The IMAT 2024 results finally came out on the 10th of October, 2024, and I wanted to break them down with you. We will discuss the scores, why they’re higher this year (or lower—depending on what happened!), and what it means if you plan to take IMAT 2025. I’ll also update this post as we get more info, so stay tuned for the latest details!

Now that we are a few months after IMAT 2024 and most of the rounds (of the “good” universities – I know I am being blunt, but I want to be as honest and open as I can), let’s look at how this year’s scores compare to previous years and what trends we can spot.

I want you to remember and understand something very important, especially if you are new to the IMAT, that the scores do increase yearly. Still, IMAT 2024 scores were extremely high because the exam itself was very easy.

From 2011 to 2022, Cambridge wrote the exam. Cambridge was known for writing very challenging (and, in my opinion, fantastic) questions that forced the students to think outside of the box under time pressure and not only memorize – honestly speaking, this is how a medical admission exam should be.

I took the exam in 2019 and scored around 50 – to get 50 back then on the exam, you needed to be in the top 5% of students. Today, for IMAT 2024, if you scored 50, you were in the top 35%.

Back to our topic: unfortunately, Cambridge (the specific part of it that was responsible for the IMAT and some other exams) shut down, and therefore, they no longer wrote the IMAT. Now, instead of taking their time and looking for someone else (there are plenty of similar companies) that can write questions for the IMAT, they waited and waited and then just wrote it kind of ‘last moment’ themselves (the Italian Ministry of Education), which led us to this situation – a crazy inflation of scores internationally and cut-offs for some universities that no one could have imagined to become this high. The Italian Ministry of Education proved they didn’t know how to write challenging exams, and the questions were just too easy, so many people got full scores in sections such as biology and chemistry (the math and physics were more challenging but still not as hard as before).

IMAT 2024 European Candidates Scores (And People Residing in Italy)

Here are the IMAT 2024 results for European candidates. As you can see, from my predictions earlier this year (and from my analysis of the actual IMAT 2024 in the video below), the results are significantly lower than the Non-European candidates’ scores. This means that many European candidates who didn’t study math and physics were still able to secure their seat in the first round. I will update this section once we have a better idea of the final cut-offs, which should be available in the coming weeks.

University	EU Seats	1st Round Cut-Off	Final Cut-Off
La Sapienza	45	65.5	65.1
Milano Statale	55	69.2	67.8
Pavia	103	61.8	–
Bologna	97	65.6	64.8
Padova	75	64.6	63.2
Tor Vergata	40	62	–
Turin	70	62.4	–
Bicocca	30	66.7	64.8
Federico II	15	64	61.4
Parma	75	60.3	–
Messina	55	57.6	–
Luigi Vanvitelli	60	59.5	–
Bari	69	59.1	–
Catania	30	58.4	–
Marche (Ancona)	20	60.2	–
Cagliari	80	56.9	–
Siena (DENTISTRY)	23	59.7	–
La Sapienza (DENTISTRY)	19	62.1	61.8

IMAT 2024 Non-European Candidates Scores (People With Non-European Citizenship)

This year, the IMAT 2024 results for non-European candidates were notably high. The primary reason for this is that the number of available seats for non-EU candidates is significantly lower compared to European candidates. In contrast, the number of non-European applicants continues to rise each year. This creates intense competition, pushing the scores higher. I’ve listed the cutoff scores below for non-European candidates at various universities. Keep in mind, I’ll update this section as soon as new information becomes available. Unlike to the Europeans, Non-EU candidates don’t have scrolling and rounds, so the list is conclusive and won’t change along the months.

University	Non-EU Seats	Non-EU Cut-off
La Sapienza	13	73.8
Milano Statale	15	75.3
Pavia	40	71.5
Bologna	20	74.5
Padova	25	71.6
Tor Vergata	15	60.6
Turin	32	70.8
Bicocca	18	72.7
Federico II	25	68.1
Parma	45	59.1
Messina	56	61.8
Luigi Vanvitelli	50	63.2
Bari	11 (8)	65.8
Catania	30	57.2
Marche (Ancona)	60	60.3
Cagliari	20	56.5
Siena (DENTISTRY)	12	69.3
La Sapienza (DENTISTRY)	6	73.1

IMAT 2024 Analysis: Comparing Trends Over the Years

From the table below, we can observe the overall trend in IMAT results, and there are a few key things to keep in mind. Remember what I said before, up until 2022, the IMAT was written by Cambridge, but starting from 2023, the Italian authorities took over the exam. This change brought with it a few significant shifts because how easy the exam was.

Beyond the fact that the exam was much easier, the 2023 and 2024 exams featured more biology and chemistry questions, while the logic section was simplified. The logic section used to have proper questions, but on IMAT 2024, they were mostly asking simple English language test-style questions as well as some grammar and basic comprehension questions. Even the math and physics questions, while still covering basic high school-level material, were more straightforward than in previous years. However, the overall difficulty of math and physics stayed about the same—the other sections became easier.

This is one of the main reasons why we’ve seen such a drastic increase in scores. Candidates can now achieve around 57 points just from the biology and chemistry sections alone. Add in the logic section, which primarily features basic probability and English questions, and students can reach scores as high as 70 points with relative ease, and this is exactly what happened and the reason the IMAT 2024 Scores reach record-breaking levels.

This trend has allowed European candidates who focused heavily on biology and chemistry to pass the exam. However, looking at the scores, it’s clear that nobody can afford to neglect math and physics anymore. The competition is only getting fiercer, and with scores continuing to rise, potentially even reaching 75–80 points in future exams, students will need to prepare for every topic. So now it doesn’t really matter if you’re European or non-European, unlike in the past couple of years when the EU scores were lower; if you want to pass IMAT 2025, you will have no choice but to develop a good understanding of all sections, including math and physics.

IMAT 2024 Non-European Candidates Scores Comparison (2021-2024)

University	2021 Cut-Off	2022 Cut-Off	2023 Cut-Off	2024 Cut-Off
Milano Statale	51.5	51.8	60.2	75.3
Bologna	48.9	51.5	59.1	74.5
Roma “La Sapienza”	53.1	52.6	50.8	73.8
Padova	46.6	50.7	49.5	71.6
Pavia	49.4	43.8	53.3	71.5
Bari	32.7	42.6	31.2	65.8
Roma “Tor Vergata”	47.7	44.6	53.4	60.6
Politecnica delle Marche (Ancona)	–	34.5	43.0	60.3
Parma	35.5	41.9	50.1	59.1
Cagliari	–	–	50.1	56.5
Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”	33.1	41.9	47.3	63.2
Catania	–	–	–	–
Messina	34.6	42.9	36.9	61.8
Milano Bicocca	42.3	49.2	54.2	72.7
Napoli Federico II	41.4	44.4	52.0	68.1
Torino	44.0	50.1	49.0	–

IMAT 2025 Predictions Based on IMAT 2024

Here is the thing: I highly doubt the Italians will go the extra step and start looking for people to write the exam properly. Honestly, I think they will again forget about it and then try to come up with something at the last moment, but here are some possible scenarios you must consider when studying for this unpredictable exam.

Before I continue, I will mention many predictions and tips on what to expect and how to choose a university in Italy. I know many of you are new to the IMAT, so make sure to check these out after reading this one.

1. If the IMAT 2025 looks like IMAT 2025, the scores will most likely be even higher, as more people will know they should also learn math and physics to stand out and get high scores. This will occur in the possible (and likely) scenario that the Italians will wait for the last moment to organize the exam and pull questions from that same easy question bank they used.
2. If they hire a new company to write the exam – we might see questions that are either more similar to the TOLC (the admission exam in Italian), which is fairly easy but at least written well, or even questions that are more similar to Cambridge. If they do it, we will have enough time to prepare because they will announce it a few months before.
3. If they change the syllabus to make it more similar to the TOLC (for example, TOLC-F), we might suddenly see questions from new topics such as basic ecology and anatomy and even basic plant anatomy, as they teach it in Italian high schools in Biology. While this event is unlikely, I recommend studying for it if you have the time. I don’t think it will happen because if they wait for the last moment, as always, they will just take the syllabus of last year, and that’s it.

I am attaching here some graphs of score predictions I created based on a scenario where point number 1 will take place. As you can see, I believe the admission scores might reach 75-80 for IMAT 2025 in some schools – this is only under the assumption that the exam will be very similar to IMAT 2024.

IMAT 2024 Student Score Examples and What We Can Learn From Them

In this section, I will share a few examples of my IMAT course students who took the IMAT in 2024, their strategy, and what they focused on and did to secure the seat in their situation. However, please note that this strategy worked for IMAT 2024. Still, it might not work for IMAT 2025, as the scores might increase even further. As a general rule, I highly recommend studying math and physics for the exam, even if you are European and taking the IMAT.

IMAT 2024 Score Student #1 (European)

What did they do to get this score?

The image above shows the average score (as seen from the system) of a European student who took the IMAT 2024, focusing mainly on biology and chemistry. As you can see, the students scored less in Logic, Math, and Physics, as they were focused more on Biology and Chemistry, scoring a lot of points there, but in response, a bit fewer points in the other section as they decided to neglect the other sections. Luckily, they have a score high enough to enter some universities as a European candidate. Still, if they weren’t, they would have had no choice but to practice math, physics, and probability for the logic section. A similar student might not passed IMAT 2025 with this score and strategy, by the way, because 60.7 was exactly on the verge in some universities, and I assume the competition will increase even further next year.

IMAT 2024 Score Student #2 (European)

The next student (above) is another one of my students. He is fresh out of high school, so he decided, as he remembers math and physics, to focus on bio and chem but also brush on the main repetitive common math and physics topics that I recommended him to study (during my class) So as you can see, his result is really similar to student #1, but he also secured his sit 100% by scoring some more points in math and physics, seems to be around 7 correct answers, and he skipped the rest.

IMAT 2024 Score Student #3 (Non-European)

The example above is an example of another of my course students, but he is non-European; therefore, for IMAT 2024, he studied math and physics well. As you can see, the student scored similarly to the previous student, but a lot more in the math and physics section, as well as logic, which was heavy in math! This is an example of an ideal situation on the IMAT and a score of the top 1% students.

What Can We Take From It For IMAT 2025?

Based on the IMAT 2024 results, here are a few key takeaways for students preparing for the IMAT 2025:

• IMAT 2024 was much easier, and IMAT 2025 will likely follow the same trend. This year’s exam felt less polished, and it seems the Italians didn’t put much effort into crafting the questions—maybe due to their limited experience or weaker English compared to Cambridge. Many questions were so simple that they could be solved within seconds.
• The cut-off scores for IMAT 2025 could rise even further. If the Italians continue writing the exam instead of hiring professionals specializing in science-based exams, we might continue seeing poorly phrased or overly simplified questions. While that’s frustrating, it’s an advantage for well-prepared students who approach this exam knowing this is how it is going to look like. Many of my students found IMAT 2024 a breeze as long as they were well-prepared.
• For IMAT 2025 preparation, you can continue using my study planner, available on my website. I will also release new free and paid study materials soon, updated explicitly for IMAT 2024 trends. Stay updated, and feel free to contact me via the live chat on this website whenever you need help. I’m here to make your IMAT preparation as easy and affordable as possible.
• Whether you’re an EU or Non-EU candidate, it’s now clear that math and physics are going to be critical. Most students will score highly in biology and chemistry because those questions are relatively easy. However, the real differentiator will be the math and physics sections, so be sure to focus your efforts on these subjects if you want to secure a seat.