How can I check if I received a penalty for not completing a section?

Question

I recently sat the GMAT.

I know that you get a penalty if you leave any questions unanswered but my situation is slightly different than the typical case.

On the last question (37th) of the Quant section, I marked my answer selection as "C" but the timer ran out before I could click on the "Next" button and "confirm my answer". 
Does this mean that I will get a penalty for not completing the section, or will the test consider my selection of "C" as the answer choice?

If it does indeed become a penalty, will the Official / Enhanced Score Report mention this? Will schools that I send my score to know that my score reflects a penalty?

Thanks

abhimahna · Answer

Hi tanaybhimrajka ,

As far as I know selecting an option before attempting it is a good idea because even if you don't hit submit, GMAT will still consider that answer as marked.

But if you don't mark it and the time finishes, its considered unanswered.

Here is a very old thread on the same discussion.

Also, the penalty is just by giving you negative marking. It is neither mentioned on your score card nor sent to any school. Say you were getting a 800 but since you didn't attempt the last question, you may end up with 780.

Good Luck

tanaybhimrajka · Answer

Hi abhimahna,

Thanks for the reply. It was very helpful.

Any idea what the penalty would be for not answering one question? I have read somewhere that the penalty increases heavily with each additional unanswered question.

That way, I can get a crude estimate of what I would have scored had I answered that question.

Thanks!

abhimahna · Answer

That's a very good question, answer to which has NEVER been disclosed by GMAC over the years. Let me also know if you find one.

ss3617 · Answer

If you had clicked on an option but didn't select next, GMAT will consider that you have answered. There are many discussions in this forum on that topic. So do not put yourself to strain by doing all these calculations.

In case you need to know how this calculation is done, you need to do a lot of research with the GMATprep software. And it would be a really long exercise.

How can I check if I received a penalty for not completing a section?

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