The architecture admission test in Italy, in English

Architecture is one of the few degrees in Italy where the admission test is set nationally. The ministry fixes the format each year by decree. Every university that offers the degree runs the test to that format, in English where the course is taught in English. This guide explains the 2026/27 test and where English-taught degrees used it, so you can plan for 2027/28.

The format

The test has 50 multiple-choice questions, each with five options, answered in 100 minutes. They are split evenly across five areas of 10 questions:

• reading comprehension;
• knowledge and history, including the history of art and architecture;
• logical reasoning;
• drawing and representation;
• physics and mathematics.

Scoring is 1 point for a correct answer, minus 0.25 for a wrong one and 0 for a blank, so the maximum is 50. There is no national pass mark: you are ranked by score, though a candidate who answers nothing is excluded.

The rules that shape your strategy

• Each university runs its own test, on campus or online, by 30 September. For courses taught mainly in English, the decree requires the university to prepare an English version.
• Your result counts only at the university that ran it. If you want two universities, you sit two tests. When two run their tests on the same day, you can book only one. Places left unfilled can later go to candidates who sat the test elsewhere.
• Two rankings. Each university keeps one ranking for EU candidates and one for non-EU candidates living abroad, with separate places. For 2026/27 there were 7,320 places nationally, 531 of them for non-EU candidates abroad.

CISIA's TEST ARCHED, and Politecnico di Torino's TIL-A

Many universities hand the test to CISIA, which runs it under the name TEST ARCHED, at the university or from home. For 2026 CISIA listed 28 universities, most testing on 23 or 24 July, with some September sittings. Sittings in English were marked for Politecnico di Milano on 23 July and Politecnico di Bari on 9 September 2026. Sitting it from home needs a stable connection, a computer and a phone or tablet with a camera.

Politecnico di Torino ran the same national format under its own name, TIL-A, in person in Turin on 21 and 22 July 2026, in English or Italian. Politecnico moves its engineering admission to CISIA's tests from 2027/28, so check that year's call for architecture.

English-taught architecture in 2026/27

Bachelor's degrees in building engineering, such as Bologna's Building Construction Engineering or Sapienza's Sustainable Building Engineering, use the CEnT-S or the SAT, not the architecture test.

How to prepare

• Cover all five areas. Each is worth the same 10 questions, so a weak area costs as much as a strong one earns.
• Do not neglect history and drawing. Students from science schools often underrate the history of art and architecture, and the questions on drawing and representation.
• Practise the guessing decision. With minus 0.25 for a wrong answer, a blind guess among five options is worth almost nothing; ruling out one option makes it worth taking.
• Choose your university before you book. Because the score does not travel, your test date is also your choice of university.

Questions applicants ask

Rules change every year: always confirm dates in the official call for your year.