The UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern for 2024 outlines the comprehensive framework and requirements candidates must prepare for to excel in the Indian Economic Service (IES) and Indian Statistical Service (ISS) examinations. Understanding the UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern is crucial for aspirants aiming for success in these competitive exams.
The UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2024 is meticulously designed to assess a candidate's proficiency in economics, statistics, and analytical abilities. For IES, the syllabus includes subjects like General Economics, Indian Economics, and General Studies. Meanwhile, the ISS syllabus covers Statistics, Probability, and Operational Research, among others.
The UPSC IES/ISS Exam Pattern 2024 is divided into written examinations followed by an interview. The written exam for both services comprises objective and descriptive type questions, designed to test the candidates' theoretical and practical knowledge in their respective fields.
Preparation based on the UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2024 requires a disciplined approach, with a focus on both conceptual clarity and the ability to apply knowledge practically. Candidates should also practice past papers and take mock tests aligned with the UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern to enhance their time management and accuracy.
Success in UPSC IES/ISS 2024 hinges on a thorough understanding of the UPSC IES/ISS Syllabus & Exam Pattern, combined with consistent preparation and a strategic study plan. Aspiring candidates must immerse themselves in the subjects, keeping abreast of the latest economic and statistical developments, to achieve their goal of securing a coveted position through UPSC IES/ISS 2024.
UPSC IES/ ISS Exam Pattern
The UPSC IES/ISS examination scheme is designed to assess the candidate's understanding and proficiency in their respective fields, whether in economics for the Indian Economic Service (IES) or in statistics for the Indian Statistical Service (ISS).
- Part I: Written examination carrying a maximum of 1000 marks in the subjects as shown below.
- Part II: Viva voce of such candidates as may be called by the Commission carrying a maximum of 200 marks.
Part 1: Written Examination
- General English: 100 marks, 3 hours
- General Studies: 100 marks, 3 hours
- General Economics-I: 200 marks, 3 hours
- General Economics-II: 200 marks, 3 hours
- General Economics-III: 200 marks, 3 hours
- Indian Economics: 200 marks, 3 hours
- General English: 100 marks, 3 hours
- General Studies: 100 marks, 3 hours
- Statistics-I (Objective): 200 marks, 2 hours
- Statistics-II (Objective): 200 marks, 2 hours
- Statistics-III (Descriptive): 200 marks, 3 hours
- Statistics-IV (Descriptive): 200 marks, 3 hours
Notes for the Written Examination
- Statistics I & II are objective type with 80 questions to be completed in 120 minutes.
- Statistics III & IV are descriptive, with both short and long answer questions. In Statistics-IV, candidates must choose any two sections out of seven available, all carrying equal marks.
- The General English and General Studies papers are subjective and common to both services.
- All other papers for the Indian Economic Service are also subjective.
Part 2: Viva Voce
UPSC IES/ ISS Syllabus 2024
General English (Common to both IES/ISS):
- Expected Standard: Equivalent to that of a graduate of an Indian University.
- Content: Candidates are required to write an essay in English. Additionally, questions will assess their understanding of English language usage and their ability to effectively summarize or precis passages.
- Expected Standard: Equivalent to that of a graduate of an Indian University.
- Content: Covers general knowledge, current events, and scientific aspects expected of an educated individual. Questions may include Indian Polity, History, Geography, and the Constitution of India, at a level that candidates should be able to answer without specialized study.
PART A: GENERAL ECONOMICS – I (For IES only)
Theory of Consumer’s Demand—Cardinal utility Analysis: Marginal utility and demand, Consumer’s surplus, Indifference curve Analysis and utility function, Price, income and substitution effects, Slutsky theorem and derivation of demand curve, Revealed preference theory. Duality and indirect utility function and expenditure function, Choice under risk and uncertainty. Simple games of complete information, Concept of Nash equilibrium.
Theory of Production: Factors of production and production function. Forms of Production Functions: Cobb Douglas, CES and Fixed coefficient type, Translog production function. Laws of return, Returns to scale and Return to factors of production. Duality and cost function, Measures of productive efficiency of firms, technical and allocative efficiency. Partial Equilibrium versus General Equilibrium approach. Equilibrium of the firm and industry.
Theory of Value: Pricing under different market structures, public sector pricing, marginal cost pricing, peak load pricing, cross-subsidy free pricing and average cost pricing. Marshallian and Walrasian stability analysis. Pricing with incomplete information and moral hazard problems.
Theory of Distribution: Neo classical distribution theories; Marginal productivity theory of determination of factor prices, Factor shares and adding up problems. Euler’s theorem, Pricing of factors under imperfect competition, monopoly and bilateral monopoly. Macrodistribution theories of Ricardo, Marx, Kaldor, Kalecki.
PART B: Quantitative Methods in Economics
Mathematical Methods in Economics: Differentiation and Integration and their application in economics. Optimisation techniques, Sets, Matrices and their application in economics. Linear algebra and Linear programming in economics and Input-output model of Leontief.
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GENERAL ECONOMICS – II (For IES only)
Economic Thought: Mercantilism Physiocrats, Classical, Marxist, Neo-classical, Keynesian and Monetarist schools of thought.
Concept of National Income and Social Accounting: Measurement of National Income, Inter relationship between three measures of national income in the presence of Government sector and International transactions. Environmental considerations, Green national income.
Theory of employment, Output, Inflation, Money and Finance: The Classical theory of Employment and Output and Neo classical approaches. Equilibrium, analysis under classical and neo classical approach. Keynesian theory of Employment and Output. Post Keynesian developments. The inflationary gap; Demand pull versus cost push inflation, the Philip’s curve and its policy implication. Classical theory of Money, Quantity theory of Money. Friedman’s restatement of the quantity theory, the neutrality of money. The supply and demand for loanable funds and equilibrium in financial markets, Keynes’ theory on demand for money. IS-LM Model and AD-AS Model in Keynesian Theory.
Financial and Capital Market: Finance and economic development, financial markets, stock market, gilt market, banking and insurance. Equity markets, Role of primary and secondary markets and efficiency, Derivatives markets; Future and options.
Economic Growth and Development: Concepts of Economic Growth and Development and their measurement: characteristics of less developed countries and obstacles to their development – growth, poverty and income distribution. Theories of growth: Classical Approach: Adam Smith, Marx and Schumpeter- Neo classical approach; Robinson, Solow, Kaldor and Harrod Domar. Theories of Economic Development, Rostow, Rosenstein-Roden, Nurske, Hirschman, Leibenstien and Arthur Lewis, Amin and Frank (Dependency school) respective role of state and the market. Utilitarian and Welfarist approach to social development and A.K. Sen’s critique. Sen’s capability approach to economic development. The Human Development Index. Physical quality of Life Index and Human Poverty Index. Basics of Endogenous Growth Theory.
International Economics: Gains from International Trade, Terms of Trade, policy, international trade and economic development- Theories of International Trade; Ricardo, Haberler, Heckscher- Ohlin and Stopler- Samuelson- Theory of Tariffs- Regional Trade Arrangements. Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and Euro Zone Crisis- Causes and Impact.
Balance of Payments: Disequilibrium in Balance of Payments, Mechanism of Adjustments, Foreign Trade Multiplier, Exchange Rates, Import and Exchange Controls and Multiple Exchange Rates. IS-LM Model and Mundell- Fleming Model of Balance of Payments.
Global Institutions: UN agencies dealing with economic aspects, role of Multilateral Development Bodies (MDBs), such as World Bank, IMF and WTO, Multinational Corporations. G-20.
GENERAL ECONOMICS – III (For IES only)
Environmental Economics—Environmentally sustainable development, Rio process 1992 to 2012, Green GDP, UN Methodology of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting. Environmental Values: Users and Non-Users values, option value. Valuation Methods: Stated and revealed preference methods. Design of Environmental Policy Instruments: Pollution taxes and Pollution permits, collective action and informal regulation by local communities. Theories of exhaustible and renewable resources. International environmental agreements, RIO Conventions. Climatic change problems. Kyoto protocol, UNFCC, Bali Action Plan, Agreements up to 2017, tradable permits and carbon taxes. Carbon Markets and Market Mechanisms. Climate Change Finance and Green Climate Fund.
Inflation—Definition, trends, estimates, consequences and remedies (control): Wholesale Price Index. Consumer Price Index: components and trends.
STATISTICS-I (OBJECTIVE TYPE) (For ISS only)
(i) Probability:
(ii) Statistical Methods:
(iii) Numerical Analysis:
(iv) Computer application and Data Processing:
STATISTICS- II (OBJECTIVE TYPE) (For ISS only)
(i) Linear Models:
Theory of linear estimation, Gauss-Markov linear models, estimable functions, error and estimation space, normal equations and least square estimators, estimation of error variance, estimation with correlated observations, properties of least square estimators, generalized inverse of a matrix and solution of normal equations, variances and covariances of least square estimators.
One way and two-way classifications, fixed, random and mixed effects models. Analysis of variance (two-way classification only), multiple comparison tests due to Tukey, Scheffe and Student-Newmann-Keul-Duncan.
(ii) Statistical Inference and Hypothesis Testing:
Characteristics of good estimator. Estimation methods of maximum likelihood, minimum chi-square, moments and least squares. Optimal properties of maximum likelihood estimators. Minimum variance unbiased estimators. Minimum variance bound estimators. Cramer-Rao inequality. Bhattacharya bounds. Sufficient estimator. factorization theorem. Complete statistics. Rao-Blackwell theorem. Confidence interval estimation. Optimum confidence bounds. Resampling, Bootstrap and Jacknife.
Hypothesis testing: Simple and composite hypotheses. Two kinds of error. Critical region. Different types of critical regions and similar regions. Power function. Most powerful and uniformly most powerful tests. Neyman-Pearson fundamental lemma. Unbiased test. Randomized test. Likelihood ratio test. Wald's SPRT, OC and ASN functions. Elements of decision theory.
(iii) Official Statistics:
National and International official statistical system Official Statistics: (a) Need, Uses, Users, Reliability, Relevance, Limitations, Transparency, its visibility (b) Compilation, Collection, Processing, Analysis and Dissemination, Agencies Involved, Methods
National Statistical Organization: Vision and Mission, NSSO and CSO; roles and responsibilities; Important activities, Publications etc.
National Statistical Commission: Need, Constitution, its role, functions etc; Legal Acts/ Provisions/ Support for Official Statistics; Important Acts
Index Numbers: Different Types, Need, Data Collection Mechanism, Periodicity, Agencies Involved, Uses Sector Wise Statistics: Agriculture, Health, Education, Women and Child etc. Important Surveys & Census, Indicators, Agencies and Usages etc.
National Accounts: Definition, Basic Concepts; issues; the Strategy, Collection of Data and Release.
Population Census: Need, Data Collected, Periodicity, Methods of data collection, dissemination, Agencies involved.
Misc: Socio Economic Indicators, Gender Awareness/Statistics, Important Surveys and Censuses.
STATISTICS- III (DESCRIPTIVE TYPE) (For ISS only)
(i) Sampling Techniques:
Concept of population and sample, need for sampling, complete enumeration versus sampling, basic concepts in sampling, sampling and Non-sampling error, Methodologies in sample surveys (questionnaires, sampling design and methods followed in field investigation) by NSSO.
Subjective or purposive sampling, probability sampling or random sampling, simple random sampling with and without replacement, estimation of population mean, population proportions and their standard errors. Stratified random sampling, proportional and optimum allocation, comparison with simple random sampling for fixed sample size. Covariance and Variance Function.
Ratio, product and regression methods of estimation, estimation of population mean, evaluation of Bias and Variance to the first order of approximation, comparison with simple random sampling.
Systematic sampling (when population size (N) is an integer multiple of sampling size (n)). Estimation of population mean and standard error of this estimate, comparison with simple random sampling.
Sampling with probability proportional to size (with and without replacement method), Des Raj and Das estimators for n=2, Horvitz-Thomson’s estimator
Equal size cluster sampling: estimators of population mean and total and their standard errors, comparison of cluster sampling with SRS in terms of intra-class correlation coefficient.
Concept of multistage sampling and its application, two-stage sampling with equal number of second stage units, estimation of population mean and total. Double sampling in ratio and regression methods of estimation.
Concept of Interpenetrating sub-sampling.
(ii) Econometrics:
Nature of econometrics, the general linear model (GLM) and its extensions, ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation and prediction, generalized least squares (GLS) estimation and prediction, heteroscedastic disturbances, pure and mixed estimation.
Auto correlation, its consequences and tests. Theil BLUS procedure, estimation and prediction, multi-collinearity problem, its implications and tools for handling the problem, ridge regression.
Linear regression and stochastic regression, instrumental variable estimation, errors in variables, autoregressive linear regression, lagged variables, distributed lag models, estimation of lags by OLS method, Koyck’s geometric lag model.
Simultaneous linear equations model and its generalization, identification problem, restrictions on structural parameters, rank and order conditions.
Estimation in simultaneous equations model, recursive systems, 2 SLS estimators, limited information estimators, k-class estimators, 3 SLS estimator, full information maximum likelihood method, prediction and simultaneous confidence intervals.
(iii) Applied Statistics:
Index Numbers: Price relatives and quantity or volume relatives, Link and chain relatives composition of index numbers; Laspeyre's, Paasches’, Marshal Edgeworth and Fisher index numbers; chain base index number, tests for index number, Construction of index numbers of wholesale and consumer prices, Income distribution-Pareto and Engel curves, Concentration curve, Methods of estimating national income, Inter-sectoral flows, Inter-industry table, Role of CSO. Demand Analysis
Time Series Analysis: Economic time series, different components, illustration, additive and multiplicative models, determination of trend, seasonal and cyclical fluctuations.
Time-series as discrete parameter stochastic process, auto covariance and autocorrelation functions and their properties.
Exploratory time Series analysis, tests for trend and seasonality, exponential and moving average smoothing. Holt and Winters smoothing, forecasting based on smoothing.
Detailed study of the stationary processes: (1) moving average (MA), (2) auto regressive (AR), (3) ARMA and (4) AR integrated MA (ARIMA) models. Box-Jenkins models, choice of AR and MA periods.
Discussion (without proof) of estimation of mean, auto covariance and autocorrelation functions under large sample theory, estimation of ARIMA model parameters.
Spectral analysis of weakly stationary process, periodogram and correlogram analyses, computations based on Fourier transform.
STATISTICS-IV (DESCRIPTIVE TYPE) (For ISS only)
(Equal number of questions i.e. 50% weightage from all the subsections below and candidates have to choose any two subsections and answer)
(i) Operations Research and Reliability:
Definition and Scope of Operations Research: phases in Operation Research, models and their solutions, decision-making under uncertainty and risk, use of different criteria, sensitivity analysis. Transportation and assignment problems. Bellman’s principle of optimality, general formulation, computational methods and application of dynamic programming to LPP.
Decision-making in the face of competition, two-person games, pure and mixed strategies, existence of solution and uniqueness of value in zero-sum games, finding solutions in 2x2, 2xm and mxn games.
Analytical structure of inventory problems, EOQ formula of Harris, its sensitivity analysis and extensions allowing quantity discounts and shortages. Multi-item inventory subject to constraints. Models with random demand, the static risk model. P and Q- systems with constant and random lead times.
Queuing models – specification and effectiveness measures. Steady-state solutions of M/M/1 and M/M/c models with associated distributions of queue-length and waiting time. M/G/1 queue and Pollazcek-Khinchine result.
Sequencing and scheduling problems. 2-machine n-job and 3-machine n-job problems with identical machine sequence for all jobs Branch and Bound method for solving travelling salesman problem.
Replacement problems – Block and age replacement policies.
PERT and CPM – basic concepts. Probability of project completion. Reliability concepts and measures, components and systems, coherent systems, reliability of coherent systems.
Life-distributions, reliability function, hazard rate, common univariate life distributions – exponential, weibull, gamma, etc. Bivariate exponential distributions. Estimation of parameters and tests in these models.
Notions of aging – IFR, IFRA, NBU, DMRL and NBUE classes and their duals. Loss of memory property of the exponential distribution. Reliability estimation based on failure times in variously censored life-tests and in tests with replacement of failed items. Stress-strength reliability and its estimation.
(ii) Demography and Vital Statistics:
Sources of demographic data, census, registration, ad-hoc surveys, Hospital records, Demographic profiles of the Indian Census. Complete life table and its main features, Uses of life table. Makehams and Gompertz curves. National life tables. UN model life tables. Abridged life tables. Stable and stationary populations.
Measurement of Fertility: Crude birth rate, General fertility rate, Age specific birth rate, Total fertility rate, Gross reproduction rate, Net reproduction rate.
Measurement of Mortality: Crude death rate, Standardized death rates, Age-specific death rates, Infant Mortality rate, Death rate by cause.
Internal migration and its measurement, migration models, concept of international migration. Net migration. International and postcensal estimates. Projection method including logistic curve fitting. Decennial population census in India.
(iii) Survival Analysis and Clinical Trial:
Concept of time, order and random censoring, likelihood in the distributions – exponential, gamma, Weibull, lognormal, Pareto, Linear failure rate, inference for these distribution. Life tables, failure rate, mean residual life and their elementary classes and their properties.
Estimation of survival function – actuarial estimator, Kaplan – Meier estimator, estimation under the assumption of IFR/DFR, tests of exponentiality against non-parametric classes, total time on test.
Two sample problem – Gehan test, log rank test.
Semi-parametric regression for failure rate – Cox’s proportional hazards model with one and several covariates, rank test for the regression coefficient.
Competing risk model, parametric and non-parametric inference for this model.
Introduction to clinical trials: the need and ethics of clinical trials, bias and random error in clinical studies, conduct of clinical trials, overview of Phase I – IV trials, multicenter trials.
Data management: data definitions, case report forms, database design, data collection systems for good clinical practice.
Design of clinical trials: parallel vs. cross-over designs, cross-sectional vs. longitudinal designs, review of factorial designs, objectives and endpoints of clinical trials, design of Phase I trials, design of single-stage and multi-stage Phase II trials, design and monitoring of phase III trials with sequential stopping, Reporting and analysis: analysis of categorical outcomes from Phase I – III trials, analysis of survival data from clinical trials.
(iv) Quality Control: Statistical process and product control: Quality of a product, need for quality control, basic concept of process control, process capability and product control, general theory of control charts, causes of variation in quality, control limits, sub grouping summary of out of control criteria, charts for attributes p chart, np chart, c-chart, V chart, charts for variables: R, ( X ,R), ( X ,σ) charts.
Basic concepts of process monitoring and control; process capability and process optimization. General theory and review of control charts for attribute and variable data; O.C. and A.R.L. of control charts; control by gauging; moving average and exponentially weighted moving average charts; Cu-Sum charts using V-masks and decision intervals; Economic design of X-bar chart.
Acceptance sampling plans for attributes inspection; single and double sampling plans and their properties; plans for inspection by variables for one-sided and two sided specification.
(v) Multivariate Analysis:
Multivariate normal distribution and its properties. Random sampling from multivariate normal distribution. Maximum likelihood estimators of parameters, distribution of sample mean vector.
Wishart matrix – its distribution and properties, distribution of sample generalized variance, null and non-null distribution of multiple correlation coefficients. Hotelling’s T2 and its sampling distribution, application in test on mean vector for one and more multivariate normal population and also on equality of components of a mean vector in multivariate normal population.
Classification problem: Standards of good classification, procedure of classification based on multivariate normal distributions. Principal components, dimension reduction, canonical variates and canonical correlation —
definition, use, estimation and computation.
(vi) Design and Analysis of Experiments:
Analysis of variance for one way and two way classifications, Need for design of experiments, basic principle of experimental design (randomization, replication and local control), complete analysis and layout of completely randomized design, randomized block design and Latin square design, Missing plot technique. Split Plot Design and Strip Plot Design.
Factorial experiments and confounding in 2n and 3n experiments. Analysis of covariance. Analysis of non-orthogonal data. Analysis of missing data.
(vii) Computing with C and R :
Basics of C: Components of C language, structure of a C program, Data type, basic data types, Enumerated data types, Derived data types, variable declaration, Local, Global, Parametric variables, Assignment of Variables, Numeric, Character, Real and String constants, Arithmetic, Relation and Logical operators, Assignment operators, Increment and decrement operators, conditional operators, Bitwise operators, Type modifiers and expressions, writing and interpreting expressions, using expressions in statements. Basic input/output.
Control statements: if, if-else, switch statements, loops – while, do-while and for loops, Nested loops, break and continue statements, go to and labels. Programming examples.
Functions: Need for functions, Standard & user-defined functions, Declaration, Definition and scope of functions, passing arguments to functions, Recursion.
Arrays and Strings: One dimensional, Two dimensional arrays, declaring and initializing string variables, reading and writing strings.
Structure and Union: Defining structure, declaring structure variables, Accessing structure members, Nested structures, Arrays of structures, Unions.
Pointers: Understanding pointers, Accessing the address of a variable, Declaring pointer variables, Initialization of pointer variables, Accessing the value using pointers, Relationship between arrays and pointers, Array of pointers, Pointer to pointer, Pointer to structure.
Files: Types of files, File operations, Opening a file, Closing a file, Input/output operations on files, Error handling during I/O operations, Random access to files.
Overview of R: Background, getting started, basic syntax, data types, variables, operators, decision making, loops, functions, strings, vectors, lists, matrices, arrays, factors, data frames, packages, data reshaping, binary files, CSV files, Excel files, accessing database, web data, data manipulation, statistical analysis, and graphical analysis.
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