EPPP Study Group: What to Cover and When to Sit Part 1

Plan an EPPP study group around a deadline: ASPPB stops offering Part 1 to first-time candidates when its integrated exam starts in late 2027. Then share out the eight content areas by where first-time candidates lose the most points, starting with assessment and diagnosis, and keep one weekly meeting for the questions everyone missed.

Part 1 until late 2027

The Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) belongs to the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). Its 66 member jurisdictions in the US and Canada use it for licensure. Part 1-Knowledge has 225 items, 175 scored and 50 unscored pretest items, and gives you 4 hours 15 minutes to answer them (ASPPB candidate handbook).

Each item has three or four options, and a wrong answer costs nothing, so leave none blank. You test at a Pearson VUE center, and scores are scaled from 200 to 800. ASPPB treats 500 as the passing point for independent practice, but each licensing board makes the actual pass or fail decision (ASPPB, 2026 report). Part 2-Skills is a separate exam used only where boards already adopted it: 170 items, 130 of them scored, in 4 hours 10 minutes, for a $450 application fee. ASPPB no longer plans to roll it out more widely and supports it through 2027 (ASPPB town hall, December 2025).

The switch to one integrated exam

ASPPB is replacing the two parts with a single integrated EPPP that tests knowledge and skills together (ASPPB, May 8, 2026). Its candidate handbook, dated October 2026, describes the new exam (integrated EPPP handbook):

The new domains are scientific orientation to practice (15%), assessment (20%), intervention (20%), consultation and supervision (10%), interpersonal relationships (15%), and ethical and professional practice (20%). The integrated exam comes in two sections with an optional 30-minute break between them, and you can't go back to the first section.

Candidates can also volunteer for that beta. ASPPB charges $100 for it and uses the results to set the passing score.

That splits any group in two. Members who can sit Part 1 by mid-2027 keep a blueprint in use since 2018, with five years of published results behind it. Members testing after the switch prepare for six domains and an exam nobody has sat yet. Put them in different groups.

Forming an EPPP study group across jurisdictions

• Your internship or postdoc site. People finishing supervised hours when you do are close to your testing window, whichever board they apply to.
• Your doctoral program's alumni office. Ask whether it runs a peer-led group or keeps a list of graduates preparing now.
• Board approval as the match. You can't register until your board approves you, and once you pay, you must sit within 12 months unless your board's window ends sooner. Members approved in the same season can plan the same months.
• StudyDuo. The EPPP isn't an interest in Find Partners, but Psychology is. Narrow it by country or city, then message people who say they're preparing. Keep your phone number and your exam portal login out of any group chat.

Where first-time candidates lose points

ASPPB reports first-time results every year. Its 2026 edition covers 2021 to 2025: 18,941 first-time candidates from accredited doctoral programs passed at 75%, and 2,095 from nonaccredited or other programs at 38.9% (ASPPB, 2026 report). Their average scores by content area:

A low percentage isn't the same as many lost points, because the areas differ in size. Multiply each area's share of the 175 scored items by the share missed, and the order changes (our arithmetic from ASPPB's weights and scores, accredited programs):

Research methods has nearly the lowest score but the fewest items at stake. Assessment and diagnosis costs the average first-timer about twice as many items, which makes it the first topic for an EPPP study group with limited weeks.

A week built on the points table

1. Pick the area by items at stake. Work down the second table, one area a week, and give assessment and diagnosis two.
2. Answer alone on two evenings. Each member does practice questions on that week's area, timed at about a minute a question, the exam's pace: 255 minutes for 225 items (our arithmetic).
3. Bring numbers to the meeting. For assessment, convert a T score to a percentile and build a confidence interval from a standard error of measurement. For research methods, each member brings one published abstract, and the group names its design, its main threat to validity and whether its statistic fits.
4. Build one lifespan timeline. Growth and lifespan development had the lowest percent correct. Add theories and milestones to one shared timeline from memory, then check it against your text.
5. End with one ethics vignette. It's the best-scored area, which is why it gets five minutes, not a whole meeting.

Sample exams: for the format, not the diagnosis

ASPPB sells sample exams online or at Pearson VUE centers, and Part 1's online version has 100 items in 120 minutes. ASPPB itself says its sample exams are built from old, retired or unused items, so they aren't recommended for finding the areas you need to study (ASPPB, sample exams). Part 1 has two sample forms, so a third attempt repeats one. The online clock keeps running when you pause, the two hours count across sittings, and you must finish within a week of starting (ASPPB candidate handbook). At its 2025 town hall, ASPPB said candidates who took a sample exam passed at about a 10% higher rate. People who choose to take one may differ in other ways, though.

So an EPPP study group can use the sample for what it does well. Everyone takes the same form in the same week, near the end, and the next meeting covers pacing and item format, not scores.

Retakes have limits. ASPPB allows no more than four attempts in any 12 months, and boards can add their own waiting periods (ASPPB, retakes). The handbook for the integrated exam recommends about 90 days between attempts.

StudyDuo's Focus Room suits the two quiet evenings, and a 1:1 session lets two people talk the misses through on video; both need a verified photo. Postdocs who work full time can plan the weeks with this guide to an exam alongside a job. For how another licensing exam's group grades written work, see the bar exam group's essay swap. The online study group page lists the rooms a whole group can share.