<p>How does skipping questions I don't know affect my overall PSAT score? I know that the total score is 240, with each section being worth 80 points. If I skip a question, does that automatically mean that I cannot get a perfect score on the section? For instance, let's say that I attempted all but five of the problems. Would my total score be changed to reflect how many I missed out of the ones I ATTEMPTED, or the questions TOTAL?
I am a junior taking the PSAT in the morning, and honestly I believe that my confusion on this was what led to my score while taking the PSAT last year (a score of 161). I hope to not make the same mistake this time as I would like to get scholarships</p>
<p>No, your score is based on how many questions you answered correctly/incorrectly, not on how many you attempted. So if you didn’t answer five questions on a section but answered everything else correctly, your score would be less than 80 points.</p>
<p>Say the entire test is based off 10 questions …</p>
<p>Answer 7 correctly and skip 3: 7+0 = 7
Answer 7 correctly and 3 incorrectly: 7 - 3(1/4) = 6.25 -> 6</p>
<p>However, if you are aiming for very high scores, then I would recommend you answer every question. Skipping questions is certainly the safer route, however.</p>
<p>Mathematically you should guess on the questions you don’t know. If there are 4 answer choices, you have a 1/4 chance of getting it right and a 3/4 chance of getting it wrong. So if you guess on 4 questions, you will likely get 1 right and miss 4. So you would get .25 points 1- 3(.25)
And if you leave them blank you’ll get no points.</p>
<p>But Austin, there are 5 answer choices for each problem. The scoring is designed to counter the effect of accidental correct answers and is score neutral on average.</p>
<p>Usually when you guess it isn’t completely blind. You may be choosing between 2 or 3 of the answers and know that the others are incorrect. Then you should definitely guess. If you really have no idea at all, leave it blank. Mark the problem and come back later to reread if you have time.</p>
<p>@austin23 there are 5 answer choices on the SAT multiple choice, not four. Also your <em>expected</em> score from guessing is 0.25, you will not obtain 0.25 points (slight difference there).</p>
<p>Calculation of Raw PSAT/NMSQT Score
Answer Type Point Value
Correct answer Plus 1 point
Wrong answer to multiple-choice questions Minus 1/4 point
Wrong answer to math grid-ins 0 points deducted
Unanswered question 0 points deducted</p>