An Appeal to Blank Answers for Right Minus Wrong

We, concerned students of the sections of Grade 11 STEM, want to preface this paper by saying
that our intention is not to antagonize the policy of right minus wrong, nor is it meant to question Ma’am
Aque’s holistic ways of holding student examinations. Instead, this paper is an opportunity for us to voice
our concerns regarding the way these papers are corrected and graded. In this appeal, we would like to
claim that leaving blank answers for right minus wrong should not be equated to wrong answers, but
rather missing answers that aren’t meant to be penalized. By practicing this, it is better representative of
the goal of right minus wrong, which is an accurate, honest, and fair assessment of a student’s
knowledge through a written examination.

Right minus wrong, also formally known as negative scoring, is a policy/rules in an assessment
where for every wrong answer, you are penalized with deductions to your final score (Akizuki, 2018; Ndu
et al., 2016). Many different types of assessments use this type of grading system, most relevantly for us
students the UPCAT exam uses the right minus wrong scoring system, but is also often commonly found in
events like Olympiads, quiz bees, trivia, and other events where a participant’s knowledge must be
accurately tested and scored (TutorialHub Philippines, n.d.). It is generally understood that the rules of the
negative scoring system are the following (1) correct answers shall be scored with the appropriate number
of points; (2) wrong answers shall be scored with deductions and penalties to the total score; and (3) blank
answers do not affect the total score (Ndu et al., 2016; Tennessee Tech University, n.d.; West, 1923). The
goal of these rules is to: (1) punish respondents who blindly guess answers in the assessments; (2) reward
respondents who are absolutely certain with their answers; and (3) recognize the honesty of respondents
who do not answer questions they are not sure of for the sake of accurate assessment results.

If we disregard the third rule of blank answers having no penalty on the total score, the primary
goal and effectiveness of an assessment employing a “right minus wrong” scoring policy is trivialized. Blank
answers having a penalty once again invites respondents to blindly answer questions, disregarding the
sanctity of the assessment and instead reduces the test of knowledge into a chance-based score. Blank
answers have a place in assessments and have meaning, as it is a humble admission of ignorance of the
respondents rather than a blind answer that would otherwise have negative/harmful consequences when
applied in a practical situation instead of just a written assessment. That is why tests such as the UPCAT
employ this scoring policy, to accurately recognize and assess the real knowledge of respondents taking
the test because wrong guesses are penalized.

Take for example, a student John takes a 25-item test with a negative scoring policy. He managed
to answer 16 items in the test with absolute certainty, while leaving the other items blank because he
genuinely does not know the answer and it would do him no good to guess it with the negative scoring
policy in place. With the conventional rules of “right minus wrong,” in place, he would have a total score
of 16/25 by leaving the questions he didn’t know the answers to blank; this is the honest, accurate, and
well-earned score he had from this assessment. However, when blank answers are penalized with a
negative mark, he would have a score of -2/25. Punishing blank answers heavily skews the data to the left,
often causing zero to negative scores. Even getting the common passing score of 70% in place when tests
are not following the negative grading policy, a respondent’s score often becomes 0-10%. This example
highlights the importance of recognizing the implications, meaning, and effect of blank answers. Blank
answers do not simply equate to wrong answers, but rather a humble admission for room for knowledge
to grow.

We would like to end this paper with a hope that you, the reader, have a better appreciation for
the beauty of the negative scoring policy. Even if we are unable to convince you of the implementation of
its conventional rules, we hope that we all can recognize its importance and its purpose.
 REFERENCES

Akizuki, A. S. (2018, May 3). The trauma and comedy of remembering right minus wrong exams. Blogspot.
https://seanakizuki.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-trauma-and-comedy-of-remembering.html

Ndu, I. K., Ekwochi, U., Di Osuorah, C., Asinobi, I. N., Nwaneri, M. O., Uwaezuoke, S. N., Amadi, O. F., Okeke,
I. B., Chinawa, J. M., & Orjioke, C. J. G. (2016). Negative Marking and the Student Physician--A
Descriptive Study of Nigerian Medical Schools. Journal of medical education and curricular
development, 3, JMECD.S40705. https://doi.org/10.4137/JMECD.S40705

Tennessee Tech University. (n.d.). FAQs for instructors. https://www2.tntech.edu/ilearn/Instructor/page

s/le/question-library/question_library-instructor-grade_options_for_multi_select.htm

West, P. V. (1923). A Critical Study of the Right Minus Wrong Method. The Journal of Educational Research,
8(1), 1–9. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27524875

Why You Should Prepare Early for UPCAT. (n.d.). TutorialHub Philippines. https://tutorialhub.ph/why-you-
should-prepare-early-for-upcat