Penalty for leaving a question unanswered

Question

Hi,

I notice that I tend to run out of time on the quant section. Although I'm trying to work on pacing, during the actual GMAT, if you have a few questions left at the end, is it better to randomly guess or to leave them unanswered?

Thanks!

Av · Answer

Blank answers have a more severe penalty than wrong answers. Never leave a question unanswered

sfwon · Answer

I have also read that unanswered questions have much more severe penalty than wrong answers. One tip I received was, when you're on your last question, just click a random answer first, even if you don't click submit. GMAT will automatically choose that choice as your answer if you run out of time (as opposed to if you don't have anything picked, then the last question will be considered unanswered).

Av · Answer

I've heard the exact opposite, so I wouldn't suggest that approach unless GMAC can confirm that you won't be penalized.

nink · Answer

Leaving one question blank shaves 3 percentage pt off your score. For example, if your score was 40 without skipping any questions. Leaving one question will reduce it to 37.

DirtyZ · Answer

Where did you find that figure of a 3 pt. reduction for leaving a question blank? That's very interesting.

ozzie123 · Answer

I think the blank questions will be regarded as wrong question. So leaving those blanks will guarantee that you got it wrong while randomly choosing an answer, you will be at least right 20% of the time.

cereal255 · Answer

NEVER LEAVE A QUESTION BLANK

This is said over and over again in the OG and anything official from the GMAC. There is no penalty for guessing (other than lowering your score for getting a question wrong) and a SEVERE penalty for not finishing.

Quote:

What if I don’t finish?
Pacing is critical, as there is a severe penalty for not completing.

Taken from https://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/TheE ... matNEW.htm

nink · Answer

Each unanswered question on GMAT exam deducts your score by 3 percentage points.

for example, if your Q score was 45, one blank answer will reduce it to 42. However, wrong answer won't bring down your score as much.

smokedpotatoes · Answer

Does anyone know why they impose such severe penalties for leaving an answer blank?

ritula · Answer

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?

MJ2009 · Answer

Well technically you cant leave a question unanswered AND move on to the next question because the page will force you to choose an option. The thing you have heard refers to when you end up having missed out some questions in the end because you ran out of time. In that case your score gets penalized. Here's how: say you missed the last 10 qs compared to the possibility you answered those same 10 qs wrong. Assuming everything else same before those 10 qs your score will be worse in the first scenario as compared to the second. Why: there's a reason given on mba.com "gmat questions" I think, from a mathematical point of view it is b/c your previous qs's answer (correct or incorrect) decides your next question.

MJ2009 · Answer

"You may not skip questions, and randomly guessing answers to questions at the end of each test section can significantly lower your scores,"mba.com. That said, the scenario you are talking about is one that arises at the end... i-e you don't have time to answer all the last few qs, in which case its better to guess them even if you r forced to do it without reading the qs rather than have the time finish on you. Do note that, and confirm with all the high-scorers every1 makes a startegy for the 'what-if' situation if you end up with 5 last qs and 2 mins at hand... happened to me in verbal... and as per the logic offered by the Gmat guys, its better to answer all those 5 without reading rather than answering 1 and have the time run out on your last 4 qs. thats what the mathematics of scoring dictates.

bb · Answer

Have you tried running this scenario in GMATPrep software?

bb · Answer

I have merged this discussion with the previous one from Nov 2008 as they seem to pose the same question and compliment each other.

BigObamaFan · Answer

I tried it in GMAT prep and you did get penalized. I looked in the opening pages of the  Official Guide  and saw that there is a "severe" penalty for not finishing.

Tarmac · Answer

You must finish. I cannot stress this enough.

You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.
You must finish.

ic3ncok3 · Answer

Hi everyone,
Hoping to get some advice on my GMAT preparation.

I'm having trouble preparing for my GMAT and practicing using the GMAT Prep software. I realise that part of it is due to my time management, I can't finish all the questions in each section. I read so much about how important it is to finish all the questions in each section so I'm curious to know what the penalty system in the GMAT is like.

When time is running out, what would be the difference between getting all the remaining questions wrong in a section vs not answering all the remaining questions in a section?

Is anyone able to shed some light on this?

I believe someone may have already asked the same question but I can't seem to find it. I really appreciate any help I can get.

Cheers

bb · Answer

Nobody can give you a precise number - it depends on the scoring algorithm that we don't have a good understanding of and also number of experimental questions

.... but the general consensus is that you get dinged a lot harder for not finishing the section (twice as much). So, if you had math at 45 at question 32, and you had to answer the remaining 5 questions wrong, and finish math at 40, compare that to skipping the last 5 questions and getting 35 for the math section.

ic3ncok3 · Answer

thanks! im gonna go try it out on the GMAT prep software and see what that does. been getting really crappy scores.

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Penalty for leaving a question unanswered

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