Skew measures the symmetry of a frequency distribution. Which statement is true?

• A. A skew of 0 indicates a perfectly skewed distribution.
• B. A skew of 0 indicates perfect symmetry.
• C. Positive skew means most scores are at the high end.
• D. Skew has no relation to the shape of the distribution.

Answer: (B)

Skewness tells us whether a distribution is symmetric around its center. When skewness is zero, the left and right sides balance and the distribution is perfectly symmetric. This aligns with the normal distribution, a classic example of symmetry with skewness around zero. So the statement that a skew of zero indicates perfect symmetry is true. The idea that zero skew means a perfectly skewed distribution is the opposite. Positive skew indicates a longer tail on the high end, not that most scores are at the high end. Skewness is directly related to the shape of the distribution, so saying there’s no relation to shape isn’t correct.