I found the IMC rating one of the hardest things to do in flying and i,m glad that i did it as sood as i could after the PPL and then kept in practice.
This ment that when it came to the IR it was just polishing up the flying skills but not much new to learn.
I would advise you to do the IMC as some IF skills may well help if you unintentionaly paint your self into a corner.