English-PSY test, Padova: the complete guide to the Psychological Science entry test

If you searched for «TOLC-PSY» or «TOLC Psychology in English», start here: there is no TOLC-PSY. The official CISIA list holds ten TOLCs (AV, B, E, F, I, LP, PSI, S, SPS, SU) and none of them ends in PSY. The test you are looking for is called the English-PSY. It is the entry test of the University of Padova (Padua, in English) for its English-taught bachelor’s degree in Psychological Science, and it is a different thing from the TOLC-PSI, even if the two look very alike.

This guide covers what the test is, who has to take it, how it runs at home, the application windows for 2027/28, and how to think about the score and the −0.25 penalty. Every fact carries its source and the day I read it; whatever is not published I mark as not verified instead of guessing.

What the English-PSY is, and why it is not a TOLC

Padova’s official test instructions, published in April 2026, call it the «English-PSY entry test» and state in so many words that it is not a TOLC test. It runs on the CISIA platform, under «Other tests», but the call, the dates, the thresholds and the ranking belong to the university. That has practical consequences: you do not choose your day, and you cannot retake it the following month.

Who it is for: applicants to the three-year BSc in Psychological Science (official programme page, code PS2959) and to the second English-taught degree that shares the same call (code PS2964). The requirements stated on the programme pages are a school diploma with at least twelve years of schooling and a documented English level of B2 by 31 July. The application fee is 60 euros, paid once and non-refundable, and one application can name at most two degrees.

Structure: 50 questions, 100 minutes, five timed sections

The test is entirely in English: 50 multiple-choice questions, five options, one correct, in 100 minutes. The five sections are timed separately, in this order (the order of the call):

When a section’s time runs out you move to the next one, and you cannot go back. There is no separate English section: unlike the TOLC-PSI, the whole paper is in English, so you pay for the language in every section.

Scoring is the standard one for this kind of test: +1 per correct answer, −0.25 per wrong answer, 0 for a blank, maximum 50 points. The rules that matter for the ranking, read in the calls (non-EU and EU, academic year 2026/27):

• Entry threshold: at least 10/50. Below it you are not ranked. It is a filter, not a target: the competition is played on the total.
• OFA (additional learning requirement) for enrolled students with fewer than 4 out of 10 in Basic mathematics or in Biology.
• Tie-break, in order: the sum of Reading, Verbal and Numerical; then Basic mathematics; then Biology; finally the younger candidate.
• If the result shows anomalies, the degree may call you to an interview, with exclusion if you do not attend or it goes badly.

How it runs: at home, with a second device

You take the test at home, under remote proctoring. From the call and the instructions, the requirements are:

• a suitable room (not open-plan) and a stable connection;
• a desktop or laptop computer: tablets are not allowed for the test;
• a second device (smartphone, tablet or another PC) for the video link with the invigilators;
• preliminary checks of 90 to 110 minutes, a recorded session, one attempt and no alternative date;
• the date is assigned by the university and cannot be changed. In 2026 the non-EU sittings were on 26 and 31 March, and the EU sitting on 21 April at 13:00 Italian time.

The causes of annulment include people entering the room, leaving full-screen mode, and a disconnection of more than 5 minutes in a row or 10 minutes in total. I mention it on purpose: the points are almost always lost in maths, but the attempt is lost in logistics.

One precision: for the video platform the non-EU call of January 2026 says Zoom, the April 2026 instructions say Webex, and CISIA announced on 23 December 2025 that Webex replaces Zoom for at-home tests. That is an inconsistency inside Padova’s own documents: when your convocation arrives, follow that.

Applications for 2027/28: what is published and what is not

The programme pages for the two degrees on apply.unipd.it (read on 29 October 2026) give these windows for academic year 2027/28:

Other data on the same pages: courses start on 1 October 2027, the application fee is 60 euros once, and there are 55 places for EU applicants and non-EU applicants living in Italy. For non-EU applicants abroad the 2027/28 number of places is not published (it was 45 in 2026/27). Above all, the 2027 test dates are not published, and the 2027/28 call is still «TBD» on both pages. If you read a 2027 date elsewhere, it has no official source for now.

One detail to avoid confusion: Padova’s banner about 2027/28 applications, with a first window closing on 15 November 2026, concerns most degrees and not these two, which have their own windows. For comparison, in 2026/27 non-EU applicants applied from 7 January to 7 March 2026 and EU applicants from 10 March to 10 April 2026; the 2027 EU window is shorter and starts five days later. Keep the university tests calendar bookmarked: we update it when the call comes out.

English-PSY versus TOLC-PSI: what really changes

The structure is that of the TOLC-PSI without the English part: the same five sections, the same timings, the same penalty. If you have already read the TOLC-PSI guide, most of the method transfers. The differences are in organisation and language:

The single attempt is the difference that changes preparation most: at the TOLC the first attempt is a diagnosis, here it is the real thing. You cannot use the first sitting to see what it feels like.

Strategy, section by section

There is no official syllabus with different weights per topic, only the list of themes, and this is how I read it.

Reading comprehension (2 minutes per question). Non-fiction, journalistic and scientific texts on psychological, human and social science topics and on current affairs. The call lists vocabulary, essential grammar, inference, hierarchical and semantic relations between parts of the text, implicit meaning and presuppositions. The advice is the usual one: read the five questions first, then the text, and accept only the answer the text supports, not the one that is true in the world. On top of that, get used to science-journalism English: one article a day, with the words you do not know in a notebook.

Basic mathematics (2 minutes per question). Sets (union, intersection, difference, complement, Cartesian product), number sets, absolute value, primes, GCD and LCM, powers and roots, algebraic expressions, first-degree equations and inequalities with hints of second degree and linear systems, functions, basic plane and analytic geometry. If you studied maths in another language, the new part is the vocabulary you may not have met in English: union, intersection, absolute value, prime factorisation, greatest common divisor, slope, perpendicular. A glossary of thirty terms keeps you from missing an exercise you could solve in your own language. The basics are on the maths page.

Biology (1.5 minutes per question). Chemical composition of living things, the cell, the cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis, Mendelian inheritance, DNA and the genetic code, human genetics and the basics of anatomy and physiology. Ten questions in fifteen minutes: you either know it or you do not. Study it in diagrams and keep the OFA rule in mind: under 4/10 does not remove you from the ranking, but it leaves you an obligation to recover. For the basic sciences there is the science page.

Verbal reasoning (2.5 minutes per question). Deductions on statements with «if… then», «all», «none», «some», «at least one»; necessary and sufficient conditions; discovering a rule and applying it; true or false against a situation. Here the English is the natural form of the exercise, which is one reason to practise it in English from the start. The logical reasoning article shows the question types with worked examples.

Numerical reasoning (2 minutes per question). Number series and rules, calculation and estimation, relations between numbers, reading graphs and tables. It is the most trainable section: a few question types that keep coming back.

Scoring and the break-even of the −0.25

With five options and one correct, a completely random answer is worth, on average:

Zero: guessing neither gives nor costs anything. The gain appears as soon as you can rule out one or more options for a reason. With $n$ options left the expected value becomes:

so:

The working rule is simple: answer if you can eliminate at least one option, leave it blank if you have no criterion. The break-even is a 20% chance, the same you have by pure chance: below it, it is not worth it. Be careful with «eliminate»: discarding an option because it «looks odd» is not an elimination. It counts when you can say why it is false. And do not chase these small gains at the cost of time: +0.0625 per question is not worth an easy question you never read.

The real target is something else. The site shows as a reference that the last admitted candidate of the 2025/26 ranking scored 34.50/50. It is not verified against the original document: we have not re-read Padova’s ranking, so treat it as an order of magnitude and not as a threshold. It changes every year with the places and the applicants. To see what it means: 36 correct, 6 wrong and 8 blank make exactly $36-6\cdot 0.25=34.5$. If a reference of this kind is right, the 10/50 entry floor is very far from the level that matters, and preparation should aim at very high accuracy, not at «getting through».

An honest note on practice tests: the questions of our English-PSY practice test are original, in the style of the test, and the splits per topic are indicative, not official. No public official past paper exists to calibrate against, so a good score there signals method and speed, not a forecast of your real score.

A preparation plan, counting back from the window

The test dates are unknown, but the application window is known. In 2026 the test came after the window closed (26 and 31 March for non-EU applicants, 21 April for EU ones), so count back from the end of the window, not from the start. An eight-week plan, to adapt:

1. Weeks 1-2, diagnosis. One full timed practice test and a list of mistakes with specific names («percentages on the starting value», «negating a universal statement», «analytic geometry vocabulary»).
2. Weeks 3-5, maths and technical English. Half an hour of theory and twenty exercises per block, in English, with a glossary. Every day a timed reading text.
3. Weeks 6-7, reasoning and biology. Verbal and numerical in volume, biology in diagrams.
4. Week 8, full practice tests under real conditions: room, computer, second device, backup connection. Rehearsing the logistics is part of the preparation.

How we work in lessons

I start with a diagnosis: a short reasoned test to see whether you lose points to the language, the method or the calculation. In lessons we work on questions in English, with a timed practice test every three or four sessions, reviewed one by one. If you want to know whether working together makes sense, book the free introductory call: in half an hour I tell you how many hours you need and on what. If I see you are fine alone, I say so.

For the full picture of the tests I prepare there is the admission tests page; for the basics of the language there is the English page; and if your Psychology degree is in Italian, you probably need the TOLC-PSI preparation.