APPSC ASO Notification 2026: 196 Posts, Apply by 2 Nov

APPSC ASO notification 2026 is out for 196 Assistant Statistical Officer posts. Online applications opened on 13 October and close on 2 November 2026 (11:59 pm). You need a degree with Statistics in it, either as a main subject or as a paper inside a Maths, Economics, Commerce or Computer Science degree.

Update (13 October 2026): APPSC has published the detailed notification (No. 20/2026, dated 13 October) and the application link is live. The age limit is 18 to 44 years as on 1 July 2026, the fee is ₹250 + ₹80, and the zone-wise vacancy table is out. Zone IV (Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla, Prakasam, Nellore) has the most posts, 41. All of it is filled in below.

This is the Statistical Officer post. It’s not the Assistant Section Officer post that comes under Group 2.

Detail	Information
Recruiting body	Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), Vijayawada
Post	Assistant Statistical Officer, A.P. Economics & Statistical Subordinate Service
Notification	No. 20/2026 (brief 15 September, detailed 13 October 2026)
Vacancies	196 (provisional)
Pay scale	₹37,640 to ₹1,15,500
Apply online	13 October to 2 November 2026, up to 11:59 pm
Qualification	Degree with Statistics (details below)
Age limit	18 to 44 years as on 1 July 2026 (relaxation below)
Fee	₹250 + ₹80 (₹250 only for exempted categories)
Correction window	7 days after 2 November, ₹100 per correction
Exam centres	Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Ananthapuramu
Selection	One computer-based exam (300 marks), then a qualifying Computer Proficiency Test
Exam date	Not announced yet
Official website	psc.ap.gov.in

Zone-wise vacancies

This is a zonal post. 95% of the posts in each zone are reserved for local candidates of that zone (under the Presidential Order 2025), and your local zone depends on where you studied from Class 4 to Class 7.

Zone	Districts	Posts
Zone I	Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Parvathipuram Manyam, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli	31
Zone II	Alluri Sitarama Raju, East Godavari, Kakinada, Konaseema	21
Zone III	West Godavari, Eluru, NTR, Krishna	28
Zone IV	Guntur, Palnadu, Bapatla, Prakasam, Nellore	41
Zone V	Tirupati, Chittoor, Annamayya, YSR Kadapa	39
Zone VI	Nandyal, Ananthapuramu, Kurnool, Sri Sathya Sai	36
	Total	196

By category, across all zones: OC 83, BC 55 (A 17, B 16, C 3, D 12, E 7), SC 27 (I 2, II 12, III 13), ST 13 and EWS 18. Inside these, 45 posts are for women, 9 for sports persons and 9 for persons with benchmark disabilities. The full zone-by-category grid is in Annexure I of the PDF.

Only 7 of the 196 are open (non-local) posts. So if you’re from Zone II, you’re mostly competing for Zone II’s 21 posts, not all 196.

Why 196 posts is a big deal

The last time APPSC advertised this post, in March 2024 (Notification No. 12/2024), there were 5 carried-forward vacancies. This time there are 196.

Posts for statistics graduates don’t come often in AP, and almost never in this number. If you qualify, this is the one to take seriously this year.

APPSC ASO notification 2026: eligibility

You must hold one of these from a recognised university:

• Bachelor’s degree with Statistics as one of the main subjects, or
• Bachelor’s degree with Mathematics as a main subject, with Statistics as a paper in one, two or all three years, or
• Bachelor’s degree with Economics as a main subject, with Statistics as a paper in at least one year, or
• Bachelor’s degree with Commerce as a main subject, with Statistics as a paper in at least one year, or
• Bachelor’s degree with Computer Science as a main subject, with Statistics as a paper in at least one year.

So a BCom or BSc Computers graduate can apply, but only if Statistics shows up as a paper on the marks memo. Check your memos before you pay the fee. A BTech, or a BA with no Statistics paper, doesn’t fit the wording above.

Important: you must have the qualification as on the date of the detailed notification, which is 13 October 2026. If your final-year result wasn’t out by then, you aren’t eligible this time.

Age limit

18 to 44 years as on 1 July 2026. That’s 2 years more than the 42 allowed in 2024, the same upper limit as this year’s APPSC Group 1 notification.

Category	Relaxation
SC, ST, BC, EWS	5 years
Persons with benchmark disabilities	10 years
Ex-servicemen, NCC instructors	3 years plus length of service
Regular AP state government employees	Length of service, up to 5 years
Retrenched AP Census Department temporary staff (6+ months)	3 years

Selection process and exam pattern

There are two steps, and APPSC has confirmed there’s no screening test, whatever the number of applicants.

Step 1: Written exam (computer-based, degree standard)

Paper	Subject	Questions	Time	Marks
Paper I	General Studies & Mental Ability	150	150 minutes	150
Paper II	Subject	150	150 minutes	150
	Total			300

• Objective type, taken on a computer at an exam centre.
• Negative marking: one-third of the question’s marks is cut for each wrong answer.
• If the exam runs in more than one session, APPSC will normalise the marks.
• Minimum qualifying marks on the total: 40% for OC, EWS, sports persons and ex-servicemen, 35% for BC, 30% for SC, ST and PBD.
• Exam date: not announced yet. Hall tickets will be on psc.ap.gov.in.

Step 2: Computer Proficiency Test (qualifying)

Candidates shortlisted on written-exam merit take a practical test in office software. It’s 60 minutes for 100 marks. You only need to cross the qualifying mark: 40 for OC, 35 for BC, 30 for SC, ST and PBD.

The test has a short multiple-choice part (20% of marks). The rest is practical work: a formatted Word document with tables and mail merge, typing speed, an Excel sheet with formulas and charts, and a PowerPoint presentation.

The Krishna river at Vijayawada, where APPSC has its office. Photo: Ashwin Kumar from Bangalore, India / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0

Syllabus in short

Paper I, General Studies & Mental Ability: current events (international, national and Andhra Pradesh), general science and technology, Indian history with focus on AP and the national movement, geography of India and AP, polity and governance, Indian economy and planning, sustainable development, disaster management, logical reasoning, and basic data analysis (tables, charts, mean, median, mode, variance).

Paper II, Subject. This is the surprise for many people. It isn’t only statistics. The 10 units are:

1. Economic concepts (demand, elasticity, markets, national income, money, banking, inflation, public finance)
2. International economics (trade, balance of payments, exchange rates, IMF and World Bank)
3. Indian economics (population, poverty, unemployment, planning, NITI Aayog, fiscal and monetary policy)
4. Financial accounting (journal, ledger, cash book, trial balance, final accounts, depreciation)
5. Basics of computers (binary, octal and hexadecimal systems, flow charts, spreadsheets)
6. Introduction to statistics (data collection, sampling, probability, frequency distribution, diagrams)
7. Measures of central tendency
8. Measures of dispersion and skewness
9. Correlation
10. Time series and index numbers

Half the paper is economics, accounting and computers. A Statistics graduate has to pick up accounting. A Commerce graduate has to revise statistics. Nobody walks in fully ready, which evens things out.

Pay scale

The notified scale is ₹37,640 to ₹1,15,500. Your basic pay starts at ₹37,640, and DA, HRA and other allowances are added as per AP government rules. I’m not quoting an in-hand figure because it changes with your posting place and the DA rate at the time.

Application fee

Category	Fee
General (and all applicants from other states)	₹250 processing + ₹80 exam = ₹330
SC, ST, BC, PBD, ex-servicemen, AP white ration card families, unemployed youth (G.O. 439)	₹250 only

Pay online by net banking, debit or credit card. The fee isn’t refunded. Note that nobody is fully exempt: the ₹250 processing fee is for everyone. (I had guessed ₹250 + ₹120 earlier from the Group 1 notice; the actual exam fee is ₹80, same as 2024.)

How to apply

1. Go to psc.ap.gov.in. If you’ve never applied to APPSC, do the One Time Profile Registration (OTPR) first. It gives you an OTPR ID. Registering alone isn’t an application.
2. Log in with your OTPR ID and open the online application for Notification No. 20/2026 (live from 13 October).
3. Check the details pulled in from your OTPR profile. Name, community and local status decide your fee and age relaxation, so fix mistakes in the OTPR profile before you submit.
4. Fill in your qualification and pick up to 3 exam centres in order of preference (Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Ananthapuramu).
5. Pay the fee online and download the submitted application.

If you make a mistake, corrections open after 2 November for 7 days, at ₹100 per correction. Name, community and anything that changes your fee or age relaxation can’t be corrected at all, so get the OTPR profile right first.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying without Statistics on your memo. Your application can be rejected at certificate verification, even after you clear the exam.
• Not knowing your local zone. It’s decided by where you studied (Class 4 to 7), not where you live now. Keep the study certificates ready; a residence certificate isn’t accepted if you studied in a school.
• Guessing in the exam. With one-third negative marking, four wrong answers wipe out more than one right one.
• Ignoring the computer test. It’s only qualifying, but if you fail it you aren’t appointed.

Should you apply?

Yes, if your degree fits. The eligibility rule keeps out most graduates, so the crowd is far smaller than for Group 2 or Group 4. And 196 posts against 5 last time is a gap you may not see again for years.

Think twice if you’re banking on Statistics alone. Paper II needs economics and accounting too, and Paper I is a full general studies paper. Start with the units you’ve never studied.

Next step: check your memos for the Statistics paper, find your zone in the table above, and apply before 2 November. I’ll update this page when APPSC announces the exam date and hall tickets.