If you’ve ever wished someone would just tell you exactly what to study for your end-of-rotation (EOR) exam, the new PA Education Association (PAEA) EOR blueprints are about as close as it gets. Published by the same organization who has developed the exams for more than 25 years, these blueprints outline the key topics you’ll be tested on in each specialty. Whether you’re heading into Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, or another rotation, reviewing the PAEA EOR blueprint for your upcoming exam can help you study more efficiently and walk into exam day with greater confidence.
To make sure you’re ready for the latest changes in 2026, we’re going to give you a heads up on what’s on the PAEA EOR blueprint of each exam. This is key information to have, whether you’re in the middle of PA school, working in PA education, or simply just curious!
Here are some of the end-of-rotation exam topics and upcoming changes to expect.
2026 PAEA EOR Blueprint Updates by Specialty
Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine is a tried and true content area and there are just slight changes to this end-of-rotation exam to make sure it stays consistent with recent changes to the NCCPA PANCE blueprint.
The changes include the following:
Content
- Infectious disease is now its own content area and 4% of the test. Many infectious disease topics were already on the exam, but now they’re better organized within the content area.
- Psychiatric/ behavioral topics are now 7% of exam content (from a prior 5%).
- Cardiovascular is down to 18% (from a prior 20%).
- Rheumatologic/musculoskeletal is down to 12% (from a prior 15%).
- Endocrine is down to 4% (from a prior 5%).
Tasks
- Professional practice has been added as a task area and is 5% of the exam. This aligns nicely with the addition of professional practice on the NCCPA PANCE examination that was effective in January 2025.
- Health maintenance is down to 5% (from a prior 10%).
- Scientific concepts are down to 5% (from a prior 10%).
Family Medicine
The PAEA EOR blueprint for family medicine has some similar adjustments. These include the following:
Content
- The urgent care content was removed (but most of these topics have been redistributed across other content areas).
- Many other content areas received a small adjustment in the percentage of representation (by about 1-2% across the board). There were also minor adjustments in the percentage of representation of several of the task areas.
Tasks
- Professional practice is added to the task area and makes up 6% of the exam.
Gynecologic, Sexual, and Reproductive Health
Formerly referred to as “women’s health,” this end-of-rotation examination had a full revamping of its name and content layout. While the new topic list has a lot of overlap with the prior exam, the content areas have been completely reorganized to align more with anatomical body systems and areas of reproductive and sexual health care.
The changes include the following:
Content
- Instead of having the content divided into subcategories of obstetrics and subcategories of gynecology, the content areas were renamed to align with anatomical body systems and areas of reproductive and sexual health care (e.g., uterine/cervix, breast, ovary/adnexa, prenatal care/pregnancy). At first glance this appears quite a change, but the topic list still represents most of the prior content, just in a reorganized fashion.
- Fertility management, sexual health & development, and psychiatric/behavioral health are new content areas.
Tasks
- Unsurprisingly, professional practice has been added as a task area (8% of exam content).
Internal Medicine
The new internal medicine end-of-rotation blueprint also looks a bit different.
Some of the key changes here are:
Content
- We see the prior “critical care” content area no longer exists, and the topics have again been distributed throughout the other content areas.
- There have been notable increases for endocrinology, neurology, and renal/genitourinary content (now between 8% and 10% of the exam).
- We also again see the addition of psychiatric/behavioral health content and professional practice as task areas, which seems to be a pattern of changes on these exams.
Pediatrics
Content
Right away, the addition of the content area “growth and development” stands out. This is 10% of the exam, making it a large part of the test. It includes wellness check items like (but not limited to):
- Developmental milestones
- Newborn assessment
- Immunizations
- Menarche
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Sexual and reproductive health
- Sudden unexplained infant death
This is one of the largest changes we’re seeing in terms of topic lists. There are a lot of new items on the PAEA EOR blueprint for pediatrics, so be sure to familiarize yourself with this new content before taking the exam!
Psychiatric and Behavioral Health
This end-of-rotation exam has some important changes in its content areas.
These include:
Content
- Sleep-wake disorders have been added and now make up 7% of the content.
- Somatic symptoms and related disorders have been removed as an independent content area, and instead redistributed across associated organ system content areas.
- Trauma and stress-related disorders (previously grouped together with anxiety disorders) now has its own content area. It makes up 13% of the exam (including abuse and neglect topics).
Tasks
- Health maintenance was removed as a task area.
- Not surprisingly, professional practice was added as a task area and constitutes 6% of the exam.
For a full list of changes, please refer to the PAEA website!
The bottom line: prep smart!
Overall, don’t let the changes scare you! While things will start looking a bit different in July 2026, the updates being made by PAEA do align with the NCCPA PANCE blueprint, as well as crucial changes to clinical practice. My best advice to students and educators preparing for these changes is to know the topic lists well! Keep the PAEA EOR Blueprint for each exam printed and nearby to guide your end-of-rotation exam studying. Use them to make a study plan and ensure your practice questions are adequately preparing you for your examination.
For a reliable study source, check out Blueprint PA!
We’re working hard to update your Mock Rotation Exams and Rotation Exam Qbanks to match these new PAEA EOR blueprints, and these changes will roll out later this year. These updates will include adding task areas like professional practice, expanding question banks and exams to include new topics, and adjusting the material to reflect the percentages seen on the content list. This ensures you’ll be studying content in the way it’s represented on your exam, including the newly added content.
Further Reading
Good luck and be sure to reach out if you need assistance!
If you’re looking for more (free!) tips for how to rock your rotations, check out these individual guides from real PA-Cs:
