Congo. Question on skipping

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Post Reply

Previous Topic Next Topic

pogotosh: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:04 pm

Congo. Question on skipping

by pogotosh » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:24 am

Hey,

Firstly congratulations on your brilliant score. Pretty Amazing. I had a question on one of the points you had mentioned. I thought skipping questions were not recommended as it might penalize your score. Isn't that why GMAT instructors generally recommend making an "educated guess"? So is skipping even an option? Or when you mean"Skip" are you merely implying that one should make an "educated guess" and move on rather than spend time trying to tackle an unsolvable question?

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:24 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; Followed by:511 members; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:15 pm

Hi pogotosh,

On the GMAT, you can't really "skip" a question, since you won't see the next question until you answer the one that you're on. What we're really talking about is taking an "educated guess" so that you can make sure to get to all of the questions. ANY question that you don't physically answer is marked as incorrect AND is penalized, so you have to be sure to get to every question. Learning how to keep proper pace is an essential part of scoring at the highest level on the GMAT.

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

Contact Rich at [email protected]

Quote

David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; Followed by:512 members; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:08 am

Knowing when to move on by taking an educated guess (or a not so educated guess in some cases) is an essential skill, especially on the Quant Section.

Rich is right that you cannot "skip" a question - except at the end of the test when you may not get to the questions at all. In order to see the next question you have to provide an answer to the current question.

Knowing when to move on is an important skill. If you are not making progress on a Quant question after 1 min to 90 seconds then it is time for you to move on to the next question. Here is an article that I wrote with some drills to help you to know when you have a strategy and when you do not. https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/04/ ... at-success

As for the last few questions and whether to hurry and guess or to leave them blank, GMAC did an experiment and found that if you are at the 50th percentile and above you are better to guess at every question than to leave any of them blank. Since I hope that you will all be in that range that is the best advice.

Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course