The Bocconi Online Test: Complete Guide (2026/27)

The Online Bocconi Test is the main entrance route to Bocconi University's English-taught bachelor programs. It is short, fast-paced, and scored in a way that rewards a deliberate strategy as much as raw knowledge. This guide covers exactly what it is, how it is structured and scored, and how to prepare — based on Bocconi's own published admissions information.

Dates, fees and the marking scheme can change each cycle. Always confirm the current details on Bocconi's official admissions pages before you plan.

What the test is

The Online Bocconi Test is taken from home through Bocconi's web-testing platform with live proctoring. You can take it in English or Italian, regardless of the language of the program you apply to. It is designed in an SAT-oriented style: multiple-choice, broad in scope, and built to be answered quickly.

The test is one of three ways to satisfy Bocconi's selection-test requirement — the others are the SAT and ACT. For most international applicants the Bocconi Test is the simplest route because you can sit it online and get your result quickly.

Structure: 50 questions, four areas

The test has 50 multiple-choice questions split across four areas:

• Mathematics — 24 questions. Nearly half the test, and the section that moves your score the most.
• Reading Comprehension — 11 questions. Understanding explicit and implicit meaning in a passage.
• Critical Thinking — 9 questions. Judging, from the text or data alone, whether a statement is true, false, or cannot be deduced.
• Numerical Reasoning — 6 questions. Reasoning over charts, tables and data — not advanced maths.

Questions are mixed by topic and difficulty throughout, so moving smoothly between question types is part of the challenge.

Timing: 75 minutes

You have 75 minutes for all 50 questions — about 90 seconds each on average, though some take far less and some far more. Pacing is a skill in its own right: the students who struggle are usually the ones who spend too long early and run out of time, not the ones who don't know the material.

Scoring and negative marking

This is where the Bocconi Test differs from a normal school exam:

• Correct answer: +1 point
• Unanswered: 0 points
• Wrong answer: −0.2 points (−0.33 for the three-option Critical Thinking questions)

The negative marking is the single most important thing to understand before you sit the test, because it changes how you should treat questions you're unsure about. We cover the maths of when to guess in a dedicated guide — but the short version is that Bocconi's penalties are relatively mild, so leaving questions blank is rarely the right move.

The minimum score

A total score (after penalties) below 17 is not considered in the selection process. Separately, if you apply to the Bachelor in Mathematical and Computing Sciences for Artificial Intelligence (BAI), you must score at least 11 out of 28 in the Mathematics area to be considered for that program.

Attempts, fees and how it fits the decision

You can take the test up to four times per academic year (not on the same day or on consecutive days), and you choose which score to use. Each attempt has a €60 fee paid to Bocconi.

Your selection-test score is roughly 50–55% of the admission decision; your high-school transcript makes up the rest, with attention to course rigour and quantitative strength — not just GPA.

Application rounds: apply early

Bocconi admits in three rounds — Early, Winter and Spring. The rounds matter more than most applicants realise: the large majority of places are filled in the first two rounds, with only a small share left for Spring. If you're ready, applying early is almost always the stronger move. We break the rounds down — including the trap that the test closes a few days before each application deadline — in a separate guide.

How to prepare

1. Map the Mathematics syllabus first. It's the biggest section and the most coachable. Work through the official topic list and turn weak spots into practice.
2. Practise under time and negative marking. Realistic, scored mocks build both pacing and the instinct for when to answer.
3. Don't neglect the reading sections. Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking reward careful, evidence-only reading — a trainable skill.
4. Use your attempts deliberately. With up to four tries, plan to peak on the attempt that counts rather than burning them early.

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Source: Bocconi University official admissions pages (Online Bocconi Test). Figures such as acceptance rates and applicant volumes are third-party estimates and are not published officially by Bocconi. BocconiPrep is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Bocconi University.