This page sets out the syllabus of the APPSC Assistant Statistical Officer examination as the brief Notification No. 20/2026 (15 September 2026) describes it. The recruitment is a single-level online test (CBRT) with no screening test, at degree standard, in two objective papers of 150 marks each. The Paper II syllabus is printed in the annexure to the notification; this page is a guide to that annexure, not a substitute for it. For questions, marks and minutes see the exam pattern; for the recruitment as a whole see the ASO exam guide.
Syllabus at a glance
| Paper | Subject | Marks | Standard | Where the syllabus is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I | General Studies and Mental Ability | 150 | Degree | Notification 20/2026 annexure (the standard APPSC paper) |
| Paper II | Subject (Economics, Accounting, Computers, Statistics) | 150 | Degree | Notification 20/2026 annexure, ten numbered units |
Both papers carry equal marks, so the syllabus is two halves of equal weight.
Paper I: General Studies and Mental Ability
Paper I is the standard APPSC degree-level General Studies and Mental Ability paper. As the annexure lists it, the heads are: current events of international, national and Andhra Pradesh importance; general science and technology, including IT; history of India with a focus on Andhra Pradesh and the national movement; geography of India with a focus on Andhra Pradesh; Indian polity and governance; Indian economy and planning; sustainable development and environmental protection; disaster management with remote sensing and GIS; logical reasoning and analytical ability; and data analysis, meaning tabulation of data, visual representation, basic summary statistics (mean, median, mode, variance) and interpretation.
The notification does not give a mark split between these heads, so do not trust any page that assigns marks to them. Treat every head as in scope and let your practice results, not a guessed weighting, decide where the hours go.
Paper II: Subject (Economics, Accounting, Computers, Statistics)
Paper II is a subject paper, and it is not statistics alone. The annexure to Notification 20/2026 prints ten numbered units, and that annexure is the only authority; download the PDF from psc.ap.gov.in before you plan a single week. In the notification's order the units are:
- Economic concepts: production, consumption and demand, elasticity, market structures, price determination, national income, employment, savings and investment, money.
- International economics: free trade and protection, balance of payments, exchange rates, the international monetary system (Bretton Woods, IMF, World Bank).
- Indian economics: population, poverty, unemployment, inequality, foreign trade and external debt, inflation, fiscal deficit, sectoral trends, planning.
- Financial accounting: concepts and conventions, journal, ledger and subsidiary books, bank reconciliation, trial balance and final accounts, errors, depreciation, single entry.
- Basics of computers: number systems, codes, memory, logical operations, algorithms and flowcharts, spreadsheet basics.
- Introduction to statistics: primary and secondary data, sampling methods, probability definition, census, schedule and questionnaire, frequency distribution, tabulation and presentation.
- Measures of central tendency: means, median, mode, quartiles, deciles, percentiles.
- Measures of dispersion and skewness: range, quartile and mean deviation, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, Pearson's and Bowley's skewness, kurtosis, normal distribution.
- Measures of relation: correlation and its types, Karl Pearson's coefficient, Spearman's rank correlation, probable error.
- Time series and index numbers: components, trend and seasonal variation, decomposition; price and quantity index numbers, tests of adequacy, base shifting, deflation, cost of living index.
Units 6 to 10 are statistics and units 1 to 5 are economics, accounting and computing, so a pure statistics preparation covers only half the paper by count of units. The notification gives no unit-wise mark weighting, so treat all ten as in scope. A candidate who qualifies through the Mathematics or Economics route (Statistics as a paper) should read the annexure with particular care, because the questions follow the paper, not the degree title.
Where the two papers meet
Our reading, not APPSC's: the last head of Paper I, data analysis, asks for tabulation, charts and basic summary statistics, which is the opening ground of any statistics syllabus. Practice for one paper earns marks in the other; beyond that, the two papers are separate.
How to use this syllabus
- Print the annexure from the Notification 20/2026 PDF and tick each line as you finish it.
- When the detailed notification is published, read its scheme and syllabus annexure first. If a line differs from the brief notification, the detailed one wins.
- Tag every practice question to a head of Paper I or a line of the Paper II annexure. Topic practice and full mocks on Pareeksha are Pro; the 10-question mini-mock and Daily Dangal are free.
What this page does not have
- The Paper II annexure reproduced line by line; read the notification PDF.
- Any mark weighting between heads or units; the notification gives none.
- The detailed notification's syllabus, if it differs from the brief one; this page was checked against the brief notification on the date shown.
Related: Exam pattern · Cut-off · Preparation strategy · Andhra Pradesh state guide