Is the "guessing" myth true?

Question

Is it possible that it isn't completely true that
We get penalized more for leaving the questions than for marking them wrong in a hurry?

I read on mba.com that if one has a low ability on a particular section then it's better to omit the question than to guess.
I struggle with time management on verbal, I can hardly complete the entire last section, but I have around 75% accuracy on the previous three questions. If I read too fast, I grasp nothing.
So in the last 5-10 minutes. is it better that I try to do 3-4 questions in the beginning of the last section and omit the latter 4-5 questions? Because if I were to mark all of them I would get them wrong in a streak. Which would affect my score even more.

I came across a good video from Gmat Ninja tutoring that talks about whether one should rush to complete the test or focus on getting right, the questions that are within one's range of ability. This video does give me some relief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8-pbP0omBw
Although most of the analyses were done for the Quant section of the official practice tests, it would be helpful if i could get more insight from the experts, on whether this could work for verbal as well, and how much should i rely on the result coz i don't know whether the GMAT uses the same algorithm as the official practice tests.
avigutman GMATNinja MartyTargetTestPrep AndrewN vv65
RonPurewal
Link to the mba.com article - https://www.mba.com/exams-and-exam-prep ... t-guessing

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MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The part of that article that says that is talking about exams that were given in the past. It's not talking about the current GMAT. On the current GMAT, you are better off guessing on all questions than leaving any blank.

I have seen one or more people increase their scores substantially by focusing on getting correct as many questions as they can and then guessing on the rest rather than seeking to answer every question.

So, you can try both approaches on practice tests and see which works better for you.

vv65 · Answer

At the end of the verbal section, follow the advice in the mba.com article (second bullet point in the screenshot):

Quote:
 If you are on the Verbal section and you have five or fewer questions left, it also doesn’t matter if you guess or skip the questions. Again, finish the item you are on to the best of your ability and don’t worry about the others.

You can be a little flexible here. Suppose there are 3 minutes remaining when question 33 pops up, and it's a CR question. A CR question can easily use up 2 minutes or more. So it probably makes sense to blind guess, in the hope that the next questions are SC.

Adding one more point: If you get a question that's  obviously too difficult , make an educated guess and move on quickly. 
This advice holds for every stage of the exam. Do not waste time on questions that are beyond your ability. There's a good chance the answer will be wrong anyway, and there's no point wasting time on questions you can't do. Use that time for questions that you are able to do. By abandoning the really difficult questions, you won't have to guess so much at the end.

Posted from my mobile device

Afn24 · Answer

vv65 . Thanks for replying.
Its a bit difficult for me to figure out instantly, whether the question is hard or not unless I spend a minute reading it. Sometimes the Question stem is lengthy but the answer is simple. 
In Quant, I can look at the question and tell whether ill be able to do it or not, but not so much in verbal.

vv65 · Answer

True, it's difficult to judge the difficulty without trying the question.
 
Just don't get stuck on any question. Don't allow the time you spend on any question to become excessive.

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

Hi. This is a confusing article that has come up before. It is not wrong but it is low quality and is more confusing than helpful. It seems almost more of a search optimization piece written for the bots rather than for human consumption. In any case, it is for some reason referring to other tests which is really an irrelevant and confusing reference. You should guess.... because you cannot skip questions.... maybe someone should tell GMAC?

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