CEnT-S 2027 Dates: Test Windows, Score Dates, Fee and Booking
In short. The test dates for 2027/28 entry are not published yet. There are five test windows, from November 2026 to September 2027. You can sit once in each. In 2025, booking for the first window opened on 4 November. We update this page when CISIA publishes the dates. We do not send booking alerts, so also check CISIA's calendar often.
CISIA calls the test windows macro-periods. It has already published the date your official score arrives in each window.[1]
See the score dates as a table
| Window | Months | Official score by |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | November to January | 29 January 2027 |
| 2 | February to March | 31 March 2027 |
| 3 | April to May | 31 May 2027 |
| 4 | June to July | 30 July 2027 |
| 5 | August to September | 17 September 2027 |
Pick the window whose score arrives before your university's deadline. You get one sitting per window, at home or at a university.[2]
Need a student visa? The 2026 deadlines
For a student visa, the deadlines come early. These were the 2026 deadlines for non-EU applicants living abroad. The university name links to its call.
| University · programme | Take the CEnT-S by | Other 2026 deadlines |
|---|---|---|
| Tor Vergata · Business Administration and Economics | 19 March 2026 | Apply by 19 March. Universitaly by 31 July. |
| Trento · Economics and Management | 31 March 2026 | Apply by 23 March. Visa by 30 September. |
| Bologna · Pharmacy, 1st intake (35 non-EU places) | 31 March 2026 | Apply by 8 April. |
| Bologna · Pharmacy, 2nd intake (5 non-EU places) | 30 June 2026 | Apply by 3 July. |
| Sapienza · Bioinformatics | 18 June 2026 | QS MoveIn by 15 May. Universitaly by 30 June. |
| Sapienza · Sustainable Building Engineering | 29 October 2026, for all applicants | QS MoveIn by 15 May. Universitaly by 30 June. |
| Ca' Foscari · international applicants | A score from the first two windows |
- In 2026, a test by 31 March meant one of the first two windows. The last date before 31 March was 12 March.
- Universitaly is the Italian website for visa pre-enrolment. You pre-enrol there, and the university checks it. Then you contact the Italian embassy or consulate.
- QS MoveIn is Sapienza's pre-selection website for applicants who need a visa.
- Sapienza and a visa: have your score before 15 May. That is our advice, from the 2026 dates. Sapienza's test deadline was 29 October, for everyone. But its visa steps ended on 15 May and 30 June. The call does not say if those steps needed a score.
- Polimi and Padova are not in the table. Check their own pages: Polimi's CEnT-S page and Padova's CEnT-S notice.
The calls for 2027/28 entry are not out yet. Use the 2026 dates to see how early the deadlines can be. Our advice: if you need a visa, an earlier window is safer.
The fee: €55 in 2026
- The test cost €55 per sitting in 2026.[3]
- CISIA's page still showed €55 on 5 October 2026.
- You pay by credit card or by MAV. MAV is an Italian bank slip, so from abroad, use a card.
- If a site says €30 or €35, that is a TOLC fee, not the CEnT-S fee.
- In 2026, if you missed your test, you could rebook once for free. If you missed it again, you lost the €55.
- University application fees are separate. In 2026, Sapienza charged €10. Padova did not charge its €60 fee to applicants with only the CEnT-S.
How to book
- Read your call. The call (bando in Italian) is your university's admission notice. Check which formats it accepts, and which sitting counts.
- Pick the window whose score arrives before your deadline.
- Create a CISIA account. Any nationality is fine. You do not need an Italian tax code.
- Use exactly the same name and birth details as on your university application. In 2026, Bologna took the score straight from CISIA, and the details had to match.[4]
- Have a card that can pay online before booking opens. In 2026 you paid by card or by MAV, an Italian bank slip. From abroad, use a card.
- Book on the day booking opens for your window. In 2026, booking opened between three weeks and four months before each window's first test. For example, it opened on 13 January for the February to March window.[5]
- For the test at home, check the photo and app rules. In 2026 you had to upload a profile photo. You also had to install Horizon, CISIA's exam app, on your laptop by the day before the test. Your booking was confirmed only after both. CISIA's rules also recommended one simulation as a laptop check.
- Check the booking deadline for your date on CISIA's calendar.
At-home seats sell out early
In September 2026, at-home seats for the last two dates were gone by 10 September.[6] University seats could still be booked in Siena, Rome, Trieste, Messina and Udine. If you need the home test, book on the day booking opens. See home or university.
In 2026, CISIA could also cancel a date with fewer than 250 bookings. It could not cancel the last date of a window. If CISIA cancelled your date, it moved you to another date in the same window.[7]
Do not book the last date before your deadline
Any test day can fail. On 23 April 2026, the first date of its window, technical problems at CISIA stopped the test. Students sat it again later. Tor Vergata moved its June deadline from 16 to 19 June.[8]
So leave time after your test date. If you can, sit a date well before your deadline.
Your score: two numbers, two moments
- Your raw score shows on screen as soon as you finish. You can also download it as a PDF.
- Your normalised score comes by the date in the windows table. This is your score after CISIA's fairness adjustment. In 2026, Tor Vergata and Sapienza Sustainable Building Engineering used this one.
How the two numbers work is in CEnT-S scoring.
For reference: the 2026 dates
The first year had four windows and eleven test days.[7]
| Window | Test dates | Score by |
|---|---|---|
| November to January | 27 Nov 2025, 16 Dec 2025, 15 Jan 2026 | 30 Jan 2026 |
| February to March | 19 Feb, 26 Feb, 12 Mar 2026 | 31 Mar 2026 |
| April to June | 23 Apr, 21 May, 9 Jun 2026 | 30 Jun 2026 |
| September to October | 17 Sep, 15 Oct 2026 | 30 Oct 2026 |
Each score counts for one entry year only.[2] Sittings from November 2026 to September 2027 count for 2027/28 entry. The 15 October 2026 sitting does not.
In 2026, nine of the eleven test days were Thursdays. Booking closed at 14:00 about six days before the test. For a Thursday test, that was the Friday before.[7] You could start the test between 14:30 and 14:50 Italian time.[9]
Italian time is UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 in summer. By our conversion, the 2026 start of 14:30 was 18:00 in India and 17:30 in Pakistan in summer. In winter it was 19:00 in India and 18:30 in Pakistan.
Our free checklist has the five score dates, the 2026 fee and the kit for the home test. Get it by email below, with three guides.
Get the free guides ↓Checked against CISIA on 5 October 2026.
Explore more
Read next
Is the CEnT-S Score Out of 55 or 100? Scoring and When to Guess
Neither. There is no fixed scale. The raw maximum is 65 for 2027/28 entry (55 in 2026). How CISIA adjusts scores, and when guessing pays.
How to Prepare for the CEnT-S: A Plan for Your Programme
A study plan built on your programme: which sections to study, the free simulation, clocks, guessing and a week plan.
CEnT-S Online From Home or at a University: Which to Choose
Online from home (CEnT@HOME) or at a university (CEnT@UNI): what each needs, who accepts it, and how to avoid test-day problems.
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- A printable CEnT-S checklist (PDF, by email only): score dates, fee, sections and the home-test kit
- Which sections count for your university
- Test windows for 2027/28 entry, the fee and booking
- Your score, and when to guess
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