News Release

Gender gap in test scores

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Analysis of 2,646,550 college entrance test-takers in Chile finds that the removal of a penalty for incorrect answers, a policy measure enacted in 2015, narrowed the gender gap in test scores, particularly among high-performing students in some STEM fields, and reduced the gender gap in the number of questions skipped, according to a study.

Article #19-20945: "The impact of penalties for wrong answers on the gender gap in test scores," by Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski.

MEDIA CONTACT: Katherine B. Coffman, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA; tel: 617-495-6538; e-mail: kcoffman@hbs.edu

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