So what’s the deal with leaving exam answers blank?
Can you ever have marks taken off? What should you do instead of leaving an answer blank?
One of my students asked a question and I wondered if anyone else wondered or thought the same thing so I want to set the record straight.
She asked: “Katie, some of my friends have been saying that if we leave an answer blank in a formal, external ATAR exam…we can have marks taken off and we should just write something. Even if it’s just rewriting the question into the answer space.”
Let me be very clear…
NO. That does not happen!
I have never come across an exam style of marking where marks have been taken off for a blank answer…ever!
So what should a student do if they’re not sure on an answer or if they’re running out of time and don’t want to leave something blank?
Firstly, if it’s a multiple choice question and you really have no idea on the answer, simply have a wild guess.
It’ll likely be a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right and could even be the easiest marks you ever get!
Please don’t ever leave multiple choice questions blank. It literally takes seconds and you’ve nothing to lose. Writing something is always better than writing nothing.
If you’re running out of time but don’t know how to tackle something then write some bullet point facts or information that you know you would want to expand on if you had more time.
Very often, some of the basics can get some of those low level marks (the low hanging fruit).
