Level 1 CFA® Exam: What Is Skewed Distribution?

CFA Exam Review /
Skewed Distribution

This blog post was created as a part of the CFA exam review series to help you in your level 1 exam revision, whether done regularly or shortly before your CFA exam.

Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of a distribution. It tells us how observations are distributed around the mean.

Symmetrical Distribution

symmetrical distribution mode = median = mean

Positively Skewed Distribution

If most observations lie to the left of the mean, we say that the distribution is skewed to the right or positively skewed. This kind of distribution has a long tail on its right side.

positively skewed distribution mode

Negatively Skewed Distribution

When most observations lie to the right of the mean, we say that the distribution is skewed to the left or negatively skewed. A distribution with a negative skew has a long tail on its left side.

negatively skewed distribution mean

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LAST UPDATE: 4 Nov 2023