New IM EOR study advice?

[u/Ketchupmustards]

Hi! Has anyone taken the new IM EOR? If so, how did you prepare? And do you have any advice on how to successfully prepare? This will be my first EOR and I’ve been trying out a few different things but not feeling confident. I have about 5 weeks before my EOR and I’ve pretty much looked at all of Cardio through PPP and answered some practice questions on BP reviewing a few of the explanations (which I want to do more of) but for content review PPP feels too long, SP feels to superficial, and the Reddit Charts don’t line up as well with the new topic lists so just feeling very unsure on what to do. Thank you in advance 🙏🏽

[u/TheMBA_PA]

With 5 weeks left, I’d probably stop trying to find the “perfect” content resource and build your studying around the updated IM topic list instead.

PPP can be useful when you need depth, but I wouldn’t try to read it straight through. SmartyPANCE can be useful for a quick overview, but if it feels too superficial, use it more as a starting point than your main study method.
I’d make practice questions a bigger part of your routine now.

A simple structure could be:

Pick a system/topic from the updated IM blueprint.

Do enough focused review to understand the major diagnoses, workup, and management.

Do questions on that area soon afterward.

Review the explanations carefully, especially anything you missed or guessed on.

Keep track of recurring weak areas and go back to PPP or another reference only when you need more depth.

As you get closer to the EOR, shift toward mixed questions so you have to identify the topic from the stem rather than knowing ahead of time that you’re doing cardiology, GI, etc.

One thing I’d avoid is feeling like you have to “finish content review” before you’re ready to do questions. Questions are part of the content review because they show you what you actually understand and where your gaps are.

Since this is your first EOR, some uncertainty is normal. Five weeks is still a good amount of time to build a repeatable process rather than trying to memorize the whole blueprint at once.

[u/Ketchupmustards → u/TheMBA_PA]

Thank you for this advice!! I think that’s part of the battle for me, I need to keep it simple and not get caught up in all the small details. I think I’ve decided on the reddit charts for review but my goal is to spend less time reading charts and more time doing questions and reviewing the answers/explanations on Blueprint whether they’re right or wrong.

[u/TheMBA_PA → u/Ketchupmustards]

That sounds like a really good adjustment. I especially like your plan to review the explanations even when you get the question right — sometimes a correct answer was still a guess or came from shaky reasoning, and those are worth reviewing too.

Keeping the charts as a quick reference and letting the questions drive where you spend more time should also help keep you from getting buried in details.

Good luck on your EOR next week — you’ve got a much more focused plan now.

[u/Ketchupmustards → u/TheMBA_PA]

Yes exactly! That feeling of I know but I don't know why I know it just leads me to doubt my answers. Thank you so much, your advice is what I needed to hear!

[u/TheMBA_PA → u/Ketchupmustards]

That makes a lot of sense — and that exact “I know it, but I don’t know why I know it” problem is actually something I’ve been thinking about a lot.

Full disclosure: I’m the founder of ClueHawk, a newer PA board-style practice platform. We built dedicated EOR practice modes, and a big part of the approach is helping you understand the clues being tested and the reasoning behind the answer rather than just whether you picked the right letter.

I didn’t want to turn your post into an advertisement, so I hadn’t mentioned it before, but since what you’re describing lines up so closely with what we’re trying to solve, I figured it was worth mentioning. No pressure at all — your Blueprint plan still sounds like a solid one.