If you are in Year 4 or Year 5 of high school and aiming for engineering in Milan, the calendar is closer than it looks: the call for the TOL (the Politecnico di Milano’s admission test) for the 2027/28 academic year is expected from January 2027, that is in about twelve to fourteen weeks. In Year 4 you can also take the test early. Preparing now means arriving calmly, without having to squeeze everything into two spring months.
Every year I see students who confuse the TOL with the TOLC-I (the CISIA engineering admission test), prepare for the second one and then discover that the score, the sections and even the way of thinking about thresholds are different. Here I put things in order the way I explain them in my lessons: how the test is built, how the score is calculated, what changes compared with the TOLC-I and how to use the weeks you have.
An honest note: I don’t yet know the exact dates and details of the 2027/28 call. What I write comes from the 2026/27 call and from the structure I use in the simulator on the site: for the year in which you enrol, check the call.
TOL and TOLC-I: they are not the same test
The TOLC-I is the test of the CISIA consortium: very many universities use it, you book it on the CISIA portal, it has four sections that count towards the score and a maximum of 50. The TOL, on the other hand, is the Politecnico di Milano’s own test: the university itself organises and marks it, with a structure of its own and a score that goes up to 100. It is not a variant of the TOLC-I: the weight of the sections changes, the presence of chemistry changes (there is none in the TOL) and the role of English changes.
If you need the full picture on the TOLC-I, I have written how to pass the TOLC-I and when it is worth taking it. For the TOL you reason with different rules, and the main reason is the weighted score.
How the test is built: the four sections
In the simulator on the site the TOL has four timed sections, for a total of 100 minutes:
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Logic, maths and statistics | 25 | 65 minutes |
| Verbal comprehension | 5 | 10 minutes |
| Physics | 5 | 10 minutes |
| English | 30 | 15 minutes |
Each question has five options. Three things strike anyone coming from the TOLC-I straight away:
- Maths weighs a great deal. The first section alone is 25 questions out of 65 in total and takes up almost two thirds of the time. Inside it there is maths and statistics but also logic: it is the block that decides most of the result.
- Physics is short. Five questions in ten minutes: two minutes each, so no long calculations. It is a matter of recognising the right law straight away.
- There is no chemistry. Anyone who revised for the TOLC-I can take that chapter off the list.
Verbal comprehension is a single passage with five questions: not much material, but it weighs a lot, as we will see in a moment.
The score: weighted out of 100, not a sum
This is the difference that matters most. In every section the base score is the same as in the TOLC: +1 for a correct answer, −0.25 for a wrong one, 0 if you leave it blank. Then, however, the score of each section is multiplied by a weight:
- logic, maths and statistics: weight 2.6
- verbal comprehension: weight 3
- physics: weight 2
- English: weight 1/3
The maximum is easy to check: , , and . Sum: .
There are two practical consequences. A correct verbal comprehension answer is worth 3 points, a physics one 2, a maths one 2.6, an English one barely 0.33. And a mistake costs in proportion: −0.25 times the weight of the section. A wrong comprehension question takes off points, an English one about 0.08.
This changes how you train: the five questions on the passage are not “few”, they are 15 points out of 100, as much as all of physics and half of English put together. Whoever sacrifices them to do better in maths often loses out.
An example with numbers
Imagine this paper (calculations done twice):
- logic, maths and statistics: 18 correct, 4 wrong, 3 blank → base points →
- verbal comprehension: 4 correct, 1 wrong → →
- physics: 3 correct, 1 wrong, 1 blank → →
- English: 26 correct, 2 wrong, 2 blank → →
Total: out of 100. A solid result, but below the 75 we will come to shortly. If in the first section you had finished with three more correct answers instead of three blanks, you would have added points: 77.25. You can see how much the answers you leave empty in the maths block weigh when you manage to eliminate at least two options.
On guessing, the same calculations apply as for the TOLC, which I explained in TOLC score: how it is calculated: with five options and −0.25 per mistake, a completely random answer is worth zero on average; with two options eliminated it rises to about +0.17 base points.
The thresholds: 30 out of 100, and 75 for those taking it in Year 4
From the 2026/27 call I have two numbers worth keeping in mind.
Minimum eligibility threshold: 30/100. Below this score you don’t enter the ranking. It is not an ambitious goal: it is the line that separates “the test is valid” from “it has to be retaken”. The score you really need for your degree course depends on that year’s ranking and isn’t fixed in advance: here too, call in hand.
Students in the second-to-last year: 75/100 in the first window. The TOL has two windows a year, one in spring and one in summer. If you are in Year 4 and take it early, a score equal to or above 75/100 in the first window gives you direct access to the early enrolment phase for the following academic year, without having to retake the test in the second window. For those who are clear about Milan it is a concrete advantage: you get it off your mind in the middle of Year 5, when you have the maturità (Italy’s school-leaving exam) to prepare for.
There is also a rule on English that the simulator reproduces: if you answer correctly fewer than 24 of the 30 English questions, in the courses taught in Italian an additional learning requirement applies. It doesn’t exclude you, but it is an obligation to make up afterwards: what counts is the number of correct answers, not the weighted score.
Why do it already in Year 4
I feel I can recommend it to those with solid foundations, for three reasons.
- You have one goal, not three. In Year 4 school still leaves you room; in Year 5 you have to handle the maturità, oral tests and the admission test all together.
- You have a second attempt. With two windows a year and the possibility of coming back, the first test becomes a diagnosis, not the only chance.
- With 75 you settle the matter. If in the first window you reach that score, you no longer have to turn up in the next window.
It is not for everyone: those who haven’t yet done trigonometry, logarithms and exponentials in Year 4 would do better to wait. I talk about it in maths for the TOLC-I: topics and exercises: the core of the maths is largely the same, because the maths-logic block of the TOL simulator reuses the foundations of the TOLC-I and adds a dedicated bank of statistics.
How to use the next twelve weeks
The plan I propose to my students, adaptable:
- Weeks 1-2: cold practice test. Take a complete TOL practice test without revising anything. Then look at where you lost weighted points, not raw points: a comprehension mistake costs more than an English one.
- Weeks 3-8: maths and logic. It is the block that weighs the most. Algebra, equations and inequalities, functions, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, analytic geometry, basic probability and statistics. One chapter at a time, timed exercises. For logic you need the question types: you will find them in logical reasoning: question types and worked examples.
- Weeks 9-10: comprehension and physics. Few questions but heavy ones: train fast reading of a passage and the fundamental formulas (kinematics, dynamics, energy, basic electricity).
- Weeks 11-12: complete practice tests every four to five days. Clock, pen and no unscheduled breaks. The aim is to stop losing points through haste.
I keep English in the background: a few exercises a week are enough, because it weighs little, but outside 24/30 you carry the additional learning requirement with you.
The mistakes I see most often
- Preparing only for the TOLC-I. The structure is different: weights, sections and English change the weight of every choice.
- Neglecting verbal comprehension. Five questions seem few, but they are 15 points out of 100.
- Spending too long on a maths question. With 65 minutes for 25 questions you have about two and a half minutes each: if after 90 seconds you have no idea, mark it and move on.
- Not looking at the call. Thresholds, windows and rules have to be read every year; what you find here is a guide, not a substitute.
Next step
The quickest way to see where you stand is to take the free TOL practice test: four timed sections and a weighted score out of 100 calculated as in the real test, with the correct answer to every question at the end. If you want a plan built on your weak points, we can start with a free 30-minute introductory call: we begin from the results of the practice test and decide what to study in the weeks you have.
