IMAT 2025 Syllabus: Full Guide and Changes (Updated)

Hey everyone! My name is Ari, and I am a medical student at the University of Pavia! In this article, I’m going to discuss the syllabus of IMAT 2025, predictions, what to expect, how to analyze the PDF, and even possible changes that might occure later in 2025 that we must be ready for. During my research, I took all of the past syllabi of the IMAT, and also looked at the syllabi of similar exams conducted by similar entities of the people who manage the IMAT. In this article, you will find all the essential information you need to from start to finish about the IMAT 2025 Syllabus. By the way, a syllabus is just a PDF that the Italian Ministry of Education releases. It states the topic list that they will ask on the IMAT – that doesn’t mean every topic will necessarily be on the exam, it just means it’s possible, as well as assuring that other topics not in the syllabus will not show up at all.

While writing this article, it’s already 2025, and the IMAT will likely take place in September 2025. The syllabus is usually released in June, however if they are planning significant changes they announce it much earlier. Considering they haven’t announced anything thus far, we can use previous years’ PDFs as the syllabus for topics that will appear on IMAT 2025.

Section 1: Logic, General Knowledge, and Text Comprehension (7-9 Questions)

In IMAT 2024, we had a significant change that we also expect to have for IMAT 2025. Instead of the normal logic section that we are used to from past papers, we have a few questions, mainly about English, grammar, and comprehending the meaning paragraphs. This section delves into “Competenze di lettura e conoscenze acquisite negli studi”, which translates to ‘Reading skills and knowledge acquired in studies’. The best way to approach this section would be to read more English, solve past papers of the TSA (although it’s not really what’s being asked anymore, it will help you in analysing short paragraphs). The questions from this section on IMAT 2024 were surprisingly easy. I personally expect the same for IMAT 2025, so I wouldn’t be surprised if, we will see the same things and they will ask basic English and comprehension questions on the upcoming IMAT as well.

Study Resources for the Logic Section of IMAT 2025 Based on The Syllabus

To best prepare for this section, based on the past IMATs, here is what I generally recommend:

1. Don’t expect the normal logic sections we saw on past papers. The syllabus of IMAT 2025 and 2024 proves that we now have basic English comprehension and questions. You might even want to use English language exam practice books and questions if you need to work on your English.
2. Old BMAT Section 1: Past papers, especially those dealing with text comprehension questions, will be a good way to practice your logic. However, unlike past papers, don’t expect this style of questions to be the format. Do expect however to be ready for surprises, we never know with the Italians what might appear on the exam. So honestly, based on my experience, practicing a diversity of exams will allow you to prepare well).
3. “Critical Thinking” by Cambridge: It’s a pretty good book to have a good grasp over English logic. It will definitely improve your English and cover most of the things that might appear on the exam itself, probably even more.
4. TSA Past Papers: A very good resource similar to the BMAT I recommended earlier, just to practice logic in general.
5. The old format of the IMAT (2011 to 2022): Same goes for the past IMATs, as we see from the IMAT 2025. It is now different, so it’s not that important to practice the format; though solving these questions will help you improve your English skills.

In conclusion, in the IMAT 2024 there was a shift from the classic Cambridge-style logic questions, which we saw on past TSA and BMATs, to a English-language style exams, so you should practice accordingly.

Section 2: Biology (23 Questions)

The biology section of the syllabus is probably the most interesting part that students like to study the most. I don’t expect any significant changes in biology for IMAT 2025. However, I did analyze the syllabi of many similar exams (like TOLC-F, etc.) and I noticed 2 sections that aren’t in the IMAT but are in other exams, which are ecology and anatomy. It is possible they might add it for this year’s IMAT, but I highly doubt it. If they make any changes, this will most likely be the change. Those topics are fairly easy (for the IMAT level), and they usually ask very superficial stuff, like anatomical locations, very broad anatomical landmarks, and names of common structures and organs such as the bones in the limbs, the location of the liver, etc.

Topic List for the Biology Section of IMAT 2025 Based on The Syllabus

Based on IMAT 2024 syllabus I highly recommend focusing on the following topics:

1. Cellular Chemistry: Focus on understanding basic biochemistry, osmosis, and the basic idea of metabolism in the body.
2. Organic Molecules: They don’t expect you to memorize molecules but you should know functional groups and where you can find different molecules in the body.
3. Cell Theory and Structures: They love asking on the difference between the types of cells
4. Cellular Processes: This includes processes such as cell reproduction (mitosis and meiosis) and cellular transport mechanisms. They love these topics!
5. Genetics: They usually ask about Mendelian genetics and genetic pedigrees; you can see that in past papers, it was pretty major and I believe we will also see it on IMAT 2025.
6. Evolution: Mainly basic terminology and definitions like fitness, bottle neck effect, etc. They don’t really delve into calculations further than that.
7. Biotechnology: They love asking about the steps of PCR, and see if the student knows the different tools you can find in a common lab.
8. Anatomy and Physiology: They didn’t ask a single question on those topics on IMAT 2024 which was very weird and I don’t think this will continue, I do expect physiology questions in 2025.
9. Bioenergetics: Nothing much to add here, it’s mainly part of metabolism which you learn fairly early in Biology.

Study Resources for IMAT 2025 Biology Section

I wanted to share here a list of YouTube channels I love and always recommend my students to cover the comprehensive topic list of the syllabus of IMAT 2025!

1. YouTube Channels:
   • Ninja Nerd Science: I just LOVE Zach and the way he makes complex ideas super simple.
   • AK Lectures: This channel is great mainly for doing a quick review and seeing if you know everything, he takes the books we use and just reads them out loud. It’s really helpful.
   • Khan Academy: They are the classics, they have videos about everything. They are a bit boring so I recommend speeding them up but they are very good.
   • Amoeba Sisters: Engaging, animated videos that make complex topics more accessible, I love them and wish they had more videos.
2. Premium Material:
   • EnterMedSchool’s Full Course: A shameless plug. I am very proud of this course. I took 2 years off to work on it full-time and make the most popular and affordable course you can find (compared to how much content you get). I also offer scholarships for it, depends on your socio-economic situation.
3. IMAT 2024 Free Study Planner: One of my website’s most popular free study materials! It compiles the best books and which pages to learn from.
4. Free Biology Book: I wrote a biology book that covers important topics from of the IMAT. I should still update it based on the most recent one, but it overlaps almost fully with the current syllabus, so it’s still a great source to use.

Section 3: Chemistry (15 Questions)

The 2nd biggest topic of the IMAT 2025 is chemistry. The chemistry of IMAT 2024 was pretty basic; the questions were straightforward, similar to biology. My students solved them really quickly and then moved to the math and physics sections of the exam to get more points.

Topic List of The Chemistry Section of IMAT 2025

The 2025 Chemistry syllabus will most likely focus on the following topics:

1. Matter Constitution: Basic understanding of atoms, numbers, and compositions of atoms. These questions are really basic on the IMAT and they are pretty much free points.
2. Gas Laws: They always ask about ideal gasses and confuse Kelvin with Celcius, so learn how to convert between them!
3. Atomic Structure: Dive into atomic particles, atomic numbers, mass numbers, isotopes, and electronic configurations.
4. Periodic Table: The significance of groups, periods, transition elements, and periodic properties. They love asking about this topic, so you should memorize all the periodic table trends.
5. Chemical Bonds: Detailed analysis of ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds, bond energies, bond polarities, and intermolecular forces. They mainly compare them all in strength, shape, and boiling points.
6. Inorganic Chemistry Basics: Nomenclature, properties, and types of inorganic compounds.
7. Chemical Reactions and Stoichiometry: Understanding atomic and molecular mass, Avogadro’s number, the concept of moles, and basic stoichiometric calculations. They have basic calculations without a calculator on the exam. You should know how to use the formulas and remember them by heart because you won’t get a formula sheet on the exam.
8. Solutions: Solvent properties of water, solubility, and methods of expressing concentration. One of the topics they like to ask about is calculations of solutions before and after adding some solute or solvent to them.
9. Equilibrium in Aqueous Solutions.
10. Kinetics and Catalysis Basics.
11. Oxidation and Reduction: Understanding the concepts of oxidation states, oxidizing and reducing agents. They mainly ask oxidation numbers here.
12. Acids and Bases: Acidity, neutrality, and basicity, pH, hydrolysis, and buffer solutions. They can ask you to calculate the pH of something that you dilute or concentrate X number of times for example, they did it in 2024.
13. Organic Chemistry Foundations: Carbon bonding, structural formulas, isomerism concepts, and the study of various functional groups and nomenclature.

Section 4: Math and Physics (13 Questions)

Okay, so the math and physics of IMAT 2025 will be super important, so please make sure to study for them! What do I mean? On IMAT 2024, the biology and chemistry sections were very easy, meaning most students scored many points there. Then, the students who also scored high enough in math and physics were selected (especially among the non-EUs!). So I highly recommend reviewing this section very well and studying as much as you can, even if it means at least studying the topics that usually repeat (which I will mention below my prediction for IMAT 2025).

Topic List of The Math and Physics Section of IMAT 2025

Mathematics (Matematica):

1. Numerical Sets and Algebra: Operations, proportions, powers, radicals, logarithms, combinatorics, and algebraic expressions.
2. Functions: function basics, elementary functions, and related equations.
3. Geometry: From simple polygons to more advanced concepts like the Cartesian plane and the equations of curves and lines.
4. Probability and Statistics: Understand the basics of frequency distributions, the notion of random experiments, and the difference between probability and frequency. – This topic is probably one of the more important topics to study, because as you remember it also appeared in the logic section a lot on IMAT 2024, and will probably stay the same for IMAT 2025.

Physics (Fisica):

1. Physical Quantities and Measurement: Grasp the foundational and derived physical quantities, units of measure, and vector operations. – They love asking about converting units and rearranging formulas.
2. Kinematics: Explore motion and its parameters, including various types of motion like uniform, accelerated, and harmonic. They don’t really ask things with unique directions; the calculations are fairly basic, so remember the basic kinematics formulas, and that should be good.
3. Dynamics: Understand forces, their interactions, and the principles of dynamics. – Pretty common topics.
4. Fluid Mechanics: Delves into the properties and behaviors of fluids under different conditions. Not usually asked, but sometimes they surprise with one question.
5. Thermodynamics: Study equilibrium, temperature, heat propagation, state changes, and the laws governing perfect gases. Rarely asked on older IMATs, but they ask about it more on newer IMATs and is similar to questions in the chemistry section from the more advanced topics.
6. Electricity and Electromagnetism: Understand electric charges, fields, potential, energy, and circuits. This section also touches on magnetic fields and electromagnetic induction. – They love asking about circuits, Ohm’s law, and converting units.

Predictions for Math and Physics for IMAT 2025 Syllabus based on IMAT 2024

In my opinion, you should focus mainly on:

1. In Physics:
   • Kinematics: Especially topics related to velocity, acceleration, and different types of motion.
   • Dynamics: Primarily focusing on forces, inertia, and Newton’s laws.
   • Electrical Circuits: The understanding of basic circuits, Ohm’s Law, and Kirchhoff’s principles.
2. In Mathematics:
   • Functions: Go over the basics, the behavior of various types, and their graphical representations.
   • Probability: Given its relevance in various medical scenarios, it’s a vital topic for the logic section, not only for math.
   • Basic Algebra: Particularly equations, inequalities, and algebraic expressions. I highly recommend practicing rudimentary algebra concepts such as operations, powers, fractions etc. It might seem redundant at first, but a strong algebraic base is imperative to your success in this section.