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What happens if I leave a question blank in TNPSC?
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If you leave a question completely blank on the OMR sheet, 0.5 mark is deducted from your total for each such question. A wrong answer, on the other hand, loses nothing. TNPSC has no negative marking for wrong answers, but it does penalise unattempted questions.
The arithmetic
In Group 4 every question carries 1.5 marks (300 marks for 200 questions). The three outcomes for one question are:
| What you do | Effect on your total |
|---|---|
| Shade the correct option | +1.5 |
| Shade a wrong option | 0 |
| Shade option E, "answer not known" | 0 |
| Leave the question with no bubble shaded | -0.5 |
So 20 blanks cost you 10 marks, the value of nearly seven correct answers. In a paper where ranks are separated by a few marks, that is a lot to lose by simply not shading.
What to do with a question you cannot answer
Every OMR question has five bubbles: A to D, plus E for "answer not known". The notification (Annexure IV) says no bubble should be left blank. Shading E avoids the penalty. But because a wrong answer costs nothing, shading one of A to D is better than E: a pure guess among four options has a one in four chance of earning 1.5 marks and no chance of losing any.
Rule out options first, then guess among what remains. E scores zero, the same as a wrong answer, so treat it as a fallback and not as a strategy.
Other OMR deductions
The same annexure lists other small penalties, such as 0.5 mark for a missing left-hand thumb impression and 2 marks for a wrongly written register number on a non-personalised OMR sheet. The full list is on the OMR option E page.
Does the same rule apply to every TNPSC exam?
This rule is written in the Group 4 2026 notification. Other OMR-based objective papers follow the OMR instructions in their own notification, so read them for your group. The TNPSC marking scheme guide compares the exams.
Practise the habit in full-length mocks. PrepMatic Group 4 mocks run 200 questions in 180 minutes, so you can rehearse reaching the last question with every bubble shaded.
Source
Confirm the rule for your exam in the latest notification.
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- Option E on the OMR sheetOption E on the TNPSC OMR sheet means "answer not known". Why it exists, what happens if you leave a question blank, and the other OMR deductions.
- Marks per question in Group 4Each TNPSC Group 4 question carries 1.5 marks: 200 questions for 300 marks. How marks split across Tamil, General Studies and aptitude, and what a blank costs.
- TNPSC negative markingTNPSC has no penalty for wrong answers, but a fully blank question costs 0.5 mark. See option E, OMR rules, qualifying marks and the attempt strategy.
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