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.
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! Now, what follows is based mostly on the official practice tests, but in the past, the official practice tests used the same algorithm as the actual GMAT, and that seems to be the case with current practice tests as well. 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, I 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, I 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. I 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!!! Now again, it remains to be seen whether the penalty is as severe on the actual GMAT, but it would be foolish to risk it and leave questions unanswered on the actual test.
In my opinion, the penalty is so ridiculous that it risks making the test inaccurate, something that the makers of the GMAT obviously do not want (they pride themselves on the ability of the test to accurately measure a test-takers level). So even if the penalty is as extreme on the actual test as it is on the official practice tests, I have to believe it is something they will tweak in the algorithm. Assigning a score of 300 to someone who is clearly in the 600 range does not make for a well-respected test.
The Importance of Effective Time Management on the GMAT
In a separate article, we will explore effective time-management strategies, 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 if 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 will be explored in a separate article, 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!