Leave question or Guess for unanswerable questions

Question

Hi Experts,

If I encounter a question which I cannot answer even after spending some time what should I do?

Will leaving the question unanswered cause LESS penalty than choosing any one of the answers randomly?

I am planning to take GMAT this September 2016.

Thanks in advance!

Bitan

KarishmaB · Answer

You cannot leave the question unanswered since it is a computer adaptive test. You must answer and only then will you be able to move on. So if you get stuck on something, just guess.

There is quite a penalty if you leave questions unanswered at the end so try to pace yourself through the test.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Bitan,

Are you just beginning your studies? If you are, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hey bitanrc,

There are huge penalties for not completing the test, so just guess if you are unsure.

Keep in mind, that when it comes to timing aspects of the test and stress management - make sure you think extreme positivity and pay attention to this critical element of the test.

We highly recommend that you read through the timing tips that we put together for you on this blog post: https://www.gmatpill.com/about/studying- ... trategies/

Also, in case you haven't seen, the GMAT Timer is just one of many features we already have in the Practice Pill Platform: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/

You can time yourself for each question, get a video explanation explained the GMAT PILL way, and post questions / get answers to your questions.

Best of luck - and we are here to help.

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