Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 16:52 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 16:52
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
User avatar
Sweetlyf
User avatar
Joined: 14 May 2025
Last visit: 18 Aug 2025
Posts: 2
Own Kudos:
1
 [1]
Location: India
Posts: 2
Kudos: 1
 [1]
Penalty for not attempting question 17 May 2025, 22:16
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi,

Just wanted to understand the logic of penalty for not attempting a question in GMAT. For eg I was attempting official mock and there was some time-management issues during Quant section in which I could not attempt the last question. What was surprising was my overall score for Quant was 66% and 80 Score (in which there were only 2 wrong answers - 18/19th question and 21st unanswered). I found the score little harsh and not sure of the reason. My previous mock score was 96 verbal percentile (with 2 questions wrong) and both times Quant was the first section for me (so assuming starting baseline is same). Some details would help as it has really pulled down my overall score with other 2 sections above 90%ile.

Thanks
User avatar
kingbucky
User avatar
Joined: 28 Jul 2023
Last visit: 08 Nov 2025
Posts: 496
Own Kudos:
520
Given Kudos: 328
Location: India
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 496
Kudos: 520
Penalty for not attempting question 18 May 2025, 05:38
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMAT is harsh when you don't complete the sections. What you're telling GMAT by not completing the sections is "I'm not ready to play the game.". When you're not ready, GMAT penalises.

Given enough time, anyone can solve the questions, but the test hinges on this time based evaluation. What you're doing is in effect, telling GMAT that you're not ready for their assesment. Hence they penalize.

This is my understanding of the exam.
User avatar
GmatKnightTutor
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 31 Jan 2020
Last visit: 01 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,228
Own Kudos:
1,568
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 5,228
Kudos: 1,568
Penalty for not attempting question Updated on: 18 May 2025, 20:28
Originally posted by GmatKnightTutor on 18 May 2025, 07:14.
Last edited by GmatKnightTutor on 18 May 2025, 20:28, edited 1 time in total.
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
I found the score little harsh and not sure of the reason.
Show more

The myth vs. fact info in the beginning of the Official-Guide 2024 could be helpful to check out. One of the mentioned facts touches upon how not finishing can lower your score a lot. The Understanding Your Score page on the MBA website could also be worth checking out.

5 Quant tips
User avatar
RetaketheGMAT
User avatar
Joined: 07 Aug 2020
Last visit: 13 Nov 2025
Posts: 350
Own Kudos:
92
Given Kudos: 2
Status:Founder & GMAT Coach
Affiliations: RetaketheGMAT by i4Excellence
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 350
Kudos: 92
Penalty for not attempting question 18 May 2025, 08:56
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Remember the GMAT isn't a test like any other you've taken before -- it's not testing concepts only. It's testing your readiness for the challenges of graduate business school. That's why it tests the following to a greater degree than other tests:

1. Your executive reasoning skills including things like unearthing hidden information and visualizing quant questions to expose more of the available information.
2. Time management -- making tradeoff decisions, knowing when to let go of a question, how to use tools like estimation to save time and selective skipping are all part of the ability to cope with high pressure situations far beyond the GMAT
3. Following consistent process across questions -- rather than randomly applying processes.

These are all thing the GMAT tests -- running out time for the final question or questions is a sign of basic challenges of coping with high pressure analytics situations.
User avatar
bb
User avatar
Founder
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 42,387
Own Kudos:
82,119
Given Kudos: 24,110
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 42,387
Kudos: 82,119
Penalty for not attempting question 18 May 2025, 09:07
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Sweetlyf,

There’s a significant penalty for leaving questions unanswered. It’s likely a percentile penalty and not raw point penalty per se.

You want to stay on top of your timing and guest questions if you can’t solve them because some of those questions you cannot solve over experimental and don’t even count towards your score.

It’s hard to estimate what your score would have been otherwise but likely a couple points higher if you just managed to answer the last question even in correctly.
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 21,716
Own Kudos:
26,997
Given Kudos: 300
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,716
Kudos: 26,997
Penalty for not attempting question 19 May 2025, 18:17
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Sweetlyf,

As many have pointed out, the penalty for leaving questions blank is quite severe. While it’s hard to quantify exactly how much it hurts your score, it’s significant enough that your rule of thumb should always be: never leave anything blank. That said, I’d be curious to see how your next practice test goes when you answer every question. Feel free to share your results.
User avatar
yc168
User avatar
Joined: 11 Nov 2024
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 608
Own Kudos:
269
Given Kudos: 375
Products:
GMAT Club Tests
Posts: 608
Kudos: 269
Penalty for not attempting question 19 Jun 2025, 08:06
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Sweetlyf,

People have answered your question above about the penalty on unanswered question(s).

However, it seems to me that there are also two misconceptions in your idea about scoring:
1. Even if you have the same number of questions wrong in two different sections, you may not get the same sectional scores. Quant section scoring is generally less forgiving than Verbal or DI.
2. Even if you get the same section score in two sections, you will not get the same percentile. This is more likely due to the demographics of the test-taking population, and can be easily observed from the percentile tables on the page: Understanding Your Score - mba.com.

Hope this helps a bit.

Sweetlyf
Hi,

Just wanted to understand the logic of penalty for not attempting a question in GMAT. For eg I was attempting official mock and there was some time-management issues during Quant section in which I could not attempt the last question. What was surprising was my overall score for Quant was 66% and 80 Score (in which there were only 2 wrong answers - 18/19th question and 21st unanswered). I found the score little harsh and not sure of the reason. My previous mock score was 96 verbal percentile (with 2 questions wrong) and both times Quant was the first section for me (so assuming starting baseline is same). Some details would help as it has really pulled down my overall score with other 2 sections above 90%ile.

Thanks
Show more
avatar
ManifestDreamMBA
avatar
Joined: 17 Sep 2024
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 1,284
Own Kudos:
785
Given Kudos: 236
Products:
GMAT Club Tests
Posts: 1,284
Kudos: 785
Penalty for not attempting question 07 Jul 2025, 10:03
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I’ve noticed the same thing — the GMAT can be pretty unforgiving if you leave a question unanswered. From what I understand, the scoring algorithm hits you harder for not finishing than for just getting a question wrong. It sees an unanswered question (especially near the end) as a sign of struggling with pacing, which can drag your score down more than you’d expect.

One more thing to note is GMAT gives a 5min warning for a reason. Drop everything and mark the questions. Do not try to attempt questions if you have more than 2 left.

Sweetlyf
Hi,

Just wanted to understand the logic of penalty for not attempting a question in GMAT. For eg I was attempting official mock and there was some time-management issues during Quant section in which I could not attempt the last question. What was surprising was my overall score for Quant was 66% and 80 Score (in which there were only 2 wrong answers - 18/19th question and 21st unanswered). I found the score little harsh and not sure of the reason. My previous mock score was 96 verbal percentile (with 2 questions wrong) and both times Quant was the first section for me (so assuming starting baseline is same). Some details would help as it has really pulled down my overall score with other 2 sections above 90%ile.

Thanks
Show more
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,195
Own Kudos:
4,766
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,195
Kudos: 4,766
Penalty for not attempting question 08 Jul 2025, 07:45
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello!

One word answer to how much the penalty is: "steep".

Reserve the last ~30 secs to randomly mark any remaining questions.

Even better: avoid getting caught in that situation. Practice a lot and take enough mocks to gain due balance between speed and accuracy.

Cheers!

All the best!
Experts' Global

Sweetlyf
Hi,

Just wanted to understand the logic of penalty for not attempting a question in GMAT. For eg I was attempting official mock and there was some time-management issues during Quant section in which I could not attempt the last question. What was surprising was my overall score for Quant was 66% and 80 Score (in which there were only 2 wrong answers - 18/19th question and 21st unanswered). I found the score little harsh and not sure of the reason. My previous mock score was 96 verbal percentile (with 2 questions wrong) and both times Quant was the first section for me (so assuming starting baseline is same). Some details would help as it has really pulled down my overall score with other 2 sections above 90%ile.

Thanks
Show more
Moderator:
MBAACCOUNT2025
General GMAT Forum Moderator
444 posts