How to prepare for the TOLC-LP: the professional degrees test

The TOLC-LP is the youngest of the CISIA tests: it was created in 2022 for professionally oriented degrees and the first year it was delivered is 2023. It is also the shortest, 30 questions in three sections, and its shape misleads: it looks like a «light» test, yet the numbers CISIA publishes say that almost nobody scores many points in maths. Below you will find how it is built, who requires it, what the 2025 data tell us and how to prepare each section with worked examples.

What it is and who it is for

CISIA describes the TOLC-LP as the test required by some universities for admission to applied, career-oriented degrees. In its statistical report on 2025 it explains that it was created for classes LP-01 (technical professions for building and land), LP-02 (technical professions in agriculture, food and forestry) and LP-03 (technical professions in industry and information technology); in 2025 one degree of class L-23 (building science and technology) also appeared. There were 17 adopting degrees: 10 in Architecture and Civil Engineering, 5 in Industrial and Information Engineering, 2 in the agricultural, forestry and veterinary area. In 16 out of 17 the degree had programmed (limited) access.

As with the other TOLCs, the choice of test belongs to the university. An example: the Unimore degree in Technologies for Intelligent Industry (2026/27 call, 50 places) required the TOLC-LP, taken by 2 July 2026 for the first selection and by 10 September 2026 for the second, with no minimum score. Another professional degree, Horticulture and Floriculture at Sassari (LP-02), asked for the TOLC-AV for the same year: if you are aiming at that area read the TOLC-AV guide too. This is why the first thing to do is open the call for your degree and read which test applies.

The structure

From the CISIA «Structure and syllabus» page for the TOLC-LP (2026 syllabus, read on 29 October 2026):

That is 3 minutes per question: the TOLC with the most time per question. Scoring is +1 per correct answer, −0.25 per wrong answer, 0 per blank, maximum 30. English has no penalty and does not count towards the score. As CISIA explains, the questions are drawn from the banks of the other TOLCs: there is no easier «professional» level, just a selection of questions of the same kind.

The Maths syllabus listed by CISIA covers sets (including combinatorics), arithmetic (divisibility and prime factorisation), algebra (equations and inequalities), exponentials and logarithms, analytic geometry, plane geometry (including trigonometry), solid geometry, mathematisation (percentages, probability, units of measurement). Logic and Reading comprehension have no syllabus: CISIA writes that they assess aptitude and need no specific preparation.

CISIA’s numbers for 2025

From the CISIA report «TOLC-LP: statistical analysis of the data» (year 2025):

• 561 distinct candidates, 624 tests delivered (in 2023, the first year, there were 348 candidates).
• Average total score 12.5 out of 30, down from 15.7 in 2023.
• Section averages in 2025: Maths 3.4, Logic 4.9, Reading comprehension 4.1 (out of 10). In Maths the median is 3: half the candidates scored 3 points or less.
• Additional learning requirements (OFA) assigned through the TOLC-LP are widespread: 13 universities out of 14. In 9 degrees out of 16 (56%) only the Maths section counts; in the other 7 all sections count.
• Those who sat the test between February and April scored on average 14.6, between May and July 14.2, between August and November 11.2, and autumn holds 59.6% of all tests. These are different groups of people and the figure does not prove that preparing earlier is enough to raise your score, but it says one thing: most candidates wait until the last moment.

These numbers are not targets, they are a map. The practical conclusion: maths is where everyone loses points, so it is where an extra hour of preparation pays most, especially if your degree uses it for the OFA.

How to prepare, section by section

Maths: a high-school syllabus, fast execution

Mistakes do not come from difficulty but from calculations and skipped steps. Two examples in the style of the test.

A price rises by 20% and then falls by 20%. How does it change compared with the original?

The two factors multiply, they do not add:

so the final price is 96% of the original, that is −4%. The answer «unchanged» is the one the test deliberately puts among the options.

How many positive divisors does 360 have?

Factorise, $360=2^3\cdot 3^2\cdot 5$, and use the exponents plus one:

A third case, from plane geometry with trigonometry: in a right triangle with hypotenuse 10 and an angle of $30^{\circ }$ the opposite leg is $10\sin 30^{\circ }=5$ and the adjacent one $10\cos 30^{\circ }=5\sqrt{3}$. To review the maths the TOLCs share, start from the maths topics of the TOLC tests and the guide on probability and combinatorics.

Logic: a few patterns to recognise quickly

Necessary and sufficient conditions, orderings, syllogisms, questions on sets. Example:

Anna is taller than Bruno. Carla is shorter than Bruno but taller than Dario. Who is second tallest?

Put them in order: $\text{Anna}>\text{Bruno}>\text{Carla}>\text{Dario}$. Second is Bruno. The trick is to draw the chain instead of holding it in your head: with 3 minutes per question you have time. More patterns in the guide logical reasoning: question types.

Reading comprehension: answer from the text

Ten questions on one or more passages, 30 minutes. Method: read the questions first, then the passage once, and justify every answer with a line of the text. The two traps are options that are «true in reality but not said in the passage» and options that over-generalise («always», «all»).

Negative marking, with the sum

With $n$ options per question, a random answer is worth on average

In the site’s mock exams there are five options (the number is not on the structure page I read): random among five gives $E=0$, ruling out one $E=0,0625$, two $E\approx 0,17$. So answer if you can remove at least one option, otherwise leave it blank. With 3 minutes per question time is not the problem: the temptation to fill everything is, especially in maths, where the average is 3.4 out of 10.

Mistakes that keep recurring

1. Assuming «professional» means easy. An average of 12.5 out of 30 says the opposite.
2. Leaving maths to the end. If your degree uses it for the OFA, it is the section that decides.
3. Not reading the call. The test, the valid window (Unimore, for example, accepted TOLC-LP results from January 2025) and the tie-break rules are the university’s decision: always Maths, then Logic, then Reading comprehension in the Unimore call, but yours may differ.
4. Filling in answers. A reasoned blank beats a random guess.
5. One attempt, taken late. The TOLC can be retaken at most once per calendar month and the best result counts.

Dates

The TOLC-LP is taken in several sessions through the year at the adopting universities. The 2027/28 calendar and calls were not published on 29 October 2026, and I do not write dates I have not read. Check the CISIA calendar for the TOLC-LP and your university’s call; to choose the moment, see when to take the TOLC.

A five-week plan

1. Week 1. A timed TOLC-LP practice test to get the list of mistakes. Then read how to interpret a result in TOLC practice test: how to take it and read the result.
2. Weeks 2-3. Maths in blocks (algebra, equations, functions, geometry, mathematisation) with 25-30 exercises per block.
3. Week 4. Logic and comprehension: one logic question and one passage a day, timed.
4. Week 5. Two complete mock exams and a review of every mistake.

If you want to see where you stand before deciding how to prepare, you can book an introductory call. For the overview of tests and subjects: admission tests and maths. The TOLC score guide explains how to read totals with penalties.

Sources

Structure and scoring from the CISIA «Structure and syllabus» page for the TOLC-LP (2026 syllabus) and the report «TOLC-LP: statistical analysis of the data» (year 2025), read on 29 October 2026; Unimore call for the degree in Technologies for Intelligent Industry (a.y. 2026/27) and Uniss call for Horticulture and Floriculture (a.y. 2026/27), read the same day. Not verified: the updated list of degrees requiring the TOLC-LP in 2027/28, individual university thresholds, the number of options per question, session dates.