DA0-002 Data Analysis Practice Question
A data analyst at a regional bank is examining monthly account balances for 5,000 customers. The distribution is strongly right-skewed because a small number of high-net-worth clients hold very large balances. The analyst must report a measure of central tendency that best represents the typical customer without being pulled upward by those few extreme accounts. Which measure should the analyst report?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is defaulting to the mean because it is familiar, without recognizing that extreme values in a skewed distribution drag it away from the typical observation.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The median of the monthly balances.
With a strong right skew driven by a few very large balances, the mean is pulled upward while the median stays anchored near the middle of the ordered data. Because the request is for a representative central value that resists outliers, the median is the appropriate choice. Standard deviation and the range describe dispersion, not central tendency, so they cannot answer the question.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The arithmetic mean of the monthly balances.
Why it's wrong here
The mean sums all balances and divides by the count, so the handful of very large accounts pulls it well above what a typical customer holds. In a strongly right-skewed distribution the mean sits to the right of most observations, making it a misleading description of the typical customer. It is a valid statistic, but it answers a different question than the one the analyst was asked.
- ✗
The standard deviation of the monthly balances.
Why it's wrong here
Standard deviation measures spread around the mean, not central tendency, so it cannot answer where the typical customer's balance lies. It is also inflated by the same extreme accounts that distort the mean, since it squares deviations. Reporting it would tell the bank how dispersed balances are but would leave the question of a representative central value entirely unanswered.
- ✓
The median of the monthly balances.
Why this is correct
The median is the middle value when balances are ordered, so it depends only on position and is unaffected by how large the extreme accounts become. For a right-skewed distribution it sits closer to the bulk of customers and therefore better represents a typical balance. This is exactly the robust measure of central tendency the analyst needs when outliers would distort the mean.
- ✗
The range between the minimum and maximum monthly balances.
Why it's wrong here
The range is the difference between the largest and smallest observations and is the least robust measure of spread available. A single high-net-worth account sets the maximum, so the range would be dominated by one client and reveal nothing about the center of the distribution. Like standard deviation, it describes variability rather than a representative value.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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