In both JEE Main (MCQs) and NEET, a correct answer earns +4 and a wrong one costs −1. Leaving a question blank costs nothing. That simple scheme creates one of the most important decisions of the whole exam: for every question you're unsure about, should you attempt it or leave it?
The basic arithmetic
With four options and a blind guess, you'll be right about one time in four. Over four blind guesses, you'd expect one right (+4) and three wrong (−3), a net of +1. So blind guessing isn't the disaster people assume, but it's close to zero, highly variable, and on a bad day it's firmly negative.
The picture changes fast once you can eliminate options. Rule out one option and your odds become one in three. Rule out two and it's a coin flip between the last two, where the expected value is clearly positive. That's the real principle: don't guess blind, guess after elimination.
A practical three-tier rule
- Confident: attempt.
- Narrowed it to two options through actual reasoning: usually attempt.
- No idea, or only a vague feeling: skip, and come back if time allows.
Where students actually lose marks
Not usually on the questions they know they don't know. They lose marks on questions they think they know: a misremembered formula, a sign error, a misread "NOT" in the question. That's why your mock test review should track wrong answers you were confident about separately. Those point to concept gaps, not guessing strategy.
Practise the decision, not just the content
The attempt-or-skip call has to become fast and automatic, because in the real exam you'll make it dozens of times. That only happens with practice under real marking. Every mock you take should:
- Use the real +4 / −1 scheme, so your score reflects actual exam consequences.
- Be followed by a count of marks lost to wrong answers.
- Be compared with the previous mock: is that number going down?
Use the exam screen's tools
The real CBT lets you mark questions for review. Use that to separate "I'll come back to this" from "I'm leaving this." Sanviora's entrance exam mock tests apply each exam's real marking scheme and run on a CBT-style screen with the same five palette states (Not Visited, Not Answered, Answered, Marked for Review, Answered & Marked for Review), so you can rehearse exactly this habit before exam day.
Always check the official information bulletin for your exam year. Marking schemes can differ by question type, and JEE Advanced in particular uses partial and varied marking.