How much not finishing, even 1 question, hurt my score

[ES354]

Hi,
On both of my first two MGMAT CATs I was on time to finish the last quant question, but got too wrapped up in the math and ran out of time. Everywhere I have looked (including the Session 7: Prepare to Fact the GMAT Interact lesson) tells me that there is a stiff penalty for not finishing. I'm wondering if there is any idea exactly how much "punishment" I receive for no answer on only the last question?

One thing that seems certain is that not finishing this question affects my score more than simply inserting a wrong answer.

Thanks to anyone (student or MGMAT instructor) who has any info on this... I will hopefully not make the same mistake a THIRD time!

Regards,
Eric

[StaceyKoprince]

One single question won't make a great difference as long as you are not at the very top end of the scoring range. Of course, it's better to get through them all. :)

It is true in general that leaving a question blank has a higher penalty than guessing and getting it wrong.

One good thing to know: the real test will accept your last answer, even if you don't have time to click next and confirm. So if you know this is a tendency. Pick your favorite letter as soon as you get to the last question. That way, if you do run out of time, at least you've got a guess in! And if you get it wrong, you won't lose as much as you would if you didn't answer at all.

(Note: our test doesn't actually accept the answer unless you hit next / confirm.)

Next, let's talk about the timing issues. Read these and start doing what they say:

http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013/ ... -to-do-it/

http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement