eli5: what does ‘positive skew’ and ‘negative skew’ mean in a case such as test scores

Question

i understand that it means the mean was either higher/lower than the average. i think. but what does that MEAN like why does it matter??? help

In: Mathematics

Answer 1

Positive skew = most people did slightly below ‘average’, but a few people did really really well and were WAY above average.

Negative skew = most people did slightly above ‘average’, but a few people really bombed and were WAY below average.