The Italian A2 test score: how the 80-out-of-100 threshold works

The scoring of the A2 test di conoscenza della lingua italiana is the single most important thing to understand before you walk into the exam room — and almost nobody explains it properly. The decree governing the test is blunt: "to pass the test the candidate must obtain at least eighty per cent of the overall score" (decree of the Minister of the Interior of 7 December 2021, art. 3, co. 3). This guide explains what that really means, how the three parts are weighted, and what strategy follows.

The rule: 80 out of 100, on the TOTAL

The test is worth 100 points in total and is passed with at least 80. The decisive detail is that the threshold applies only to the sum: there is no minimum score per individual part. You can do poorly in listening and make up for it in reading and writing — all that matters is that the total reaches 80.

Here is how the points are distributed across the three parts:

Part	Questions	Points per answer	Maximum	Weight
Listening comprehension (ascolto)	10	3	30	30%
Reading comprehension (lettura)	10	3.5	35	35%
Written interaction	1 task	banded	35	35%
Total			100

Wrong answers and blank answers are worth the same: zero points, with no penalty. Hence the first golden rule: answer everything, even if you have to guess — you have nothing to lose.

The written interaction is marked in "bands"

The writing task (replying to an e-mail or invitation, or filling in a form) is not marked by counting mistakes but by bands of task completion:

• up to 35 points — task done completely and correctly: you gave coherent, appropriate answers to all the requested pieces of information, or filled in every part of the form;
• up to 28 points — task done partially: answers not always coherent, or the form only partly filled in;
• 0 points — task not assessable: no answers, form not filled in.

The ministry's technical guidance explicitly says that communicative effectiveness should count for more than formal accuracy, in line with the CEFR. Translated: a small grammar mistake will not ruin your task, but forgetting one of the requested pieces of information will, because it drops you a band. If the prompt asks for three pieces of information, give all three; if there is a form, fill in every field.

Doing the maths: how much margin you really have

The 80% threshold is high, and it pays to look the numbers in the eye:

• The writing task is effectively compulsory. If you leave it blank (0 points), the maximum you can reach is 30 + 35 = 65 points: failed from the start, even with perfect listening and reading.
• With the writing in the full band (35) you have 20 points of margin on the rest: you can afford at most about 6 listening mistakes (18 points) or 5 reading mistakes (17.5 points) — fewer if you mix them.
• With the writing in the partial band (28) the margin collapses to 13 points: at most 4 listening mistakes or 3 reading mistakes.

The moral: writing is the part with the best effort-to-points ratio (35 points for a single task of about ten minutes), and reading questions are the most "expensive" ones to get wrong (3.5 points each).

What kinds of questions to expect

The ministry's technical guidance (the Vademecum circulated with Ministry of the Interior note no. 8571 of 16 December 2010) indicates structured formats for the comprehension parts, such as multiple choice, matching and true/false — an illustrative list, not a closed one — and recommends varying the format between the two texts of each part. Every audio text is played twice, and the texts are short and drawn from everyday communication: announcements, notices, service dialogues, letters, instructions.

What happens after the test

• The result is communicated to you and recorded in the information system of the Ministry of the Interior; you can also find it in your personal area of the portal.
• You do not receive any certificate: the Questura reads the outcome in the system when it examines your application for the EU long-term residence permit (art. 3, co. 5 and art. 5 of the decree). The result is valid for this purpose only — it cannot be used anywhere else.
• If you do not pass, the decree provides that the test can be repeated; according to the practice stated by the Ministry, a new request is filed after 90 days. How to book (and re-book) is explained in the booking guide.

Practise with the real scoring

The best way to internalise the 80-point threshold is to see it in action: our free practice tests reproduce the three parts of the test with the same weights, and the writing trainer with AI feedback tells you whether your written-interaction task would cover all the requested information — exactly the criterion it is assessed on. If you want a structured path, start from the 4-week preparation plan.

The information in this guide is for general information only and is not legal advice. The scores and criteria described here come from the legal and technical sources cited and may be updated: before your exam, always check the current rules on the official pages and with the Prefettura of your province.