What to Focus & How to Prepare?
Official subject areas, question-bank frequency analysis, difficulty rankings, solved sample problems and a 10-week study plan. Master the 24 mathematics questions — almost half of the Online Bocconi Test.
Mathematics is the largest area of the Online Bocconi Test: 24 of the 50 questions, mixed with the other areas in a single 75-minute sitting. Bocconi lists twelve subject areas, from algebra and analytic geometry to conditional probability and Bayes' theorem.
Mathematics can decide the whole test: the minimum total score is 17, and applicants to Mathematical and Computing Sciences for AI also need at least 11/24 here. The Law version of the test has only 5 mathematics questions (plane and analytic geometry, sets and numbers).
Which topics demand your deepest attention? Below is the topic breakdown from our Bocconi question data:
| Topic | Items | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algebra | 41 | 24% | |
| Probability | 24 | 14% | |
| Parabolas, Lines & Circles | 22 | 13% | |
| Combinatorics (Discrete Mathematics) | 21 | 12% | |
| Numbers, Powers & Percentages | 14 | 8% | |
| Logarithms & Exponentials | 12 | 7% | |
| Functions & Graphs | 10 | 6% | |
| Sets | 9 | 5% | |
| Statistics | 7 | 4% | |
| Trigonometry | 6 | 4% | |
| Plane Geometry | 5 | 3% |
*Share of 171 Bocconi Mathematics past-exam questions in the PrepTest question bank, tagged by question type. Bocconi does not publish past papers or an official topic split. These figures are derived from the past-exam question samples that have reached us; the samples may be incomplete or contain errors, and the topic mix can change from one exam session to the next. Treat them as a guide to priorities, not a prediction of your exam.
Not all topics require the same time investment. Some need extensive problem-solving practice, others rely on precise conceptual recall:
Take the free Bocconi diagnostic test: see your baseline in every section and get a personalised AI study plan.
Take Diagnostic TestA topic-by-topic look at the Mathematics section of the official Online Bocconi Test outline:
How it appears on Bocconi: Rearranging formulas, quadratic inequalities and ‘which number is largest?’ comparisons. Distractors come from sign errors and squaring both sides carelessly.
How it appears on Bocconi: Matching a formula to its graph and counting solutions graphically (‘how many times does meet ?’).
How it appears on Bocconi: Tangency and intersection conditions via the discriminant of the combined equation — the most typical Bocconi geometry item.
How it appears on Bocconi: Short identity checks and Venn-diagram counting; rarely more than one or two questions.
How it appears on Bocconi: Committees, codes and seating plans. The complement (‘total minus none’) is usually the fastest route.
How it appears on Bocconi: Two-stage scenarios (‘a randomly chosen student studied abroad — what is the probability that…?’) and frequency tables read as conditional probabilities.
The official test structure and subject areas are published by Università Bocconi (there is no separate syllabus document):
Bocconi — Online Bocconi TestSee how Bocconi mathematics questions are built and how disciplined elimination avoids the −0.2 penalty:
Recurring conceptual and tactical errors that cost students crucial points:
‘Studied abroad and takes Economics’ is not ‘takes Economics given studied abroad’. Divide by the probability of the condition.
Two points need , tangency . Options with ≥ instead of > are planted.
Use the complement: total minus the cases with none.
Multiplying by a negative number or taking a logarithm with base < 1 reverses the inequality.
75 minutes for 50 mixed questions is 90 seconds each. Skip, flag and return; a blank costs 0, a wrong answer −0.2.
Take a timed diagnostic; rebuild algebra, percentages and basic logic, and note every error type.
24 of the 50 questions are Mathematics. Work through algebra, analytic geometry, probability and combinatorics in the order of the frequency table.
Drill Reading, Numerical Reasoning and Critical Thinking with timed sets of 10–15 questions; keep an error log by question type.
One full 50-question, 75-minute mock per week with mixed topic order, exactly as on the real test.
Re-do your error log and fix your skip-or-answer rule: −0.2 for a wrong answer, −0.33 on 3-option critical-thinking items.