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Are PGRE Incorrect Answers Penalized or Not?

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:40 pm
by star_observer
I've heard from slightly older posts (from a couple years ago) and reading the 2nd Edition of Conquering the Physics GRE (2014) that there is a 1/4 point penalty for incorrect answers. Reading the ETS site and skimming their booklet (https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/practice_book_physics.pdf) from 2017 for PGRE says otherwise:
Your score will be determined by the number of questions you answer correctly. Questions you answer incorrectly or for which you mark no answer or more than one answer are counted as incorrect. Nothing is subtracted from a score if you answer a question incorrectly. Therefore, to maximize your score it is better for you to guess at an answer than not to respond at all.
from ETS's Subject Test Taking Strategies: https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/prepare/strategy/

Is this a new change in test policy? Or is ETS straight up passing a fast one (I think that's unlikely)?

Thanks.

Re: Are PGRE Incorrect Answers Penalized or Not?

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:26 am
by TakeruK
This is a new change! No more penalties for incorrect answers. The test rules/policies change once in awhile so I would always say trust what the most recent version of the ETS website says instead of older posts here or elsewhere.

Re: Are PGRE Incorrect Answers Penalized or Not?

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:01 pm
by star_observer
Great news :D . And thanks, I wanted to be absolutely sure.