Here you can find all of the past IMAT exam papers (from 2011 to 2023 included), both embedded in the page for comfortable navigation, and easily downloadable as a PDF to use in your personal preparation. Included in the article is also advice and guidance on how to best use these papers to maximise your studying, and eventual score.
Please note that the exam papers from 2020 to 2023 usually have the answers standardised so that all of the correct options have been changed to option A. We have reformatted these exams so that all of the answers are shuffled to help you prepare better. During the actual exam, every candidate receives a unique paper with the order of the questions and answers shuffled to discourage cheating. For convenience MIUR releases that years paper with one sample exam and all correct answers switched to A.
Looking at the different past exam papers, you can see that the exam structure and number of questions for each section can change from year to year. The MIUR releases the IMAT specification every year, which includes the number of questions for each section, as well as the syllabus for each topic; so it’s important to stay up to date with the most recent specification to best plan your studies.
How to Best Use IMAT Past Papers
The past exams are probably the most important and valuable resource in preparing for the IMAT, and you should be utilising them in the best way possible to maximise the returns on your study time. While there are of course a lot of recommended IMAT textbooks and courses you can use in solidifying your foundational knowledge, the single most important tool is the past exams. For a summary of how to best use this tool, there is an embedded video at the bottom of the page, but let’s expand on the most important concepts here.
To begin with the most important point is to do the exam papers in AS CLOSE TO exam conditions as possible. As silly as this may sound, it means planning your morning out and approaching the exam the same way every single time. If you’re planning to do your exam in the London test centre, this means knowing how long your route takes to get there from the airport or hotel, what time the exam usually starts and everything else. Wake up at the same time you would need to get to the exam, have the same breakfast you plan on having to maximise your brain gains, have the exam printed out with also a sample answer sheet to simulate the test conditions as close as possible etc. While this seems excessive there are a lot of scientific studies that show our brains love patterns and familiarity, so the more set in you are to the routine, and the more times you’ve simulated these conditions, the more relaxed and prepared your brain will be on the actual exam day.
If the exam is still too far out, and you don’t know what your schedule for the day will be, it’s still important to simulate conditions as close as possible. For example using a wall clock as a timer, with no wrist watch or phone in the same room. Using the sample answer sheet to fill in the boxes, or even being in a crowded, but quite environment such as the library to do the exam. These are the 1% improvements in your overall preparation that will allow you to take control of your nerves on the day.
How to Time the Past Papers for Best Results
Since the day of the exam is usually not announced until quite late into the year, the second best way to approach this is to pick a day of the week that is non-negotiable to you, which will be your “IMAT day”. As mentioned before you should simulate as many exam conditions as possible, so this means getting up at a certain time, eating your breakfast, if you’re an active person getting in your workout etc. before sitting down in a quite room with a wall clock and starting answering questions. It is important to note that if you are only a few weeks away from the exam day, you shouldn’t suddenly switch up your routine, and you 100% should not decide on the day of the exam do something that you’re not used to ie- if you’re not a regular coffee drinker, decide on that day caffeine is what you need. I highlight this point because while it seems obvious, so many students fall into this trap, and on the day of the exam inevitably suffer from bad bowels, heart palpitations, exhaustion or other issues because they decided to try a new breakfast or working out for the first time ever that morning.
Ideally you would do one exam a week until the exam day, but of course depending on when you found out about the IMAT this has to change substantially. For example if you’re 12 weeks out from the exam day, doing 1 exam a week works out perfectly, also allowing time for final high yield revision and mental prep during the week of to put yourself at ease. While studying for the subject matter is a huge part of the battle, exam nerves will have a massive impact on your performance on the day. A lot of students will be familiar with blanking, and panicking despite knowing the information, and this is the other most important factor in your preparation.
If you have an even longer time to prepare I think running 2 cycles through the exams can be valuable. So you start with the 2011 paper (important to note that this paper along with the 2012 one are the most different from the current exam, and while still useful should not be given much importance in your personal prep), and every week solve another paper. Once you’ve completed the last exam you have available, you now rotate back to the 2011 paper. On your second run it is important that you exercise awareness when selecting the correct answer, that t’s not only because you remember what the correct option was from the last time. You should really try to reason it out for WHY you’re selecting that answer, recalling the specific concept or topic, and mentally talking through it. Otherwise you’re only cheating yourself with a false correct score. It’s even better if you can reason out why the other options are incorrect, solidifying that you really understand the topic and what the question is asking, instead of regurgitating information you rote memorised.
There is also an immense amount of value in seeing what topics you are consistently getting wrong, more specifically which questions, especially when there’s been 3 months since your previous attempt at that paper. This is important because the last 3 months should have been time spent revising all topics, and nailing down your conceptual foundations, so you should be able to see what weaknesses have slipped through the cracks.
Interpreting your Past Exam Results
A lot of students tend to just do the exams in mock conditions, and fail to actually extract all of the value from these attempts. It’s not enough to just quickly add up your points to see what your score was, and if it would have been enough for that years IMAT ranking.
Maybe a percentage of students will go through the past papers, and see what questions they got wrong and then call it a day. However the best way to utilise the past exams is to really dig into your mistakes and start seeing the trends of where you’re losing points. When you’re going over a wrong answer, it’s not enough to just see the topic and make a mental note of it. It’s important to understand WHY you got that answer wrong. Did you skip it in your preparation? Did you run out of time? Is there a fundamental misunderstanding in your approach? Why did the incorrect answer you pick seem like the correct one? This is where you’re going to figure out your weaknesses and correct them to make sure you get it right the next time, not because you remember the answer from your last attempt, but because you understand the concept 10 times better.
Another useful way to use your incorrect answers is to have a running list of all the topics you’re getting wrong week on week. So if week 1 you see that you got most genetics topics wrong, and then restudied it, but in week 2 you see you’re still making genetics mistakes it’s a very strong indicator that this is a topic you need to start from scratch in detail. Seeing what sections you’re improving in is valuable, but understanding what topics are your weaknesses has the potential to maximise your score in a much more direct way, especially if it’s a high yield topic.
Mark questions you “guessed” in the side column of the paper during the attempt, and while scoring the paper mark it as incorrect. This will give you a way better estimate of where you are at scoring wise, especially since there’s no guarantee on the day of the actual exam this would have been correct. Highlighting what you thought were difficult questions or longer to solve questions will also go a long way to see if there are common themes to address.
Some Final Advice for the Past Exams
There is some value in gauging your current level with no preparation. If you have just heard about the IMAT, it can be a good idea to just pick the latest paper and go into it blind with just a timer to get an accurate understanding of what your current level is. Even if you haven’t studied the topics in years, research shows that testing yourself before learning the material can prime the brain for learning these topics later on.
Start creating some healthy habits around the exam, that will help with your mental performance on the day. Getting a good sleep routine, trying to cut out some processed foods, limiting drinking and smoking etc. are all very easy ways to give yourself a cognitive boost that a lot of people like to ignore.
Use the past papers honestly, and don’t lie to yourself. If you guessed an answer, mark it on the question paper. As harsh as it may seem, don’t award yourself those points. On the exam day, it could go either way, and it’s just as likely that it would have been marked wrong.
Make sure you understand why you answered a question incorrectly, not only if your approach was incorrect, but also try to figure out why the other answers were correct, and what you should have known to get it right the next time. Keep a running list of topics you are continuously getting wrong to assess your weak areas and tighten them up before the exam.
Try to simulate exam conditions as much as possible, especially to help with mental preparation to overcome exam nerves. The exam is quite long, and if you’re not used to sitting and focusing for that long, it can be quite tough to get through it without breaks without adequate practice. This includes toilet breaks, as while they’re allowed, you’re going to be cutting down on your own available time for the exam, which a lot of students already struggle with.
Try to study from a variety of resources and not just stick to one text book. Be familiar with the latest IMAT syllabus, and use that as a map to plan out what your’e studying from various resources.
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Good luck in the exam future doctors.
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