Italy's TOLC Tests and Medicine Entrance Exam: How Selective Admission Works

What TOLC is for

TOLC (Test OnLine CISIA) is a family of standardized tests used by most Italian universities to assess whether you have the basic knowledge needed to start a specific type of degree. CISIA, the consortium that runs the tests, offers 10 different TOLC variants : TOLC-I for engineering, TOLC-E for economics, TOLC-S for science, TOLC-B for biology, TOLC-F for pharmacy, TOLC-SU for humanities, TOLC-PSI for psychology, TOLC-SPS for political science, TOLC-LP for professional single-cycle degrees, and TOLC-AV for agriculture and veterinary-adjacent fields.

Unlike a strict entrance exam, TOLC in most cases is not pass or fail. Universities use your score to check readiness, and many programs admit you regardless of your result, sometimes attaching an OFA (Obbligo Formativo Aggiuntivo), an extra study requirement you clear during your first year if your score falls under a threshold in a specific subject area, commonly mathematics.

Who needs to sit TOLC

Requirements vary by university and degree, but most public universities ask every incoming student on a TOLC-linked program to sit the relevant test before enrollment, or immediately after if the university tests on-site during orientation. A number of universities waive this requirement if your final secondary-school grade clears a set threshold, so check your target university's admission page before booking a session you might not need.

How registration and testing work

You register and book your TOLC session through the reserved area on testcisia.it, a process CISIA describes as five steps: creating your account, choosing your TOLC type, selecting a test date and venue (or the remote online option), paying the fee, and confirming your booking. Each TOLC type runs on multiple dates through the year at different universities, so you often have several chances to sit the same test type if you want to improve your score.

International applicants use the same testcisia.it registration system as Italian students. If you plan to apply from outside Italy, confirm with your target university whether it accepts remote TOLC sittings or requires you to test in person at an Italian venue, since this varies by program.

Universities that use their own test instead

Not every Italian university plugs into the TOLC system. A number of institutions, including some of the most selective ones for economics and engineering, run their own separate admission tests rather than a CISIA TOLC. These tests often cover similar subject ground, math, logic, and reading comprehension, but follow their own format, timeline, and registration process entirely outside testcisia.it.

Check each university's own admission page rather than assuming TOLC applies everywhere, since mixing up a university-specific test with the general TOLC system is a common and avoidable mistake among international applicants.

Medicine and dentistry: a system in transition for 2025-26

Until recently, Italy ran a separate, tightly capped national entrance test for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, sat on one fixed day nationwide, with places (numero chiuso) allocated strictly by rank on that single test score. This kept medicine outside the general TOLC framework used by most other degrees.

For the 2025-26 admission cycle, Italy changed this model. Rather than one test deciding your place before you start, more students begin the course, and results from a common first semester of exams determine who continues in medicine and who moves to a related, uncapped degree with credit recognition for the work already completed. The exact subjects, credit thresholds, and timeline for this new model sit with the Ministry of University and Research and each participating university, so confirm the current details directly with your target medical faculty before applying, since the new model is still settling into its final form this cycle.

Choosing the right TOLC and preparing

• Check your target degree's admission page for the exact TOLC variant it requires. Some programs accept more than one type.

• Sit an earlier TOLC session if your university allows retakes, so a low score does not become your only attempt before enrollment opens.

• Practice with CISIA's own released sample questions rather than generic test-prep material, since TOLC content and structure differ by variant.

• If your score triggers an OFA, plan to clear it early in your first semester. It usually does not cost extra, but it adds coursework on top of your normal timetable.

Why this structure works differently from other countries

Compared with a single national ranking test like Austria's MedAT or Germany's HAM-Nat, Italy's TOLC system spreads assessment across many subject-specific tests instead of one universal exam. Most degrees treat your score as a diagnostic tool rather than a hard cut-off, which puts less weight on a single test day than systems where one score decides your place outright.

Medicine remains the exception, and with its move away from a single entrance test for 2025-26, Italy now runs one of the more unusual admission models in Europe for the subject. Track official guidance from your target university closely if you are applying for medicine or dentistry during this transition period, since rules that applied in previous cycles no longer describe the current process.