seems to be an early emphasis on clerkships. More on that below.

Fees in Parma University

The fees for Parma University ranges from €0 to a maximum of €2925, depending on a number of factors including family income and/or Academic merit. Be sure to add €156 to whatever the student ISEE amount may be, as to account for the minimum fee amount (a regional fee and virtual stamp tax).

Below is a more detailed calculation to estimate the fees for a student:

More details about tuition fees of this course can be found here and a chart distinguishing the different income brackets for the ISEE here.

All students enrolled or whom intend to enroll in degree courses of the University of Parma that want to request a reduction on the amount of university fees and contributions, must complete the application on the ER-GO website BEFORE NOVEMBER. Applications are not accepted after the deadline.

Scholarships & Grants of this University

On a pamphlet (SEE END OF PAGE) that summarises the details about the new Medicine & Surgery English Programme at the University of Parma, it clearly states that there are 100% fee covering grants for students that need them. Depending on circumstances of family income or academic merit, there are scholarships available to reduce fees.

The University of Parma adopts a tuition system with a “proportionality character”, structured according to the following parameters:

Economic Condition – This value is calculated and determined exclusively by the ISEE value;
Academic Merits – Only academic credits (CFU) earned in the twelve months prior are considered, at least 10 credits for enrolment in the 2nd year; at least 25 credits for years following the second.

To take advantage of the various economic benefits , such as tuition reduction, regional scholarship, collaborations for those who study, exemptions and various incentives, female students and students must follow these two steps:

Request the issuance of the ISEE certificate
Request the issuance of the ISEE certified certificate*(only for international students)*

The full list of fee sanctions, reductions and benefits can be found here.

Academic Calendar of Parma University

A lot of information about the timetabling and scheduling can be found on Parma’s Medicine and Surgery website, this is always a great place to start. Generally it’s the usual academic timetable; October-February, then March-June. Classes start a little later in the morning, from 10:30am to 5:30pm. There are no lectures on Fridays, excluding some occasional circumstances when they would have lectures in the morning.

Example Academic Calendar of Parma Universtiy Med in English

Each year, the University of Parma draws up its own calendario accademico, or academic calendar, indicating the dates on which the University is closed in accordance with public holidays; this can be found on the University website. However, the Calendar of Teaching Activities can be downloaded on the Medicine and Surgery Courses’ website.

Generally speaking, the timetable of the first semester is made public two or three weeks before the beginning of the semester itself; the timetable of the second semester is published about ten days before classes resume.

Each student can consult the calendar through different ways:

Visiting the Agenda Studenti website, where it is possible to check the schedule in various ways by setting filters (entire schedule, scheduled lectures of just one class, all scheduled lectures from a certain professor etc.)
With the University’s official mobile application “UniPR Mobile”.

Class Timetables

We have attached links to class timetables of the first semester for the 1st and 2nd years. Although this may seem like a staggering amount of material for only one week, consider each color-coded lesson belongs to a single subject, and the timetable shows the classes by their subdivisions.

There is OBLIGATORY ATTENDANCE of at least 67% of lecture hours for each course and 90% of hours for each clerkship!

Exams in Parma University

Most exams are written exams for the first two years, after which all the exams are orals. There are additional options to improve your mark from a written exam by taking an oral one. The University of Parma also offers multiple attempts at exams, and you can continue with your year even if you haven’t passed all of your exams.

If you see the academic calendars/class timetables from the links in the section above you will find that exams run for about one week before the winter holiday, and for some days a few weeks after returning from winter holiday. Registration in advance must be done to sit a given exam on a specific date.

As mentioned before February, June, July, and September are dedicated exam sessions with no lectures taking place. There might be additional sessions during Christmas and Easter break to give behind students a chance to catch up.

Syllabus and Course Structure

Here is a more detailed breakdown of the course syllabus and organisation for this brand new programme:

Semesters 1-3: Morphology, biochemistry, functions
Semester 4: Pathophysiology of diseases and Clinical microbiology
Semesters 5-9: Clinical disciplines and related biomedical technologies
Semester 10: Public health, organisation of healthcare systems (in Italy and also countries outside of Italy), reasoned medical therapy and clinical risk management
Semesters 11-12: Completion of the curricular internship and the qualifying internship + preparation of the degree thesis

1st Year

57 CF

1st Semester

Physico-chemical bases of life – 8 CFU
Cells & tissues – 9 CFU
Statistics, research methodology & safety regulation – 5 CFU
Molecular biology, genetics & genomics – 6 CFU
ADE – 2 CFU

2nd Semester

Biochemistry – 12 CFU
Human anatomy & organogenesis – 12 CFU
ADE – 3 CFU

2nd Year

62 CFU

1st Semester

Human physiology – 12 CFU
Immunology & microbiology – 13 CFU
Medical humanities – 6 CFU

2nd semester

Disease pathophysiology – 8 CFU
Clinical microbiology & infectious diseases
8 CFU
Pharmacology – 9 CFU
Biomedical research clerkship – 6 CFU

3rd Year

61 CFU

1st semester

Laboratory medicine & immunogenetics – 6 CFU
Endocrine & metabolic & gastrointestinal disease – 9 CFU
Neurological sciences – 11 CFU
Psychiatry – 4 CFU

2nd semester

Hematology & oncology – 7 CFU
Respiratory diseases & allergology – 6 CFU
Cardiovascular diseases & basic life support – 7 CFU
Biomedical technologies & imaging – 11 CFU

4th Year

60 CFU

1st semester

Clinical immunology & rheumatology – 5 CFU
Nephrology & urology – 5 CFU
Muscoloskeletal disease – 3 CFU
Rehabilitation medicine – 5 CFU
Dermatology & plastic surgery – 5 CFU
Geriatrics & functional patient management – 6 CFU

2nd semester

Head & neck – 10 CFU
Clinical surgery & emergency medicine – 15 CFU
Medicine & surgery clerkship 1 (Clinical rotation 1) – 6 CFU

5th Year

60 CFU

1st semester

Pediatrics – 8 CFU
Obstetrics & gynaecology – 6 CFU
Pathology – 8 CFU
Forensic & occupational medicine – 7 CFU
ADE – 1 CFU

2nd semester

Puplic health, international health systems & economics – 11 CFU
Internal medicine, clinical pharmacology & clinical risk management – 11 CFU
Medicine & Surgery clerkship 2 (Clinical rotation 2) – 6 CFU
ADE – 2 CFU

6th Year

60 CFU

1st semester

Medicine & surgery clerkship (Clinical rotation 3) – 27 CFU
Thesis – 3 CFU

2nd semester

15 CFU:

Licensing internship in internal medicine
Licensing internship in surgery
Licensing internship in community medicine
Thesis – 15 CFU

Practical Experience & Clerkships in Parma

A heavy emphasis is placed on a rounded out experience, along with a variety of required clerkships starting early in 2nd year. Additionally, a very unique structure in 6th year, in which the entire year will be dedicated to internships in the hospitals with no lectures. But what makes it TRULY UNIQUE is the opportunity to COMPLETE CLERKSHIPS ABROAD.

Despite reaching out multiple times, we have not yet been able to confirm if these clerkships (in European Health Facilities) are entirely unique to University of Parma, and exactly how they differ from the traditional Erasmus exchange available to students in every university. It seems that this possibility to go abroad and train is not related to Erasmus, but rather to their 5th year emphasis in learning about healthcare systems outside of Italy.

This is a breakdown of how their clerkships will be structured over the 6 years:

2nd year: Internship in Biomedical Research (Biomedical Research Clerkship)
4th year: Clinical internship in General Medicine and General Surgery (Clinical Rotation 1)
5th year: Clinical internship in Pediatrics and Gynaecology (Clinical Rotation 2)
6th year 1st semester (Clinical Rotation 3): this period can be spent in European Health Facilities with which specific agreements will be activated.

Campus and Course Dynamics

A maximum of 100 students will be admitted for the course, provided IMAT results can/do correlate with this possibility. Class sizes range during COVID, though generally these 100 students would be most commonly split in thirds, groups of around 30, for classes and practical experience.

Cadaver Dissections

Parma follows the general trend of conducting pro-sections at best, with very little to no chance to do a dissection yourself.

Teaching Facilities

The Medical and Surgery Department (DiMeC) was founded on the 1st of January 2017. It coordinates 10 first-level degrees, 4 second-level degree, 2 single cycle degree programmes, 1 inter-university degree courses, 3 doctoral and 35 specialization schools.

The department is located on two main poles: Via Gramsci, with structures owned by the University of Parma and others belonging to the University Hospital of Parma, and Via Volturno, hosting the Biotechnological pole. The headquarters of the DiMeC (Direction and Administrative offices) is located in Via Gramsci.

Computer laboratories are available to students in most university buildings. The Wi-Fi service allows the connection to the University net in almost all areas and it’s accessible to staff and students through e-mail and password. They also enable these facilities to be used for exam work. Simply access the University’s website, clicking “registering for exams via the Internet” and selecting a Course.

Libraries

The University of Parma has an extensive library system (nearly two dozen libraries!) to serve students of almost every academic discipline.

They have a dedicated website as well as an app for an interactive map of the libraries where students can study and avail of different online services. The implementation of web information services, including bibliographic data and electronic magazines, has significantly increased the range and quality of the services offered by the university libraries, that offer literary resources up to around 1,000,000 books and 8,000 magazine subscriptions.

Sports Facilities & Canteens

The University of Parma provides opportunities to combine sport with study through its CUS.

The University of Parma CUS organises its own amateur and competitive sports events. Several inter-faculty tournaments are available for both individual and team sports during each academic year. Each academic year the CUS Parma organizes a series of preparatory courses for sports, relating to various disciplines, including: aerobics and fitness, martial arts, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and triathlon; various tournaments are made available exclusively to students of the University of Parma, such as: five-a-side football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, golf, and athletics.

Medicine & Surgery students (University of Parma) have access to the cafeteria service located at Collegio S. Isidoro. Other information about food services available to students can be found here.

Sources: CUS Parma, Università di Parma, 2022.

Affiliated canteens, Università di Parma, 2022.

Interesting Student Services

The University of Parma offers students a variety of services ranging from associations, social clubs and societies, to language learning centres.

According to it’s website, the Centro Linguistico di Ateneo (CLA) promotes the learning of modern foreign languages, offering students the opportunity to verify or acquire basic and advanced language skills (from level A1 / A2 to level C1 / C2) provided in their training course and beyond. The CLA offers a wide range of languages, from European (English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian) to extra-European languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. The CLA also offers courses in soft skills and intercultural communication, as well as courses aimed at preparing international certifications.

Click here for a full list of services and opportunities, as well as associations.

Language Requirements

The possession and verification of language skills are compulsory for courses taught only in a language other than Italian. Students are therefore required to have an adequate knowledge of English (B2 level language CEFR certification). The methods for verifying knowledge of English language level B2 and the knowledge required for admission are defined in the course regulations.

For some universities meeting a certain score on the IMAT is enough to suffice this language requirement, but are unsure as of yet whether this is the case for the University of Parma.

Italian Courses

The University of Parma offers extensive lenaguage courses specifically designed for:

Erasmus students from any degree course;
foreign students at the university;
PhD candidate students and researchers participating in a International Studies Programme.

An entry test is mandatory only if a student has studied previously the Italian language, as to place them in an appropriate learning group. Otherwise, absolute beginners need not to take the entry test and simply contact one of a professor from the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Cultural Industries.

Click here to learn more about the different courses offered, timetables, and find contact information of the corresponding professors.

Opportunities to Study Abroad

The Erasmus+ Program is an EU-sponsored mobility program that enables students with further study and experience by providing between 3-12 months at a European university.

Whereas many Italian universities offer these abroad opportunities, The University of Parma is unique in that they deeply encouraged. We will update this section when we confirm whether the Medicine in English course abroad opportunities are any different from the traditional Erasmus programs.

Studying Medicine in Piacenza

Brief Overview of City

Weather

Parma is located in the western part of the Emilia Romagna region, there is a humid temperate climate. Winters are quite cold and damp, while summers are hot and muggy. Rainfall is rather moderate and fairly distributed throughout the year. The wettest times of the year are autumn and spring where most days of rain occur and the months see an average of about 75-76mm of rain.

Source: Climate – Parma (Italy), climatestotravel.com.

Cost of Living Index

According to the website Numbeo the consumer prices in Parma of day-to-day items is not too much better than neighboring Milan. However, rent is nearly 60% less than that of Milan, and slightly more affordable than nearby Piacenza. An average one-bedroom apartment in the Parma city centre is about €540, and a three-bedroom €925. The same apartment sizes go for around €600 and €1130, respectively, in Piacenza.

Population & Size of City

According to the comune di Piacenza it is estimated that it has a population of 102,902 people spread across 118.2 km². This gives the city a population density of 870.4/km² (in comparison Rome city centre is 2,145/km²).

Where in City (Parma to Piacenza)

Surprisingly while the course is offered in Parma University, the course location is in a different small town called Piacenza. It seems that all lectures and clerkships will take place in this scenic town instead of at the main campus of the university located in the heart of Parma.

Accommodation

ER.GO provides student housing with over 600 rooms in 6 halls of residence located in different areas of Parma, usually at a short distance from the University departments.

Accommodation facilities which have not been assigned, and hence remain vacant, become available to incoming students, trainees and researchers temporarily studying and/or working in Parma. You can check for vacant rooms in the “vacancies board” of the halls of residence called Borsino of the Sportello Unico Casa (ER.GO. Housing Office), through which you can also see real-time availability, prices and features and make an online reservation.

Scholarships are mostly to cover accommodation. If you don’t get a dorm, there are no dorms, or if you choose not to go to a dorm, you can get the amount allotted for accommodation in cash, if that makes things easier. Generally these funds are enough to cover housing, though not all living expenses.

Transport Overview

As usual, a staple form of transport in most cities, cycling once again is a fantastic option. It is often safer and opens up a lot more shortcuts. There also is this new line they called Metro bus; which runs across all the main sites every 10 minutes, on all weekdays from Monday to Friday.

Different Activities

Piacenza itself is situated reasonably close to a fair number of outdoor activity opportunities. Following the river, take a walk through gorgeous scenic nature so close to your home; or hop right in and go rafting or kayaking. Parma to Milan is less than one hour by train. Regional trains are relatively cheap too for day trips.

Other Resources

Medicine in Italy: Jumpstart Guide (Start Here)

AcadIMAT Team — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 22:31:27 +0000

If you’ve recently come across the idea of studying medicine in Italy but have no idea where to begin, this Jumpstart Guide is for you. The aim of this article is to take you from “I just heard there’s English medical schools in Italy and don’t know where to start” to “Ok, I have an idea about everything, and know the next steps I need to take”. Finding everything you need to know about the IMAT exam, getting to know the Italian medical schools, the process for applying to them etc. can seem overwhelming with all of the information scattered across many websites, but this guide is going to simplify everything.

We’ll start with an introductory overview and then move on to:

Different types of universities and their costs
Requirements for applying to English medical programmes in Italy
The IMAT, which is the entrance exam
How to apply to the IMAT and prepare for it
A list of actionable steps to become a doctor in Italy

At the bottom of the page there will be an ordered list of articles we recommend you read after this one to build on top of the foundation we’re going to set, so you can really become an expert.

Medicine in Italy Overview

Italy started delivering courses for medicine completely delivered in English with Pavia in 2011, a university found in the North. Soon after, Sapienza (located in Rome) and Milan started their own courses. In a short period of time, medicine in Italy grew to its current state in 2024 with over 20 universities (both private and public) all around Italy having an English medicine and surgery course. There are also 2 universities (Siena and Sapienza) that offer dentistry in English. Every year there are new universities providing medicine in English, with this year marking 3 new universities (Catania, Cagliari, Bolzano) to join the scene. We recommend finishing this article before taking a look at a full list of the medical schools to compare them.

To answer the most commonly asked question, these courses (all teaching and classes) are completely delivered in English throughout their entirety. However, there will be some need for Italian when you start clinical rotations in the hospital, and depending on the university, you may even need a certificate for it, but overall the courses are designed to be completely taught in English. The eventual requirement for Italian can also be avoided, but at a detriment to a medical student as you will be continuously dependent on other people translating for you during clinical rotations, and won’t be able to experience interviewing patients by yourselves. So eventually, learning Italian as a medical student will greatly benefit you, but there is technically no requirement and you can graduate without learning any.

The requirements to apply (which we will talk about in detail later on) are quite simple. First, you need to sit (in person) an exam called the “International Medical Admission Test” (IMAT). There can be a variation in documents required from country to country solely for visa purposes, but from an actual applying to the university perspective, it’s quite straightforward. No need for top scoring high school grades, interviews or other extra curricular activities. Before we talk a bit more about the IMAT, the application process, and what’s needed, let’s briefly talk about some of the universities. If you want to read in detail about each of them, we have an article that covers every single medical school in Italy (linked again at the bottom of the page, but we recommend that you check it out after you’re done reading this article).

What Universities offer Medicine in English?

As a quick rundown, there are ~15 public universities which on average cost €150-2500 EUR a year, and 5 private universities which cost €17,000-20,000 EUR a year. The huge range of tuition, especially for the public medical schools, is mostly due to the fact that all of them offer income-based reductions (so fees go as low as €156 EUR per year), as well as very generous scholarships, even if you’re not Italian. If you don’t qualify for any of these reductions, you still don’t need to worry about paying more than €3,000 Euro a year for the public medical schools. All of the public universities require the same one exam to apply (the IMAT), the score of which determines whether you’re accepted or not, whereas the private universities such as Humanitas, Cattolica, etc., all have their own admission exam you would need to apply for separately.

Where are they located?

While there are around 20 universities in total, they are split across 14 cities located all over Italy, with 3 of them being located on islands. Each city has something unique to offer and they are all different from each other in terms of cost of living, internationality, population sizes, etc. The following cities all have medicine in English courses:

Cagliari, on the island of Sardegna (1 university)
Messina and Catania, on the island of Sicily (2 universities)
Bari
Naples (2 universities)
Rome (2 public, 1 dentistry, and 3 private universities)
Parma
Padova
Pavia
Siena (dentistry only)
Bologna
Ancona
Turin
Milan (2 public and 2 private universities)

Are there scholarships available?

Every region where a university is located has its own scholarship body that decides the available amount of funds and requirements for students to be able to take advantage of them. In our content, we generally refer to these as “needs-based scholarships”. They are completely dependent on your family income, which is shown through a document called the ISEE. With this type of scholarship, you can receive free accommodation, free meals, and even a stipend, all depending on your family’s annual income and owned assets (such as land, houses, etc). There is generally a mandatory minimum number of credits to acquire every year in order to keep it, and there might additionally be a minimum exam average.

Additionally, each university not only offers a reduction of fees based on the ISEE, but they also offer what we refer to in our content as “merit-based scholarships”. In certain universities, having the highest average in your class, for example, can lead to further reductions in your annual fees regardless of income, as well as allowing you to apply to what are referred to as “borse” (plural), which are essentially part-time jobs with the university that you are paid for.

We recommend reading the following articles for a better overview:

How many universities can I apply to?

If you are an EU student, you can apply to all of the public universities simultaneously via the Universitaly portal and then just complete the IMAT exam. However, if you are a non-EU student, you can only apply to one public university and will be completing the IMAT exam just to try and gain admission there. Depending on your local consulate regulations (only for non-EU students), it is possible to apply for one public and one private university; however, this can change from year to year, so please check with them.

The IMAT Exam

The IMAT exam is technically the only requirement to be admitted to the public universities. It is a multiple-choice question exam that covers topics in Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Mathematics, as well as Logical Reasoning and some General Knowledge. The exact specifications can change year to year (you can find the latest 2024 IMAT specification here); however, historically, the facts have been:

It’s 60 questions
It’s scored out of 90 points
Each correct answer is +1.5 points, and each incorrect answer is -0.4 points (empty answers net 0)
You have around 100 minutes to complete the test.
It is only conducted in person
The distribution of question numbers can change year to year, but generally, the most questions are in the order of Biology, Chemistry, Logical Reasoning, Physics & Maths, and General Knowledge
The exam is held once a year in late September/October (you take the exam the same year you plan on enrolling, aiming to start classes 1 month after you take the exam)

IMAT Syllabus

We can’t recommend enough that you open in a new tab our article on the “detailed IMAT Syllabus” to see the following laid out in a much more neat way. The following is a brief summary for all of the different sections.

Biology:

The biology syllabus covers a broad range of topics to understand the fundamentals of living organisms. It begins with the chemistry of life, exploring organic molecules, enzymes, and the significance of weak interactions. The syllabus covers cell biology thoroughly, including cell theory, the distinctions between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, cellular structures and their functions, as well as the mechanisms of cell membrane transport. Reproductive biology is discussed through the cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis, and both sexual and asexual reproduction. Genetics is a major focus, covering Mendelian laws, chromosomal theories, molecular genetics, and the impact of mutations and selection on evolution. The syllabus also touches on biotechnology, specifically recombinant DNA technology. Finally, it addresses bioenergetics and physiological processes such as photosynthesis and respiration, alongside the anatomy and physiology of animals and humans, especially bodily systems and homeostasis.

Chemistry:

The chemistry syllabus requires many fundamental concepts, starting with the constitution of matter, detailing states of aggregation, and differentiating between heterogeneous and homogeneous systems, elements, and compounds. It covers the laws governing perfect gases and goes into atomic structure, including particles, atomic and mass numbers, isotopes, and electronic configurations, linking these to the periodic table where elements are organized by groups and periods, highlighting periodic properties like atomic radius and ionization potential. Different types of chemical bonds—ionic, covalent, and metallic—and their characteristics such as bond energy and polarity are also covered. Inorganic chemistry focuses on the nomenclature and properties of compounds like oxides and acids. Key concepts in stoichiometry, solution chemistry, chemical equilibria, kinetics, and catalysis are examined. Oxidation-reduction processes are discussed alongside the essentials of acids, bases, pH, and buffer solutions. Lastly, it introduces organic chemistry, detailing carbon bonding, structural formulas, functional groups, and basic nomenclature, encompassing a range of organic compounds from hydrocarbons to esters and amides.

Physics:

The physics syllabus covers various fundamental concepts and principles. Physical quantities and their measurement include understanding fundamental and derived quantities, unit systems, and vector operations. Kinematics covers motion, velocity, acceleration, and types of motion such as uniform and harmonic. Dynamics involves force interactions, inertia, mass, and principles like momentum conservation and mechanical energy. Fluid mechanics addresses fluid properties, pressure principles, and fluid dynamics, including Bernoulli’s equation. Thermodynamics explores temperature, heat transfer, state changes, and gas laws. Electricity and electromagnetism focus on electric charges, fields, capacitance, current, resistance, and electromagnetism, including Ohm’s law and electromagnetic induction.

Maths:

The mathematics syllabus covers a range of topics essential for a strong foundation. Number sets and algebra include natural, integer, rational, and real numbers, with operations, proportions, percentages, powers, radicals, logarithms, combinatorial calculus, algebraic expressions, polynomials, algebraic fractions, and equations and inequalities of first and second degree. Functions focus on their fundamentals, graphical representations, elementary functions (algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric), compound and inverse functions, and trigonometric equations and inequalities. Geometry addresses polygons, circles, measurement of lengths, surfaces, and volumes, isometries, similarities, geometric places, angle measurement, trigonometric formulas, and triangle resolution. The Cartesian plane includes points, lines, conic sections, and the Pythagorean and Euclid’s theorems. Probability and statistics cover frequency distributions, graphical representations, random experiments, events, and probability.

Logical Reasoning:

This section primarily evaluates your ability to comprehend written English in various forms, as all questions, whether they involve symbolic language or not, are presented in English. You must understand different types of texts, such as scientific articles, fiction, and news items, focusing on identifying specialised vocabulary, textual cohesion, coherence, and extracting specific information. It checks your ability to complete logical arguments given in words or symbols, involving abstract reasoning and various logical thinking skills. Essentially, it assesses how effectively you can apply logical principles to solve problems or construct arguments.

General Knowledge:

It’s quite difficult to prepare for this section and really gives well-rounded candidates an advantage. Questions can be on politics, classical literary works and media, historical events, and worldwide organisations. These questions aim to gauge your understanding of historical and cultural contexts, knowledge of key institutions, and grasp of legal, economic, and citizenship-related concepts.

How do I study for the IMAT?

The best way to prepare is by using past IMAT papers. They go all the way back to 2011 and will allow you to get a complete understanding of the types of questions, the depth of theory you need to study, and the overall difficulty of the questions. We have written in-depth articles about how to best use them and how high-scoring students strategized their preparation.

There are also recommended books and free courses you can use, which we have detailed in the “Best Resources for the IMAT” article. As a summary, you can use A-level books, IB books, and free courses on edX and Coursera, as well as YouTube, to help with your preparation.

As of right now, given a cost-to-benefit ratio, we do not recommend any paid IMAT courses.

Is there anything else required?

Technically, there isn’t anything else required, but you will eventually need to acquire something called the DoV, which proves that you’ve completed high school and a total of 12 years of education (details later on in the article). We say technically because there can be other specific document or certification requirements for a visa application from your country of origin or university-specific requirements that need to be submitted upon enrollment, such as an English certificate. Right now, however, you don’t need to overthink this, as we have more in-depth articles to guide you through that process. You should just focus on understanding the overall process before we get to the exact steps for you. Just keep the following in the back of your mind:

Almost every university will require a DoV upon successful admission and enrollment unless you graduated from a high school in Italy
Some universities will require an English proficiency test (such as Bicocca), whereas others accept the IMAT as proof of English proficiency.
- For EU students enrolling in one of these universities, they will need to provide it later on
- For non-EU students, this might be required during the pre-enrollment phase
For visa requirements, embassies can sometimes ask for the most absurd things, like a minimum high school average, passing your local medicine entry exam, or even an Italian language certificate. Please note, however, that this is completely country-dependent and not a requirement as far as the universities are concerned

What's the minimum score for the IMAT?

Explaining the minimum score for the IMAT is a bit complicated because it depends on if you’re EU or if you’re non-EU. Additionally, there isn’t actually a minimum score that the university sets; it’s more so that the score of the lowest-ranking candidate that managed to secure admission becomes that year’s minimum score.

As a very oversimplified explanation:

Example University has 20 seats for EU, and 20 seats for non-EU
The top-scoring 20 EU and 20 non-EU candidates are offered admission, and they all enroll
The 20th student in the EU ranking had a score of 45, and the 20th student in the non-EU ranking had a score of 60
The non-EU cutoff for Example University is now 60, and the EU cutoff is now 45

In reality, if you’re an EU student, the IMAT scrolling is much more complicated to understand, but if you’re a non-EU student, the system is a lot more straightforward. The reason for this is because EU students can simultaneously apply to every public medical school in Italy at the same time, but non-EU students can only choose one university to apply to.

Here are some resources that we recommend reading once you’re done with this guide:

So How do I Apply to Medicine in Italy?

The process is different if you’re EU or non-EU, but in this section, we’ll try to give a general timeline of the process:

Application timeline for EU students

EU-Students

For a much more detailed guide please read our article on “How to Apply to Medical School in Italy as an EU Student“.

Sometime in June/July, the registration for the IMAT exam will open on Universitaly. You will need to pay for the exam and choose which test centre you would like to do the exam in. The exam has to be completed in person at an approved test centre, the list of which is usually announced in a “call to applicants” (BANDO) released by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) every year. If you’re curious, you can see the most current one translated into English here.

You generally have ~3 weeks to sign up and complete the payment. If you’ve already finished high school/are about to, this is a good time to email your local consulate to ask them about a list of documents necessary to create something called the previously mentioned DoV, the document that essentially certifies you’ve completed 12 years of education. The process will be slightly different from country to country, but it’s good to be informed now about what the exact process will be.

In September/October, you will take the IMAT exam and, within a month, be flying to the city where the university you’ve been accepted into is located to complete your enrollment. You will have hopefully completed your DoV by now and will use it when you are enrolling. That’s it, really

When is pre-enrollment for Non-EU students?

Unfortunately, applying to medical school in Italy as a non-EU student is a much more involved process due to visa requirements. We recommend reading this guide on how to apply to the IMAT as a non-EU as an excellent additional resource, however lets go through it briefly below.

Sometime during Spring (usually late April – May), a process called pre-enrollment will open on Universitaly. This process is to help with your visa application later on and will ask for some specific documents from you, such as your ID, high school transcript, etc. During this process, you will need to select your first-choice university that you wish to apply to.

You should contact your local embassy to ask for the details on the documents needed for a visa ASAP as you might need things like an English certificate or even an Italian certificate. It is even possible that, depending on the university you’re applying to, there are minimum grades required from high school.

Sometime in June/July, the registration for the IMAT exam will open, where you will pay for the exam, confirm your first-choice university, and select a test centre you wish to complete the exam in. The list of test centres around the world changes year to year, and the approved ones for that year are usually announced in a MUR bando.

In September/October, you will need to complete the IMAT exam and hopefully, within a month, receive an email that you have been accepted into the university of your choice. You then need to apply to the consulate of your home country to apply for a visa.

List of Next Steps

How Many EU & Non-EU Seats for Medicine in Italy (2024)

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Sun, 26 May 2024 14:03:08 +0000

The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MUR) has announced the official number of seats that will be available for EU and Non-EU students who wish to study medicine or dentistry in English in Italy. In this article we have summarised the number of seats for private medical schools, public medical schools, and dentistry schools that offer courses in English.

The official decree for dentistry in English can be found here
The official decree for medicine in English can be found here

Public Medical Schools with English Courses

University	EU-Seats	Non-EU Seats
BARI	69	11
BOLOGNA	97	20
CAGLIARI	80	20
CATANIA	30	30
MESSINA	55	56
MILAN (STATALE)	55	15
MILAN BICOCCA	30	18
FEDERICO II (NAPOLI)	15	25
LUIGI VANVITELLI (NAPOLI)	60	50
PADOVA	75	25
PARMA	75	45
PAVIA	103	40
MARCHE POLITECNICA	20	60
LA SAPIENZA (ROME)	45	13
TOR VERGATA (ROME)	40	15
TURIN	70	32

Private Medical Schools with English Courses

University	EU Seats	Non-EU Seats
CATTOLICA BOLZANO	50	10
CATTOLICA ROME	40	70
HUMANITAS (MILAN)	230	70
SAN RAFFAELE (MILAN)	86	64
CAMPUS BIO-MEDICO (ROME)	140	48

Public Dentistry Schools with English Courses

University	EU Seats	Non-EU Seats
SIENA	23	12
LA SAPIENZA (ROME)	19	6

La Sapienza Virtual Open Day

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Sun, 19 May 2024 20:12:11 +0000

Every year Sapienza hosts an “Open Day” where potential students from around the world and Italy can come to not only see the campus, but also have the opportunity to learn about all of the different degree programmes across all of the different faculties. This year there is a special English edition, which will be live via Zoom and live-streaming on Youtube on June the 6th 2024 at 2 p.m. (CET). This special edition is meant for international students who are thinking of studying for a medical degree at Sapienza University of Rome.

However the virtual open day is not limited to medicine, there will be academic representatives of all health sciences faculties that have english programmes such as:

Pharmacy and Medicine
Medicine and Psychology
Medicine and Surgery
Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics
Nursing

Presidents of these degree programs, faculty members, tutors and even current international students will all participate in the event. Secretarial staff will be on hand to provide administrative information about anything related to bureaucracy. A question-and-answer session will be devoted to the most important, commonly-shared and practical issues related to studying Medicine, Dentistry or Nursing in Rome.

Additionally there will be a brief screening of videos illustrating different moments of university life on campus.

Relevant Links:

Zoom: https://uniroma1.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B53arnSqQN2o7eLM_C4Inw
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FarmaciaeMedicina/streams
Contact: [email protected]

IMAT Code for Success: Strategies of Top Scorers

Serra (AcadIMAT) — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:55:57 +0000

The International Medical Admission Test (IMAT) is realistically the biggest hurdle between you and studying medicine in Italy. Every year, thousands of prospective international medical students attempt this exam in hopes of being admitted to an English medical program in Italy, and are met with either joy or heartbreak. In this article, you will find not only the strategies of successful students scoring in the top percentiles but also the regrets and mistakes of students who were not able to clear the exam this time around.

I asked thousands of IMAT takers through our official Instagram account two simple questions to study the trends between two groups: What did the successful students do that they attributed their success to, and what do the students who didn’t achieve the score they hoped for think caused their downfall? Adopting the strategies of successful students will, of course, be helpful to increase your score, but avoiding common mistakes and pitfalls of others will go a long way in maximising your potential points and becoming a medical student in Italy.

When analysing the answers of both top scorers and students who didn’t do so well, there were some interesting emerging trends, and more interestingly, the most common trends from both groups were essentially mirrors of each other. In this article, we’ll go through each of the most common factors students mentioned and the differences between the two groups in their overall success for the IMAT.

Using Past IMAT Papers

The approach to using preparation material, and more specifically past exams, was by far the most common answer in both groups and the most glaring example of trends in the opposing groups mirroring each other. From the higher-scoring group (HSG), the resounding common success factor was that they all used past papers religiously, and even more so in strict exam conditions, sometimes even allowing 10 minutes less time than a real attempt would have permitted them. Among the lower-scoring group (LSG), the most common answer was that they did not use past papers enough.

While the overarching theme in the LSG was about not using the papers at all, which is unfortunately a huge mistake as they’re probably the best resource available, some students emphasised that they didn’t appropriately simulate exam conditions. As mentioned in the in-depth article on how to use past IMAT exam papers, this is one of the most important things you can do. This serves not only to train yourself to get used to sitting down for long periods of focus without breaks, but also because it helps with familiarity and exam routine, which can significantly reduce exam nerves. Additionally, it helps in recognising trends, understand high-yield topics, and practicing different exam strategies.

There’s a lot more in-depth information in the article ‘IMAT Past Papers’ on how to go about this, which you should read for more, but to give a summary of the most important points:

Use a physical timer like a wall clock, not a phone or wrist watch during your trial.
If you already know your exam centre and time, do out your routine as you would on the exam day every single time you attempt a past exam (same wake up time, same breakfast, calculate travel time, workout if you normally do etc.)
Try to do the exam in a library where there will be a lot more people for some possible noise, but still not too noisy.
Do not allow yourself any extra time during a trial.
Try not to take bathroom breaks or drink water, as on the day breaks will greatly effect your available question solving time, and you will probably not have access to water.

The strategy of the HSG didn’t stop at using past exams in stellar conditions, but their strategy around every attempt was also much more robust. Again in our past IMAT exams article we delve into this deeper, but an overview of the best strategy can be summarised as:

Review each completed exam to see what questions were answered wrong
Subsequent analysis of which topics are indicating knowledge gaps
Review these topics
Reattempt questions
Repeat for every subsequent exam

Nailing Down Time Management for the IMAT

Time management was probably the most heartbreaking issue to read about, as some individuals disclosed crying during the exam, realising they had no way of finishing the questions. Many students in the LSG mentioned either not having enough time or spending significantly more time on a section than they had originally intended. Of course, correlation does not imply causation, but it’s probable that this point is strongly related to the lack of using past exam papers under appropriate exam conditions. It’s unlikely that a student who has practiced an exam within time constraints 10+ times would struggle significantly more on the actual exam day. This is not only due to adrenaline, which would likely accelerate their pace, but also because if this was an issue it would have likely arisen much earlier during preparation, allowing them to address it.

There are many approaches to improving time management and mastering question timing, but I think the most effective would be to prepare under even stricter timing conditions and to have a solid strategy that you’re going to stick to on the day. To expand on the first point, this could involve trying to complete the exam in ten fewer minutes than usual or perhaps setting a time limit for each section based on your strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to reduce time spent on each section to make preparation more challenging. Being accustomed to even more limited timing conditions, especially on harder questions, will provide a safety net on the day if you’re moving too slowly or need to correct mistakes (or to tackle the infamous ‘staple conspiracy’ of the 2023 exam).

When it comes to the ‘strategy’ portion of addressing this mistake, it can look very different for different people. What’s more important is that you test out a few different strategies and find out what works for you, and most importantly, STICK TO IT instead of making last-minute changes on the day. Some examples of different strategies can be:

Set a specific time limit for each section; once the time is up, move on to the next section no matter what.
Have a set time limit for the entire exam that will allow you to have leftover minutes to then review all your answers at the end.
If a question looks too difficult to skip it and come back at the end ONLY if you have enough time. This ensures that you’re maximising time on correct answers that will lead to a bulk of the points anyway.

While conducting research for this article, the evidence I found supporting the most optimal strategy was moderate at best. However, it is overwhelmingly clear that consistently practicing one strategy will yield the highest return on your preparation investment. Depending on when you come across this article and learn about the exam, experimenting with different strategies may be challenging. In such cases, it’s advisable to select a strategy that seems most reasonable to you personally and stick to it during practice with past exams.

IMAT Exam Day Strategies

This topic was mentioned much more frequently by the LSG compared to the HSG. The recurring themes around this issue among the LSG were guessing too many questions, not taking negative marking seriously enough, and not reading the questions thoroughly. As we know from the structure of the IMAT, every correct question earns 1.5 points, but many students fail to grasp the impact of the -0.4 negative marking. Although it may seem like a small deduction, it’s important to realize that these negative points start stacking up rapidly. It’s worth noting that answering only 30 questions correctly could secure entry into most universities, especially if there are no incorrect answers. While this is particularly true for EU students compared to non-EU students (given recent score trends), achieving 45 points would still position one competitively for admission to most of the less competitive universities.

The IMAT is an exam that rewards conceptual understanding rather than rote memorisation. While some biology exams worldwide may adopt a straightforward true-or-false approach or focus on regurgitating memorised information such as asking for definitions, the biology section of the IMAT resembles a logical reasoning exercise. Taking a look at the example question below, it’s clear that the question isn’t as simple as asking about just cell growth; instead, it requires the application of theoretical knowledge about cell growth to a practical logic involving proportions and maths.

Many students from the LSG mentioned that they did not read the questions thoroughly enough or failed to take the time to understand them. Given that the IMAT rewards conceptual understanding with tricky questions that go beyond rote memorisation, investing time to comprehend the question and work out its logic pays dividends. Alternatively, refraining from guessing answers is quite important, as even a few guesses can make the difference between getting in and taking a gap year.

Foundational Knowledge for the IMAT Exam

Interestingly, the level of knowledge was one of the points mentioned the least overall in both groups. HSG did mention that they had very strong foundations and basic theory, particularly in organic chemistry and biology. This makes sense since, as previously mentioned, the IMAT rewards conceptual knowledge more than rote memorisation for these sections, allowing for the application of basic theory to more creative problems. For those interested, we have an entire article dedicated to recommended study resources for the IMAT (including free books and courses) that can help build your basics.

Conversely, the LSG mentioned a lack of basic theory for biology or completely disregarding the math and physics section. From a strategic standpoint, if preparation time is limited, it makes sense to ignore this section as it yields the fewest points. The 2023 IMAT paper had the highest number of questions compared to previous years, totalling 12 (a potential 18 points). This implies that with the split, either physics or math would be the lowest yield to study, instead of focusing on other sections to maximise potential points. However, as students who have completed all past papers will note, certain topics are very often repeated especially in the maths and physics section.

A good balanced approach, based on the total tally of responses mentioning this topic, would be to use a solid level of study material (especially A-level and IB) to establish a strong foundation. If time is limited, focusing only on the highest-yield topics for smaller sections like math and physics would be advisable. However, once again it’s crucial to note that it’s impossible to gauge the sufficiency of the knowledge you’re building without applying it in practice through past papers.

Stress Management

The final and most crucial, yet often overlooked aspect of exam preparation, is the general approach to stress management and lifestyle factors. Many students mistakenly equate suffering with hard work and believe that continuous pressure is necessary to succeed. However, this mindset is misguided and ultimately detrimental to preparation efforts. Stress and exhaustion are a fast track to burnout. Notably, the HSG emphasised the importance of maintaining a good routine, prioritising sleep, rest, exercise, and taking part in stress-relief activities. Conversely, the LSG highlighted the detrimental effects of stress buildup, such as blanking during exams or experiencing sleep deprivation, which impacts mental effort in both studying coming up to the day, and during the test.

I really want to stress this point because it’s not just about doing well on the IMAT; it’s about your overall happiness and well-being as a student. You shouldn’t sacrifice your happiness and mental health for anything, not even for studying medicine. The habits you form now will shape your future. They’ll also play a big role in how you handle the pressures of medical school later on. So, it’s super important to prioritise taking care of yourself and managing stress. It’s not just about passing the IMAT; it’s about setting yourself up for success in medical school and beyond.

Good luck future doctors!

AcadIMAT

Is the 2025 IMAT Cancelled? The Truth Behind the Rumours

Table of Contents

How did it all start?

What are the key points from this proposal?

What does this realistically look like?

What will a 2025 Admission Exam look like?

A Rough Timeline for the Proposal

Why this proposal doesn’t make sense for the IMAT

What are the next steps?

In conclusion, is the IMAT cancelled?

2024 IMAT Rankings and Cut Offs | Updated Weekly

Important Information

2024 EU IMAT SCORES

2024 NON-EU IMAT CUT-OFFS

Dentistry in English at Sapienza University

How Many Seats Are There in Sapienza Dentistry?

Why Study Dentistry in Sapienza?

What’s the Structure of Dentistry at Sapienza?

Class Timetable of Sapienza Dentistry

Facilities in Sapienza Dental School

How do the Exams Work in Sapienza Dentistry?

Clinical Experience for International Dentistry Students

What are the Tuition Fees for Sapienza University?

Are there Scholarship Options for Sapienza?

How much does Accommodation Cost in Rome?

IMAT 2024 – Everything You Need to Know

When is the 2024 IMAT Exam and Registration?

What is the IMAT Registration Process?

IMAT Test Centres for 2024

Exam Specifications for IMAT 2024

When are the IMAT results?

What Language Certifications are Accepted for the 2024 IMAT?

2024 IMAT Exam – Detailed Syllabus Breakdown

General Guidelines for IMAT

Breakdown of scoring in the IMAT

Detailed IMAT Syllabus (2024)

Reading Skills and General Knowledge

Logical Reasoning

Biology

Chemistry

Mathematics

Physics

Further Preparation for Exam day

Parma Medicine in English UltraGuide

Parma University

Camici in Movimento

Main Location(s) of Parma IMS Course

Hospitals of Parma University IMS

Ospedale Guglielmo da Saliceto

Number of Seats in Piacenza

Past IMAT Points of Parma

Why Choose Parma for Medicine in English?

Fees in Parma University

Scholarships & Grants of this University

Academic Calendar of Parma University

Class Timetables

There is OBLIGATORY ATTENDANCE of at least 67% of lecture hours for each course and 90% of hours for each clerkship!

Exams in Parma University

Syllabus and Course Structure

Practical Experience & Clerkships in Parma

This is a breakdown of how their clerkships will be structured over the 6 years:

Campus and Course Dynamics

Cadaver Dissections

Teaching Facilities

Libraries

Sports Facilities & Canteens

Interesting Student Services

Language Requirements

Italian Courses

Opportunities to Study Abroad

Studying Medicine in Piacenza

Brief Overview of City

Weather

Cost of Living Index

Population & Size of City

Where in City (Parma to Piacenza)

Accommodation

Transport Overview

Different Activities