ESADE Admission Test Negative Marking: How to Handle It
On most school exams, a wild guess is free. On the ESADE Admission Test it isn't: points are deducted for wrong answers. That single rule should change how you approach every question you're unsure about. Here's how to think about it.
What "negative marking" means here
ESADE's website says that points are deducted for incorrect answers on the reasoning sections, while the English level test does not deduct points. The website doesn't give the size, but ESADE's official sample tests do, in each section's own instructions: 0.25 points per wrong answer in Sufficiency of information, Numerical analysis and Logical reasoning,[1] and 0.50 points in Verbal ability, the section only the Law programmes sit.[2] The Sufficiency of information instructions add: "Mistakes are penalised. Therefore, think carefully before replying and avoid guessing."
The core idea: a question you leave blank is worth zero. A question you answer is worth something positive if you're right and costs you 0.25 (or 0.50) if you're wrong. The sample tests don't say what a correct answer is worth; the arithmetic below assumes +1, which ESADE states for its master's test, not for the bachelor one. So the question on every item you're unsure about is simply: is answering better than leaving it blank?
The eliminate-then-answer rule
You almost never face a truly blind guess if you actually read the question. Eliminating options changes the maths:
- Read nothing, guess at random → among five options at 0.25 off per mistake, a blind guess averages exactly zero: one chance in five of +1 against four chances in five of losing 0.25. No gain, and ESADE's own instruction is to avoid guessing.
- Eliminate one or two options → answering is now worth something on average. At 0.25, you come out ahead whenever your chance of being right is better than one in five; at 0.50 (Verbal ability, three marks: true, false, or not decidable from the text), better than one in three.
- Confident on the answer → always answer.
So the rule is: eliminate first, then decide. If you can rule out even one or two options, answering is usually the right call. If you genuinely can't narrow it down at all and the clock is tight, leaving it blank is defensible.
These figures assume a correct answer is worth one point, which ESADE doesn't state for the bachelor test. The habit they support doesn't depend on the exact value: never blind-guess unread questions, but do answer once you've eliminated options. On the English level test there's no penalty at all, so never leave a blank there.
Skip ≠ leave blank
There's an important distinction. Skipping means not spending any more of the clock on a hard question. Leaving blank is a final decision to score zero on it. ESADE doesn't publish whether you can go back to an earlier question, so don't plan on a second pass you may not get. The workflow that holds whatever the platform allows:
- Decide fast. On each item, either answer or move on. Don't burn three minutes on one item in a 185-minute test whose sections give you about 44 seconds per question in Numerical analysis and 47 in Logical reasoning.
- Eliminate before you answer. Rule out what you can; if you've narrowed it down, answer; if you've ruled out nothing, leave it.
- Leave blank only the ones where you truly can't eliminate anything.
What you can and can't change
ESADE says the test measures abilities, not knowledge, and its sample test says that "repetition and practice do not significantly improve test performance".[3] Take that at face value. What this guide is about is a decision, not a score: what to do with an answer you're unsure of, under a penalty you now know to the quarter-point, section by section. That is something you can settle before the day, so your one attempt in the academic year isn't the first time you face it.
EsadePrep mocks apply negative marking across all three reasoning areas, so you learn exactly when to commit and when to move on.
See All-Subject PrepSources: ESADE's official bachelor admissions pages and its official sample tests (business programmes, and Law), verified 21 September 2026. EsadePrep is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by ESADE.
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