IMAT test specs and topics list

The IMAT exam includes 60 questions covering reading skills, logical reasoning, biology, chemistry, and physics and you have 100 minutes to complete it.

The exam is awarded a maximum of 90 points based on specific criteria:

• + 1.5 points for each correct answer
• – 0.4 points for each wrong answer
• 0 points for each omitted answer.

To succeed on this exam, it is essential to understand the detailed syllabus, which can be found in the official attachment of the degree, translated into English.

In this article, we will analyze all the different topics you need to master during your IMAT preparation.

Section 1: General Knowledge and Logical Reasoning (Critical Thinking and Problem Solving)

Section 1 will assess general knowledge and the thinking skills that students must possess to succeed in a course of study at the highest level. Such skills are essential to any academic studies, which often require students to solve novel problems, consider arguments put forward to justify a conclusion, or promote or defend a particular point of view.

General Knowledge

General Knowledge questions may address various cultural topics, including aspects of literary, historical, philosophical, social, and political culture. These questions are not based on any specific part of school curricula; rather they aim to test the candidates’ interest and knowledge in a wide variety of fields. Candidates with a keen extra-curricular interest in current events who regularly keep up to date with national and international news will be better prepared to answer this type of question. The following examples are provided:

• Issues addressed during the studies or present in contemporary public discourse.
• Twentieth-century and current world history
• National indications and guidelines for “Citizenship and Constitution” (constitutional charter, communication, and the mass media, organization of the economy and political life, the different forms of state and government)

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Relevant Selection – Very often, a real-world problem will be overloaded with unimportant information. This kind of question demands Relevant Selection, in which the task is to select only the information that is necessary and helpful in finding a solution. Finding Procedures – Sometimes, you will find that no solution presents itself even if you have selected all the relevant information.

For this type of question, you have to find a method or procedure which you can use to generate a solution. Identifying Similarity – In this type of question you will be presented with information and asked to identify the same information presented in a different way or a situation in which different information has a similar structure.

• Summarising the Main Conclusion
• Drawing a Conclusion
• Identifying an Assumption
• Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence
• Detecting Reasoning Errors

To prepare for this section, you might find the book “thinking skills” very useful !

Section 2: Biology

• The chemistry of the living.
• The biological importance of weak interactions.
• Organic molecules are found in organisms and their respective functions. The role of enzymes.
• The cell is the basis of life. Cell theory. Cellular dimensions. The prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, animal and plant. Viruses.
• The cell membrane: structure and functions; transport across the membrane. Cellular structures and their specific functions.
• Cell cycle and cell reproduction: mitosis and meiosis-chromosome kit and chromosome maps.
• Reproduction and heredity. Life cycles. Sexual and asexual reproduction.
• Mendelian genetics: Mendel’s laws and their applications. Classical genetics: chromosomal theory of inheritance – patterns of inheritance. Molecular genetics: structure and duplication of DNA, the genetic code, protein synthesis. DNA of prokaryotes. The structure of the eukaryotic chromosome. Genes and the regulation of gene expression. Human genetics: mono- and polyfactorial character transmission; autosomal and X-chromosome-related inherited diseases.
• Mutations. Natural and artificial selection. Evolutionary theories. The genetic basis of evolution. Heredity and environment.
• Biotechnology: recombinant DNA technology and its applications.
• Anatomy and Physiology of animals and humans. Animal tissues. Anatomy and physiology of systems and apparatuses in humans and their interactions. Homeostasis.
• Bioenergetics. The energy currency of cells: ATP. Oxidation-reduction reactions in living things. Energy processes: photosynthesis, glycolysis, aerobic respiration and fermentation.

Section 3: Chemistry

• The constitution of matter: the states of aggregation of matter; heterogeneous systems and homogeneous systems; compounds and elements.
• Laws of perfect gases.
• The structure of the atom: elementary particles; atomic number and mass number, isotopes, electronic structure of atoms of various elements.
• The periodic system of elements: groups and periods; transition elements. Periodic properties of the elements: atomic radius, ionization potential, electronic affinity, metallic character. Relationships between electronic structure, position in the periodic system and properties of the elements.
• The chemical bond: ionic bond, covalent bond and metallic bond. Bond energy. Polarity of the bonds. Electronegativity. Intermolecular bonds.
• Fundamentals of inorganic chemistry: nomenclature and main properties of inorganic compounds: oxides, hydroxides, acids, salts.
• Chemical reactions and stoichiometry: atomic and molecular mass, Avogadro’s number, mole concept and its application, elementary stoichiometric calculations, balancing simple reactions, the different types of chemical reactions.
• Solutions: solvent properties of water, solubility, the main ways of expressing the concentration of solutions.
• Equilibria in aqueous solution.
• Elements of chemical kinetics and catalysis.
• Oxidation and reduction: oxidation number, concept of oxidant and reductant. Balancing of simple reactions.
• Acids and bases: the concept of acid and base. Acidity, neutrality and basicity of aqueous solutions. pH. Hydrolysis. Buffer solutions.
• Fundamentals of organic chemistry: bonds between carbon atoms, crude and structure formulas, concept of isomeria. Aliphatic, alicyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Functional groups: alcohols, ethers, amines, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, amides. Elements of nomenclature.

Section 4: Physics & Mathematics

Physics

• Physical quantities and their measurement: Fundamental and derived physical quantities. Systems of units of measurement: International and Technical. Multiples and submultiples. Scientific notation. Main conversions between units of measurement of different systems. Scalar quantities and vector quantities. Vectors and operations on vectors.
• Kinematics: Description of motion. Velocity and angular velocity, acceleration and centripetal acceleration. Uniform rectilinear motion, uniformly accelerated motion, uniform circular motion, harmonic motion.
• Dynamics: Concept of force as interaction between bodies. Forces as applied vectors. The principle of inertia. Mass and the 2nd principle of dynamics. Examples of forces: weight force, elastic force, static and dynamic friction. Action and reaction: the 3rd principle of dynamics. Impulse and momentum. Principle of conservation of momentum. Momentum of a force and angular momentum. Work and kinetic energy. Conservative forces and potential energy. Principle of conservation of mechanical energy. Power.
• Fluid mechanics: Density and compressibility of fluids. Gases and liquids. Hydrostatics: pressure and principles of Pascal, Stevin and Archimedes. Fluid dynamics: one-dimensional motion, flow and flow rate, continuity equation. Ideal fluids and Bernoulli’s equation. Viscous forces in real fluids.
• Thermodynamics: Equilibrium, concept of temperature, thermometers. Concept of heat and calorimetry. Modes of heat propagation. Heat capacity and specific heat. Changes of state and latent heats. Laws of perfect gases. First and second principles of thermodynamics.
• Electricity and electromagnetism: Electric charges. Forces between charges and Coulomb’s law. Electric field and potential, equipotential surfaces. Dielectric constant, capacitance, capacitors. Electrostatic energy. Series and parallel of capacitors. Generators. Electric voltage. Electric current. Resistivity, resistance, resistors. Ohm’s law. Series and parallel of resistors. Kirchhoff’s principles. Work, Power, Joule effect. Direct and alternating current. Period and frequency. Magnetic field of an electric current. Forces on electric currents in a magnetic field. Electromagnetic induction.

Mathematics

What are the math topics for IMAT?

• Number sets and algebra: natural, integer, rational, real numbers. Sorting and comparison; order of magnitude and scientific notation. Operations and their properties. Proportions and percentages. Powers with integer, rational exponent) and their properties. Radicals and their properties. Logarithms (in base 10 and base e) and their properties. Hints of combinatorial calculus. Algebraic expressions, polynomials. Notable products, n-th power of a binomial, factor decomposition of polynomials. Algebraic fractions. Algebraic equations and inequalities of first and second degree. Systems of equations.
• Functions: fundamentals of functions and their graphical representations (domain, codomain, sign study, continuity, maxima and minima, increasing and decreasing, etc.). Elementary functions: whole and integer algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, goniometric. Compound functions and inverse functions. Goniometric equations and inequalities.
• Geometry: polygons and their properties. Circumference and circle. Measurements of lengths, surfaces and volumes. Isometries, similarities and equivalences in the plane. Geometric places. Measurement of angles in degrees and radians. Sine, cosine, tangent of an angle and their notable values. Goniometric formulas. Resolution of triangles. Cartesian reference system in the plane. Distance of two points and midpoint of a segment. Equation of the line. Conditions of parallelism and perpendicularity. Distance of a point from a line. Equation of the circumference, parabola, hyperbola, ellipse and their representation in the Cartesian plane. Pythagorean theorem. Euclid’s theorems (first and second).
• Probability and statistics: frequency distributions according to character type and main graphical representations. Notion of random experiment and event. Probability and frequency.