Lesson 1 of 42 · Getting started
How the Online Bocconi Test works: format, scoring and pacing
The 50 questions, the four areas, three questions per screen with no going back, the scoring rules and the 17-point floor, and a pacing plan.
About 18 minutes
In this lesson
- Describe the length, timing, areas and question counts of the standard Online Bocconi Test.
- Explain what sequential navigation, three questions per screen and no calculator mean for how you work.
- Compute a score from right, wrong and blank answers, including the three-option critical thinking penalty.
- Build a pacing plan with checkpoints from the time and the number of screens.
The idea
The shape of the test
The standard Online Bocconi Test, used for admission to Bocconi's bachelor's programmes, has 50 multiple-choice questions in 75 minutes. You take it online, in Italian or in English; the language you choose does not have to match the language of the programme you apply to. Bocconi describes the questions as designed in line with the SAT.
| Area | Questions | Share of the test |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 24 | 48% |
| Reading comprehension | 11 | 22% |
| Numerical reasoning | 6 | 12% |
| Critical thinking | 9 | 18% |
The areas are not separate timed sections. Bocconi says the questions are distributed in a mixed way, both by difficulty and by topic, so a reading question can follow a probability question, and a hard question can come early. There is one clock for the whole test.
- Mathematics is almost half the test, and it covers a wide syllabus: algebra, functions, plane and analytic geometry, trigonometry, sets, logarithms and exponentials, counting, numbers, probability and statistics.
- Reading comprehension asks about explicit information and implicit meaning. Passages for the standard test can deal with economic topics and can contain numbers and data.
- Numerical reasoning needs no advanced mathematics; the calculations are simple, and the difficulty is usually reading a chart or table correctly.
- Critical thinking has two kinds of question: judging which statements are true (or false) from given data, and judging whether an assertion about a short passage is true, false or cannot be deduced. That second kind has three options, not four.
There is also a separate Law version, with a different mix of areas, which is valid only for the integrated Master of Arts in Law and Global Law. The standard test is valid for any programme, and this course follows it.
Screens and navigation
Questions appear three to a screen. When you press Next, you move to the following screen and cannot return to the screens before it. At the end, Finish shows a summary of the questions you answered and omitted, followed by the final submission.
This rule changes how you work. On most computer tests you can skip a hard question and come back to it. Here, the moment to decide about a question is while its screen is open. Leaving it blank "for later" means leaving it blank for good.
No calculator
Calculators, notes and formula sheets are not allowed. Every calculation must be done by hand or in your head, so simplify before you calculate, and save time with estimation, factoring and the algebra identities. Practise without a calculator from the start.
Scoring
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| Right | |
| Blank | |
| Wrong | |
| Wrong, on a three-option critical thinking question |
The total includes the penalties, so the maximum is 50. Bocconi does not consider a total lower than 17. A score of exactly 17 is not below the floor.
You may take the test up to four times per test type in the same year.
A pacing plan (our suggestion)
Bocconi sets the time; how to spend it is up to you. Spread evenly, 75 minutes over 50 questions is
and a screen of three questions gets about minutes. Fifty questions at three per screen make about 17 screens. Checkpoints are easier to use than a per-question count: about 15 questions answered at 22.5 minutes, 30 at 45 minutes and 45 at 67.5 minutes.
The average hides a spread. Some questions take 30 seconds and some take three minutes. Because there is no going back, the useful habit is to watch the time per screen: if a screen has taken much longer than its share, decide on the last open question there and move on, using the expected-value reasoning in the next lesson, negative marking and guessing.
Worked examples
Example 1: Turning 75 minutes into checkpoints
Build a simple checkpoint plan for the 50-question, 75-minute test, so that you can tell at a glance whether you are on pace.
Find the even rate: minutes per question, so a screen of three is minutes.
Pick checkpoints every five screens (15 questions): minutes, minutes, minutes.
Check the end: the last 5 questions get minutes, which is again .
Round to times you can read off a clock quickly: about 22, 45 and 67 minutes, leaving a few seconds of margin at each.
Answer
Aim for 15 questions done by about 22 minutes, 30 by 45 minutes and 45 by about 67 minutes. Dividing 75 by the number of screens (about 17) instead of the number of questions gives the time per screen, not per question; mixing the two up makes the plan wrong by a factor of three.
Example 2: Working out a total
A candidate answers 32 questions correctly and 9 wrongly, and leaves 9 blank. Of the wrong answers, 2 were three-option critical thinking questions. What is the total?
Check the counts add up: .
Right answers: points. Blanks: .
Split the wrong answers by penalty: at give ; at give .
Total: .
Answer
The total is . Charging every wrong answer at would give , which overstates the total because two of the wrong answers carried the larger penalty.
Example 3: Deciding before you press Next
Twelve minutes into the test you are on the third screen. You have answered two of its three questions, and the third, an algebra question, looks long. Your checkpoint plan says you should have reached about question 8. What should you think through before pressing Next?
Locate yourself: question 9 is the last one on screen 3, and 8 questions at minutes would be 12 minutes, so you are roughly on pace.
Remember the rule: once you press Next, this question is closed for good. There is no "come back later".
Spend what the plan allows: about minutes on this question. If you can rule out one or two options in that time, the expected value of answering rises (see the next lesson).
If the time runs out, make the decision now: answer with what you have, or leave it blank on purpose, then move on without carrying the question in your head.
Answer
Give the question its share of time, then decide on it while the screen is open. Skipping it "for later", as on tests that allow going back, simply turns it into a blank.
Common traps
Planning to come back
Habits from school tests and from other computer tests say "skip it and return at the end". On this test, pressing Next closes the screen. The summary page at the end lists omitted questions, but the screens you have left do not reopen. Decide on every question before you leave its screen.
Treating a wrong answer as free
A wrong answer costs points, or on three-option critical thinking questions. Small as that is, it is not zero, and a habit of filling every blank without thought adds up. The next lesson shows exactly when an answer is worth giving.
Expecting the areas in blocks
Because the areas are mixed by topic and by difficulty, you cannot plan "maths first, then reading". Plan your time per screen, and do not assume the hardest questions come at the end.
Practising with a calculator
If your practice uses a calculator, your timing in practice will not match the test. Do arithmetic by hand from the start, and learn to simplify before calculating: factor, cancel and estimate.
Check yourself
Answer each question before you open its answer.
Question 1: Ahead or behind?
Test format
Using an even pace for the whole test, a candidate has answered 21 questions after 36 minutes. How does this compare with the plan?
- A.About 4.5 minutes ahead of pace
- B.Exactly on pace
- C.About 4.5 minutes behind pace
- D.About 15 minutes behind pace
Show the answer
Answer: C. About 4.5 minutes behind pace
Working
The even pace is minutes per question, so 21 questions should take minutes. The candidate has used 36 minutes, minutes more than planned: behind pace.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. The gap is right but the direction is reversed: the plan allows minutes for 21 questions, and 36 minutes is more than that.
- B. On pace at 36 minutes would mean questions answered, not 21.
- D. This uses one minute per question (). The even pace is 75 minutes over 50 questions, minutes each.
What carries over
Compare the time used with the time the plan allows for the questions done, not with a one-minute-per-question guess.
Question 2: What the navigation rules mean
Test format
Which statement about the Online Bocconi Test is correct?
- A.You may go back to an earlier screen as long as time remains.
- B.Once you press Next, you cannot return to the screens you have left, so each question must be settled while its screen is open.
- C.The summary page at the end lets you go back and answer the questions you omitted.
- D.Each area has its own time limit, so unused minutes in one area are lost.
Show the answer
Answer: B. Once you press Next, you cannot return to the screens you have left, so each question must be settled while its screen is open.
Working
The rules give three questions per screen and sequential navigation: after Next there is no return to previous screens. The final summary shows what was answered and omitted, and the whole test runs on a single 75-minute clock with the areas mixed. Only the statement about settling each question while its screen is open matches these rules.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. After Next, the earlier screens cannot be reopened, whatever the time left.
- C. The summary lists answered and omitted questions before you submit; it does not reopen the screens you have left.
- D. There is one 75-minute clock; the areas are mixed together rather than timed separately.
What carries over
Plan as if every screen is final, because it is.
Question 3: Who reaches the floor?
Scoring
Bocconi does not consider totals lower than 17. Four candidates each finished the 50 questions with the results below; "three-option" means a three-option critical thinking question. Whose total is considered?
- A.18 right, 10 wrong (none three-option), 22 blank
- B.19 right, 12 wrong (6 of them three-option), 19 blank
- C.20 right, 15 wrong (none three-option), 15 blank
- D.18 right, 7 wrong (4 of them three-option), 25 blank
Show the answer
Answer: C. 20 right, 15 wrong (none three-option), 15 blank
Working
Compute each total with the penalties included. First candidate: . Second: . Third: . Fourth: . Only the total of exactly 17 is not lower than 17, so only the candidate with 20 right and 15 wrong is considered.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Counting only the 18 right answers misses the penalties: , below 17.
- B. The three-option penalty is larger: , below 17.
- D. , just below 17.
What carries over
The floor applies to the total after penalties, and a total equal to 17 is not below it.
Key points
50 questions in 75 minutes: 24 mathematics, 11 reading, 6 numerical reasoning, 9 critical thinking, all mixed together.
Three questions per screen, and no return after Next: settle each question while its screen is open.
Right , blank , wrong , or on three-option critical thinking questions; totals below 17 are not considered.
No calculator: practise every calculation by hand.
An even pace is 90 seconds per question, about 4.5 minutes per screen.
All questions here are original and written for UniExamer; none comes from the test maker.
Written by the UniExamer team with AI assistance. Every worked example and check question was re-solved by an independent checker before publication. No subject expert has reviewed this lesson yet. If you find a mistake, write to support@uniexamer.com.