1.1 Test Architecture, Timing & the Sequential Test Interface

1.1 Test Architecture, Timing & the Sequential Test Interface

Key Exam Fact: The Online Bocconi Test gives you 75 minutes for 50 multiple-choice questions — an average of 90 seconds per question. The platform presents three questions per screen, and Bocconi's official Instructions and Rules of Conduct state that once you click Next you will not be able to return to previous screens. You may work among the questions on the current screen before advancing, but you cannot plan a later return to a closed screen. The standard 75-minute duration is a total test allowance, not a separate official timer for each question or screen; approved extra time is a separate accommodation.

The Online Bocconi Test is the entrance test that Università Bocconi in Milan uses to select applicants for its degree programmes. Bocconi offers two versions: the Online Bocconi Test, which is valid for an application to any programme, and the Online Bocconi Test – Law, which may be used only for the Law School programmes (Law and Global Law) and has a different subject mix. This guide covers the standard Online Bocconi Test.

For 2027–28, the Undergraduate School list includes Management, Economia aziendale, Management for the Arts and Cultures, Finance, Economics, Management and Computer Science, Mathematical and Computing Sciences for Artificial Intelligence, and International Politics and Government. Partner programmes such as World Bachelor in Business and the HEC-Bocconi Double Degree have their own selection procedures and timelines, so check their dedicated requirements. The test score is not the whole application: Bocconi weights the selection test at 55% and secondary-school grades at 45%, and accepts the SAT or ACT as alternatives to its own test.

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The Official Test Blueprint & Area Weighting

Bocconi publishes the exact composition of the test. It is 50 multiple-choice questions, described by the University as SAT-oriented, split across four subject areas:

Detailed Breakdown of the Four Content Areas

1. Mathematics (24 Questions — 48% of the Exam) Mathematics is almost half the test. The published syllabus is secondary-school mathematics: algebra (polynomials, powers, radicals, first- and second-degree equations and inequalities, 2×2 systems, absolute values, expressing one quantity as a function of others), functions (notation, inverse, composition, graphs of elementary functions), plane geometry (triangle, circle, square, trapezoid, rhombus), analytic geometry (points and distances, lines, parabolas and circles), trigonometry, set theory, logarithms and exponentials, discrete mathematics (permutations, combinations with and without repetition, sum and product rules), numbers (order properties of the reals, percentages, unit conversions), probability (including total probability, conditional probability and Bayes), problem solving, and statistics (frequency distributions, central tendency, dispersion). The ordinary conduct rules prohibit calculators. Practise manipulation and number sense without one, unless Bocconi has expressly approved a relevant support measure for your attempt.

2. Reading Comprehension (11 Questions — 22% of the Exam) Bocconi states that reading passages must be read carefully and that several questions follow each reading. Some questions test explicit information; others test the implicit meaning of the passage as a whole or of some of its parts. For the standard test, the passages deal with economic topics — GDP, deficit, inflation and similar — and may contain numbers, percentages and data that have to be understood and analysed to answer correctly. The cited syllabus does not specify a passage count or passage length. Treat any practice passage allocation as an editorial plan rather than a published test requirement.

3. Critical Thinking (9 Questions — 18% of the Exam) For this area, distinguish the standard-test description from the separate Law-test syllabus. Bocconi defines exactly two item types for it. In the first type, data and statements are presented and you must choose which statements are true (or false) depending only on the data provided. In the second type, a short passage containing assertions intended to inform or persuade is followed by a single assertion, and you must decide whether that assertion is true, false, or cannot be deduced from the text because information is missing. Coding, number series, blood relations and seating puzzles are not identified as separate standard-test domains in this published description. General logic drills may develop reasoning, but do not treat their labels as an official blueprint or assume that the Law test has the same content. Use the two published standard-test task families to choose practice exercises.

4. Numerical Reasoning (6 Questions — 12% of the Exam) Bocconi is explicit that advanced mathematics is not required here: the task is to solve the problem primarily through reasoning, paying attention to the data you are given. When calculations are needed they are generally simple; the real difficulty is reading a chart or table correctly, understanding it, and telling apart information that is critical from information that is superfluous.

Blueprint Summary Table

Bocconi says topics and difficulty levels are mixed through the test and that solution times vary. It does not publish separately timed subject sections or the subject-specific time allowances sometimes suggested by preparation websites.

How Many Answer Options?

In ordinary five-option practice, a blind uniform guess has five possible outcomes. The official scoring rule specifies a −0.33 penalty for three-option Critical Thinking questions, compared with the ordinary −0.20 penalty. Read the displayed choices and identify the applicable penalty; do not assume that every Critical Thinking question has three options. Knowing which item you are looking at therefore changes both your guessing odds and your penalty exposure — the arithmetic is worked through in Section 1.2.

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Booking, Language and Attempt Limits

The test is purchased and booked on an external webtesting platform operated by Giunti Psychometrics (bocconiwebtesting.giuntipsy.com), not on Bocconi's own site.

• Fee: €60 per test attempt, paid on the platform by card or PayPal.
• Attempts: at most four per test type during the available 2027–28 testing period. The conduct document uses “per year,” while the current test page ties the allowance to the platform period; do not infer an extra four attempts on 1 January. A further attempt may be purchased only after at least 24 hours from the previous purchase, and attempts cannot be taken on the same day or on consecutive days.
• Language: you choose Italian or English when you buy the attempt. Bocconi states explicitly that this choice is independent of the language of instruction of the programmes you are interested in.
• Eligibility: the current 2027–28 selection test is for applicants who already hold an upper secondary diploma or will complete it during the 2026/27 school year, graduating by 2027. Students graduating later are ineligible; the rules provide for invalidation and exclusion from future rounds if an ineligible student sits the test.
• Booking windows (AY 2027/28): Italian applicants may book from 13 July 2026 to 20 April 2027; international applicants from 13 July 2026 to 19 January 2027. The platform closes a few days before each application deadline, and it is unavailable during several published blackout periods, so book well ahead.
• Accommodations: submit the prescribed request at least five business days before the scheduled test. Where extra time is approved, follow the code instructions for purchase or the account correction procedure. Confirm the approved allowance before navigating test questions; if it is missing, stop and contact the provider as the rules direct.

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The Testing Environment & Recorded Proctoring

The test is taken from home under recorded supervision. Preparing the setup carefully helps avoid conduct violations; the University determines validity after review.

Required Equipment and Software

• A desktop or laptop on which you have administrator rights, with a webcam and working microphone, running updated Windows 10/11 or macOS 11+ with Google Chrome as the default browser. Read the current compatibility list before selecting a mobile device; meeting an operating-system minimum alone does not establish compatibility.
• A smartphone or tablet used for the side recording, running the ProctorExam app.
• A Chrome screen-sharing extension and Safe Exam Browser, both downloaded from the webtesting platform. Bocconi requires you to uninstall and re-download this software before every attempt.
• A stable internet connection; mobile hotspots are not permitted. External mouse and keyboard must be wired — wireless peripherals are not allowed.

What May Be on Your Desk

Under the ordinary setup rules, the desk may hold the computer, the identity document used for the application, one pen or pencil, two blank A4 sheets, a drink in an allowed container, and written or printed login details. Other desk objects must be removed even if switched off or disconnected. The required side-recording mobile device must also be positioned as instructed; this is not permission to keep an additional phone or other prohibited device nearby.

Unless a support measure has been expressly agreed with Bocconi under its accommodation procedure, prohibited items include: calculators, notebooks, notes and formula sheets, any online resource, generative AI tools or chatbots, internet-connected devices including smartwatches and additional phones, headphones and earphones of any kind, secondary monitors, privacy screen filters, and hidden recording devices.

Room and Conduct Requirements

• Use a quiet, well-lit room with one closed access point that remains visible in a camera view. The current rules exclude open-plan spaces, transparent-wall rooms, public locations, offices and test centres. Read the full room requirements instead of assuming that a tidy desk is sufficient.
• Position the mobile device at the specified 1.5-metre side distance, showing the applicant, both hands, workstation, computer screen and displayed content. Keep the required devices powered and the framing stable.
• You may not leave the workstation or the room for any reason once the preliminary checks are complete.
• You must remain visible in both the front webcam view and the mobile side view for the whole session.
• Your ears must be shown clearly and at close range during the pre-test checks, so hair must be tied back if necessary.
• Speaking, reading aloud or reasoning out loud is not permitted at any point.
• For the environmental recording, move slowly through the room and record the workstation above and below, floor, ceiling, seat and hidden areas as instructed. The wardrobe rule allows doors to remain completely closed and visible, or the whole interior to be shown before the doors are closed. If the required monitoring cannot be achieved, select another suitable room.
• The platform may request another room recording or require you to show calculation sheets to the webcam. Follow its instructions and restore the required setup; the conduct rules state that time used for requested supplementary checks is excluded from the test duration. The University may later compare the sheets with the recorded activity.

Recorded, Not Live

Bocconi states plainly that the system is not a live-proctoring system: no operator watches you in real time. Audio and video are recorded and reviewed by the University afterwards — recordings of AY 2027/28 attempts may be reviewed at any time until 31 July 2027 — and decisions on validity are never made by an automated process. The practical consequence is counter-intuitive: the absence of any warning or alert during the test means nothing. A breach that goes unflagged on the day can still invalidate the attempt weeks later.

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Sequential Navigation: The Rule That Reshapes Your Whole Strategy

Forward navigation changes how you allocate attention: you can use time on the current screen, but cannot plan a later return to it.

Official navigation rule: the platform groups three questions on a screen. Advancing with Next opens the following screen and closes access to earlier ones. The navigation panel does not remove that restriction.

A "Test Navigation" panel is shown on every page as a guide to where you are, but it is not a jump-anywhere question palette. Fifty questions at three per screen is 17 screens — sixteen of three questions and a last one of two — and each click of Next permanently closes one of them.

What This Rules Out

• No two-pass strategy. You cannot skim the test for easy questions and harvest them first.
• No flag-and-return. There is no bookmark you can revisit at minute 70.
• No end-of-test correction. When you click Finish, a summary page lists answered and omitted questions, but it is a confirmation screen before Submit All and Finish — not a chance to fix earlier screens.
• No refund or exemption if you advance through the test without realising you cannot go back; Bocconi says so explicitly, and the attempt still counts against your four.

What This Demands Instead

1. Try a brief scan of the current screen. An optional practice method is to identify an approachable item first, then distribute the remaining time among the other visible items. This is an editorial method, not an official sequence you must follow.
2. Use an adjustable time allowance. The equal-time reference is 4 minutes 30 seconds for three questions, including reading and checking. It is not an enforced ceiling. Faster earlier screens can leave time for harder later screens within the total allowance.
3. Make each decision before advancing. Record an answer or deliberately omit the item after weighing the evidence, uncertainty and remaining test time. Section 1.2 explains a conditional expected-points model; it cannot identify the correct choice or guarantee a result.
4. Check the current screen. Allow a short confirmation sweep before Next, checking both intended selections and deliberate blanks. A five-second sweep is one practice suggestion; it is not a platform rule.
5. Reassess a stalled item. A short initial check, such as 20 seconds during practice, can reveal that another visible item deserves attention first. Time spent on one item reduces what remains globally, but one slow screen does not by itself guarantee omissions or failure.

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Benchmark Pacing Protocol: The Screen Clock

With no backtracking, pacing is measured in screens rather than in questions.

Fifty questions at three per screen is sixteen full screens plus a final screen of two, and 16 screens at 4 min 30 s plus one screen at 3 min is exactly 75 minutes. This is an OpenExamPrep equal-time practice schedule, not a set of timers imposed by Bocconi. It includes reading, calculation and checking, and can be adjusted using the total remaining time. The table gives target opening times in elapsed minutes.

The three bolded columns are your checkpoints.

Checkpoint 1 — open screen 5 by minute 18

Four screens, 12 questions, are behind you. If minute 18 finds you only opening screen 3, you have passed 6 questions rather than 12 and are two screens behind this reference plan. Check the actual remaining time, reduce unproductive rereading, and practise allocating attention among visible items. A 45-second trigger may be tested in practice, but it is not a rule requiring a guess.

Checkpoint 2 — open screen 9 by minute 36

Eight screens, 24 questions, are behind you. That is 48% of the questions passed in 48% of the standard duration, matching the equal-time reference. “Behind you” means the screen has been left, not that its answers were correct. Bocconi says topics and difficulty are mixed, so do not assume that passages or harder geometry will appear later.

Checkpoint 3 — open screen 14 by minute 58–59

Thirteen screens, 39 questions, are behind you, leaving four screens and 11 questions in about 16 minutes 30 seconds. Use the actual remaining time to work among the visible questions without assuming a later return. Time saved now can still be used on later screens; the constraint is that a closed screen cannot be reopened, not that time is trapped on one screen.

A Note on Reading Passages

The syllabus says that several questions follow a passage, but does not publish a fixed passage count or a universal passage-to-screen layout. Read the material available on the current screen carefully and decide its visible questions before advancing. A later screen cannot restore access to an earlier answer, even when time remains.

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Concrete Strategic Example: Working One Screen

Here is an illustrative three-question screen using the editorial 4-minute 30-second reference. The timings are an example to rehearse, not a predicted subject order or a required ceiling.

1. Ten-second scan of all three items. Question A is a coordinate-geometry intersection, Question B is a bar-chart percentage-change reading, Question C is a critical-thinking assertion with three options.
2. Question B first (55 seconds). In this example, the candidate recognises the percentage calculation and records an answer. Relative to a 90-second reference, this uses 35 fewer seconds. The answer can still be checked while the current screen remains open.
3. Question A second (80 seconds). A substitution is checked by putting the result back into both equations. This uses another 10 fewer seconds than the 90-second reference.
4. Question C last (110 seconds). A and B used 135 seconds rather than 180, leaving 45 seconds of relative savings. This allocation adds 20 seconds to C's 90-second reference and uses 15 seconds for the scan and final sweep, leaving 10 seconds spare. The candidate distinguishes a statement supported by the passage from one contradicted by it or left undecided; simply failing to find a contradiction does not prove an assertion true.
5. Five-second confirmation sweep, then Next. Total elapsed: 10 s scan + 55 s + 80 s + 110 s + 5 s sweep = 4 minutes 20 seconds, ten seconds below this illustrative 4-minute 30-second allocation. No claim is made that all three answers are correct; they become inaccessible only after advancing.

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Free Official Practice Before Test Day

Bocconi's current preparation page describes its syllabus, the online test simulation, and The Faculty app, which offers subject- and topic-based practice on iOS and Android. The simulation uses 50 questions in 75 minutes, three questions per page and forward-only navigation, with a remaining-time display. It allows a performance review afterward but does not activate monitoring; its score cannot be used for admission. Use the simulation to rehearse the actual navigation rather than relying on a mental reconstruction, and prepare the recording setup separately from the conduct document.

Primary sources for this section, checked 30 October 2026: Online Bocconi Test, 2027–28 Instructions and Rules of Conduct, and Admissions. Check the applicable category and current rules again before booking.