The GMAT imposes significant time pressure on test-takers: anyone who has taken a practice GMAT can attest to how difficult it can be to finish one or more of the sections on time. But most people are unaware of just how significant the penalty is for not finishing. An understanding of this reality is one of the most important factors in achieving success on the GMAT.
Note: This article was originally written just after the GMAT was changed in early 2024. We have since updated it with insights gleaned from conversations with the GMAT creators themselves.
A New Phenomenon
Anyone familiar with the previous version of the GMAT (the Classic GMAT) would be struck by the difference in the severity of the penalty between that version of the test and the current one. On the old GMAT, test-takers were indeed penalized for leaving questions blank, but the effect was something on the order of 1 point off the section score for each question blank. So someone who would have gotten a 47 on Quant might have gotten a 45 instead for leaving 2 questions blank (and for reference, the scores on each section ranged from 6 to 51). So the penalty was modest.
On the current GMAT, we are dealing with a whole different animal! The difference is jarring. Leaving even a couple of questions blank has an enormously detrimental effect on one’s score, MUCH more than what was the case with the Classic GMAT.
The Severe Penalty for Not Finishing the GMAT
An example will help illustrate just how extreme the penalty is. In playing around with the official practice tests, I skipped through an entire Quant section, guessing on every single question. I ended up with only 3 correct out of 21, which resulted in a Quant score of 70. Now that is not good, but the scale goes from 60 to 90, so it’s a bit better than I would have expected given that I guessed randomly on every single question.
In comparison, we have seen NUMEROUS examples of people getting very low section scores, often below 70, just because they left several questions unanswered at the end, despite doing very well through most of the section up until that point. To give a specific and almost unbelievable example, we recently saw a case in which a test-taker had the first 10 questions right on Quant, then missed about 4 of the next 6 questions, and then didn’t get to questions 17 to 21. Guess the score. What penalty would be warranted for leaving 5 questions unanswered? The score was a 60! A 60! That is basically a 0! And this was a case in which the test-taker had answered the first half of the section correctly! That is unbelievable!
And to repeat, the above is NOT an isolated case. We have seen cases of people who ultimately scored in the mid-600s on the GMAT get scores in the 200s and 300s on practice tests because they ran out of time on one or more of the sections. That is crazy!!!
When this article was first written, we assumed that the penalty was a mistake and that GMAC would adjust it. However, after speaking face-to-face with the creators of the GMAT at one of the yearly GMAC Summits, it became clear that the severity of the penalty is deliberate and almost certainly here to stay. The concern, from the point of view of the architects of the GMAT, is that test takers would be able to “game” the algorithm if the penalty were not as severe. For example, what would happen if a test taker, by deliberately spending undue time on the first 15 questions, got all of them right, and then ran out of time and didn’t answer the remaining questions? If such a strategy resulted in a better score than “playing by the rules of the game” and actually attempting to answer all of the questions, the test would be somewhat “gameable” and therefore flawed. So the severity of the penalty is not a bug but a feature of the test, and one that GMAC defends as necessary to the test’s integrity!
The Effect of the Unanswered Penalty (and What GMAC May Do About It)
One problem with the penalty is that it turns people away from the GMAT, especially test takers who don’t understand the severity or even existence of it. This is especially damaging for people who are just starting out on their GMAT journey and who are aware of the GRE as an alternative. If, because you omitted a handful of questions, your initial GMAT practice test score is in the 300s and if you take a practice GRE and score in the mid-150s on Quant and Verbal, you’re going to conclude, perhaps incorrectly, that the GRE is the right test for you! When we deal with new students who have taken an initial GMAT and GRE to determine the best direction, we often “scrub” the scores to account for cases in which test takers leave many questions unanswered on the GMAT. But most people are just completely unaware of the penalty, so they make no such allowance and just abandon the GMAT.
We discussed this concern with GMAC representatives at the GMAC Summit, and they understand how consequential the problem is. What they are NOT going to do, however, is adjust the penalty, since, as previously stated, the architects of the GMAT view it as necessary to preserve the validity and fairness of the test. But, we did discuss alternatives aimed at helping test takers understand the penalty so that they could either avoid incurring it or could estimate what their score would have been had they not left questions unanswered. It remains to be seen whether GMAC will implement any of these “solutions,” but some of the ideas discussed included informing test takers before the exam about the penalty or giving them some way to properly calibrate their score after the exam if they left questions unanswered (for example, something that says, “your score would have been between x and y if you had answered the final 4 questions of the section.”)
The above discussion concerns what GMAC can or may do to address the severity of the penalty and people’s general lack of awareness of it. But what can you as a test taker do about it? We’ll explore that below!
The Importance of Effective Time Management on the GMAT
In separate articles (because it’s far too much to include here), we explore time-management strategies for the GMAT in much greater depth, so you would be wise to read those articles! One discusses changing your mindset and the other takes a broader view of “global” time management strategies for the GMAT. But there are a couple of simple things one can do to avoid incurring the wrath of the “unanswered question penalty.” First, and most simply, if you see that you are running out of time (you have less than a minute left, for example), just start picking answers and finish the section. It’s that simple! Remember, the GMAT gives test-takers the ability to review questions and change answers at the end of the section! I have seen many people not answer the last question because they were still working on it when time ran out. Come on, people! Just put in an answer, go to the review screen that follows, and then go back to that very question! You can have your cake and eat it too!
The above leads to the more general point, which is explored in the aforementioned articles, that you need to have the proper “timing mindset” on the GMAT. Remember, you can go back to questions! Yay! But it’s amazing how few people leverage this feature of the GMAT (and GRE, which has an even more user-friendly version of this feature). When “letting go” of a question and moving on, you are not giving up. This is the mindset shift that you need to embody. Let’s repeat it: when letting go of a question and moving on, YOU ARE NOT GIVING UP! You are just wisely choosing to save that question for later. You can spend whatever amount of time you want on it. Just spend that time AFTER you’ve gotten through the rest of the section. You do not want to mess with the unanswered question penalty! It can torpedo an otherwise great score!
So try to think of the mentality like this: you are simply choosing the ORDER in which to do the questions, not giving up on them. Why try to tackle the 3 hardest questions in the section before answering the other, higher-percentage questions? When you realize and accept that you are likely to miss those 3 hardest questions anyway, it looks even more foolish to spend undue time on them! If you can embody this mentality, you are on the path to a higher score! Again, check out the aforementioned time management articles for much more on this topic!