Question about the practice exams offered by MBA.com

[Keith11]

Hey all,

I have a quick question. Does the practice exams from MBA.com factor in questions that you leave unanswered into the score? Or does it only measure the questions that you answer and leave out the questions you didn't answer?

Thanks!

[Jose Ferreira]

Hi Keith,

The GMATPrep software uses a very similar algorithm to the real exam, so yes, they consider the full exam. The official line from GMAC is: "your score will decrease significantly with each unanswered question." However, it is also true that "randomly guessing answers to questions at the end of each test section can significantly lower your scores."

This means that pacing is critical to get at least a crack at each question. Even if you only have a few seconds, the ability to remove one or more common wrong answer types can really improve your odds and impact your score. Watching your pacing throughout the whole section is also important: if you notice that you have 10 questions remaining with 3 minutes left, then much of the damage has already been done.

Best,
Jose

[Keith11]

Thank you very much! That was very helpful.

[pJackson79]

Keith...you may already know this, but in case you do not, the GMAT official guide is quite clear that there is a "severe penalty" for leaving questions unanswered (look in the opening pages where they do the myth vs. fact sections). (Hope this wasn't offensive if you already knew it, but for the benefit of the greater community, I thought I would share it).

[virtuoso902]

pJackson79,

Any correct info is good info! It helped me..

Thanks!

[Bara]

Keith, you can't move on on the test unless you answer a question - - so you can't leave any blank, except those at the end...and you don't want to do that because it really messes up your score...so save some time at the end to answer everything. And pick ONE letter for those if you don't even read the question -- rather than pick random letters in a random order at the end.