Penalty for leaving a question unanswered : General GMAT Questions and Strategies

rhyme

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Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

18 May 2009, 07:47

1

Kudos

See the PDF here:

gmat-myths-from-gmac-conference-55310.html

Page 16.

5 missed questions results in a ~15% drop in percentile scores.

As someone else said: YOU MUST FINISH.

srinivas0603

Intern

Joined: 25 Jul 2011

Posts: 1

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

21 Aug 2011, 00:45

Hi.. What happened in my exam was, i was at the last question and i selected an option. But i couldn't confirm it as i ran out of time. Would my score have been affected by that or since i marked an answer will GMAT consider that as my response?

P.S. I am just asking this question out of curiosity.

pike

Current Student

Joined: 08 Jan 2009

Posts: 246

GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V46

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

21 Aug 2011, 04:26

1

Bookmarks

srinivas0603 wrote:

Hi.. What happened in my exam was, i was at the last question and i selected an option. But i couldn't confirm it as i ran out of time. Would my score have been affected by that or since i marked an answer will GMAT consider that as my response?

P.S. I am just asking this question out of curiosity.

My understanding is that it would not have counted as a response, and would have impacted your score. Although the degree of impact is variable and depends on a range of factors.

Posted from my mobile device

abhicoolmax

Senior Manager

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Posts: 310

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

22 Aug 2011, 18:37

1

Bookmarks

bb wrote:

ritula wrote:

I have heard that there is a penalty for leaving a question unanswered. Wht is the penalty? I mean, how does it affect the score if a question is unanswered vs it is wrong?

Have you tried running this scenario in GMATPrep software?

In my GMAT Prep test (5 weeks ago), I had 2 wrong (#24 and #36) until the last question in Quant, and the section timed out while I was still in #37. I got Q50.

DorkusMaximus

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GMAT 1: 680 Q49 V34

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GMAT 3: 750 Q49 V42

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

22 Aug 2011, 21:52

I know for a fact that the mock/practice CAT from MGMAT etc. incorporate the penalty feature for unanswered questions. What I'd like to know is how closely does it resemble the one on the actual GMAT?

makaveli

Intern

Joined: 19 Sep 2011

Posts: 1

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

29 Sep 2011, 02:58

Hello guys. I know I did a mistake but I were focusing on the question and so I didn't see that I had only 2 seconds to answer, and so that's why I left my final question unanswered.

Next time I will be more focused on the time left form my final question.

I scored 640, 41Q 36V. What do you think I would have taken with a random last answer?

Thank you very much for the answer and all the infos i got through you beautiful forum
Ciao
Ale

B

sameersanjeev

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GMAT 1: 550 Q37 V28

GMAT 2: 610 Q43 V31

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

18 Oct 2017, 15:45

Hi guys. As mentioned by everyone in this post, until now, I had heard the exact same thing that leaving any questions unanswered has a severe penalty. However, an article on the official GMAT blog has left me confused. It says that it is OK to leave questions unanswered, depending on the section you are in and your ability level. Please click here to read the article. Can anyone please throw some light on this?

L

bb

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Joined: 04 Dec 2002

Posts: 37237

Location: United States (WA)

GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42

GPA: 3

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

18 Oct 2017, 15:48

Expert Reply

We have had a long discussion recently (you can search for it) and everyone agreed that the average was about 3 percentile points for leaving the question unanswered. In some cases it may be severe and in others not. It is usually not recommended.

PS. Yes, that article is what sparked it last time.

Posted from my mobile device
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AdityaHongunti

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Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

28 Sep 2018, 06:04

1

Kudos

bb when u say the score gets impacted on average by 3 percentile , you mean to say like Q49 to Q46

OR

Q49 - 75th percentile
To 71 percentile

Please respond

Posted from my mobile device

S

gmatlover1010

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Joined: 02 Oct 2020

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Concentration: Strategy, General Management

GMAT 1: 660 Q47 V34

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

01 Sep 2021, 10:05

https://www.mba.com/exams-and-exam-prep/gmat-exam-prep/tactics-and-guessing

Just in case anyway wound up here again, this seems to be the latest (dated May 2021) GMAC official post on the matter of guessing vs skipping towards the end.

L

bb

Founder

Joined: 04 Dec 2002

Posts: 37237

Location: United States (WA)

GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42

GPA: 3

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

03 Sep 2021, 08:41

Expert Reply

Yes. I can’t think of another way it would make sense. It is percentiles except 75-3=72… not 71. 😬

AdityaHongunti wrote:

bb when u say the score gets impacted on average by 3 percentile , you mean to say like Q49 to Q46

OR

Q49 - 75th percentile
To 71 percentile

Please respond

Posted from my mobile device

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homersimpsons

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Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

11 Sep 2021, 23:02

It's always better to randomly guess.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/new-format-g ... ml?fl=menu

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kittle

Senior Manager

Joined: 11 May 2021

Posts: 274

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

14 Jan 2024, 04:11

KarishmaB - Hi, hope you are well!

I gave the GMAT and scored a 660 - Q49 V32 IR 6
I think I was not able to mark the last verbal question and hence it went unanswered. Is there
1. a way for me to double confirm if that happened for real or not?
2. If I would have answered the question (wrongly) - what do you think my score would have landed at? I was thinking that my verbal section was going pretty well. However, when the actual score came in I was surprised. Do think my score could have plummeted from say a V35 or more to V32? If you can provide any guidance, it'd be great.

Please advise. Thanks.

L

KarishmaB

Tutor

Joined: 16 Oct 2010

Posts: 14804

Location: Pune, India

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

14 Jan 2024, 08:57

Expert Reply

kittle wrote:

KarishmaB - Hi, hope you are well!

I gave the GMAT and scored a 660 - Q49 V32 IR 6
I think I was not able to mark the last verbal question and hence it went unanswered. Is there
1. a way for me to double confirm if that happened for real or not?
2. If I would have answered the question (wrongly) - what do you think my score would have landed at? I was thinking that my verbal section was going pretty well. However, when the actual score came in I was surprised. Do think my score could have plummeted from say a V35 or more to V32? If you can provide any guidance, it'd be great.

Please advise. Thanks.

In this score range, by skipping a question, you likely reduced your Verbal score by 1 point.
Your Quant score is great. I suggest you to find a study buddy for Verbal and restart!
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AjiteshArun

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Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

14 Jan 2024, 22:21

Expert Reply

kittle wrote:

Is there
1. a way for me to double confirm if that happened for real or not?

Hi kittle,

To add to KarishmaB's response, if this was a test-center GMAT, you can order an ESR to check how many questions you answered in each section. That said, I wouldn't recommend getting an ESR just for this.

Attachment:

File comment: ESR for previous version of the GMAT, page 6

Screenshot 2024-01-15 104802.png [ 8 KiB | Viewed 177 times ]

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gmatclubot

Re: Penalty for leaving a question unanswered [#permalink]

14 Jan 2024, 22:21

Penalty for leaving a question unanswered

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