Is There Negative or Partial Marking in the IITM BS Qualifier?

We could not confirm this from official sources. The DS and ES student handbooks and admissions pages describe the qualifier exam's length, format and pass marks, but they do not say whether wrong answers lose marks or whether partly correct answers earn some marks. The marking rules for your paper are given in the exam instructions for your term. Read them before exam day, and use a strategy that works under either rule.

What the official sources do say

• The exam is in person, at a designated centre, and invigilated.
• It is one 4-hour exam covering all four qualifier courses.
• It is based on the content of the 4 weeks.
• To pass, you need a minimum in each course and a minimum average. For General candidates that is 40% per course and 50% on average. See the qualifier passing marks.

Nothing in these sources mentions negative marking, partial marking or question types. Many students discuss this online, but those posts are not official, so we do not repeat them as facts.

Where to find the rule for your exam

The DS handbook links an "Important Instructions for Exams" document, added on 18 July 2026. Your hall ticket, and any instructions given at the exam, are the other places to look. When you read them, check three things for each type of question:

1. How many marks a fully correct answer gets.
2. Whether a partly correct answer gets any marks.
3. Whether a wrong answer takes marks away.

Write these down on a small note to yourself before the exam starts, if rough work is allowed.

A strategy that works either way

Some habits help under any rule:

• Read the question type first. A question with one correct answer and one with several need different handling.
• Check units and rounding for any answer you type as a number.
• Keep time for every course. Four courses in 4 hours is about an hour each, and each course has its own minimum.
• Do a final pass for unanswered questions if blanks earn nothing.

For more on the day itself, read qualifier exam day: hall ticket, centre and rules and the qualifier exam pattern.

Common questions

Is the marking scheme the same for DS and ES?

Neither handbook states a marking scheme, so we cannot compare them. The ES handbook and both admissions pages describe the same 4-hour format for four subjects. Read the instructions for your own programme's exam.

Is the marking the same as in Quiz 1?

The handbooks do not describe the marking scheme for either. They do say that if you join in the term right after the qualifier, your qualifier exam score is used as your Quiz 1 score.

Can I estimate my result after the exam?

Only roughly, since the marking rules decide the final number. Once you have an estimate for each course, try the qualifier score calculator.