Internal Medicine Shelf Essentials
Internal Medicine HY Notes for the NBME Medicine Shelf, IM COMAT, and Step 2 CK
Know the medicine. Explain the reasoning. Answer the next question.
Learn Internal Medicine through complete clinical stories, with 7,000+ questions and answers covering what you could be asked on rounds or on an exam. Each section builds an illness script and the knowledge around it: recognize the presentation, explain the findings, choose the next test, treat the patient.
The sequence is intentional. Later sections revisit earlier concepts, so spaced repetition is built into the reading itself.
Read it start to finish alongside your Qbank.
Also searched as MedBoard HY Notes, MedBoard IM Notes, MedBoardTutors HY Notes, MBT Notes, or Internal Medicine Shelf Notes? This is the current full Premium Internal Medicine edition from MedBoardEducation, the team behind MedBoardTutors.
$99 limited-time launch offer. Price increases to $149 after the offer ends.
One-time PDF purchase. No subscription.
What makes this book different
Each section is a self-contained teaching sequence; later sections deliberately build on earlier ones.
Complete clinical stories
Each topic is one connected teaching sequence: how the patient presents, why the findings occur, what distinguishes the closest alternatives, and what comes next.
7,000+ questions and answers
Embedded throughout the book. Retrieve facts, connect mechanisms, distinguish similar conditions and make decisions: the questions you face on rounds and on exams.
How the same concept can be tested
See the different vignettes, answer choices and next-step decisions that grow out of the same disease, and what changes the answer.
Programmed learning and spaced repetition
Concepts are introduced, reinforced and revisited in later sections, so you keep recalling and applying what you have learned.
How to use the MedBoard HY Notes
Our preferred approach: read the whole book, in order, while doing your Qbank.
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1
Read in order. Each section builds on what came before.
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2
Answer as you go. Try to explain each answer before reading it.
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3
Finish the whole section. Its parts are designed to be read together.
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4
Apply it in your Qbank. Practice the reasoning on fresh questions.
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5
Keep building. Later sections bring earlier concepts back.
Working on a weakness? Go straight to that topic, but read its complete section. Spot-check your understanding. Study the complete section.
A note from Alex
“I’d read this book from start to finish alongside your question bank. The sections are programmatic; they build on one another, with earlier concepts coming back as you learn more. Even if you’re looking up a specific weakness, read the whole section. The surrounding explanation is part of what you need to know, and knowing the bracketing information will make it easier to retrieve the specific fact later on.
A lot of what we do in tutoring is help students build a home base of knowledge. Not overly constrained reps working against Anki or an AI interface. Your own brain is what we’re building. Knowledge is the goal; not just a number of questions or flashcards.
You should be able to explain a disease: what’s happening, why the patient has those findings, what else could look similar, and what you’d do next. Once that’s organized in your head, you have somewhere to start when a question looks unfamiliar.
We use retrieval practice and spaced repetition throughout tutoring. After you read a section, put it away and see how much you can explain without looking. If you can’t ‘auto-complete’ an answer as you read it, make a mark and come back to it later on.
I think someone who truly knows this book and can apply it could pass the IM shelf without completing a separate question bank. We’re still testing that idea. For now, I recommend using both. Read, explain it back to yourself, and use questions to see where your understanding still needs work.”
Alex Schmidt, MD
Look inside
See the contents and read a complete section: how a presentation becomes an illness script, and how the questions make you use it.
Read a complete sample sectionFound an issue or have a suggestion? Suggest a correction or send feedback
Questions before buying
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Build the understanding you want on rounds and on exam day.
Complete clinical stories. 7,000+ questions and answers. A sequence that teaches, revisits and connects.
$99 while the launch offer lasts, then $149.