Walk into your C&P exam ready
The Compensation and Pension exam is where a rating is often decided. You do not need to perform or rehearse. You just need to describe your worst days clearly and honestly. Here is what the examiner tends to ask, and a short worksheet to gather your thoughts first.
Educational tool based on published VA rules. It does not review your records, prepare a claim, recommend what you personally should claim, or represent you before VA. For individualized help, talk to a VA accredited representative.
First, what is a DBQ?
A Disability Benefits Questionnaire, or DBQ, is the standard form the examiner fills in about your condition. It is built around the same measurements and symptoms VA uses to set a rating, so the questions you hear in the exam usually track the DBQ for your condition. You do not have to bring one, and a DBQ alone does not decide service connection. Skimming the one for your condition simply helps you know what will come up.
See VA's public DBQ formsWhat the examiner tends to ask
Find your condition family. These are the themes to be ready to describe with real examples, not a script.
- • When the symptoms started and what they are tied to
- • Sleep, concentration, and memory
- • Panic attacks, irritability, or angry outbursts, and how often
- • How you get along with family, friends, and coworkers
- • Whether you can keep a routine, leave the house, and handle stress
- • Any thoughts of harming yourself (answer honestly; help is available)
- • Where it hurts and how bad the pain is on a normal day
- • How often flare-ups happen, how long they last, and what sets them off
- • What motion you lose after using the joint repeatedly
- • Activities you can no longer do at home or at work
- • Devices you use, like a brace, cane, or walker
- • Shortness of breath, coughing, and how far you can walk
- • Whether you use an inhaler, oxygen, or other treatment
- • How breathing limits your daily activity and work
- • Any flare-ups, infections, or hospital visits
- • When you first noticed the ringing or hearing trouble
- • How it affects conversations, phone calls, and sleep
- • Whether you wear hearing aids, and how they help
- • Your military noise exposure and any hearing protection used
- • Whether you use a CPAP and how often
- • Daytime drowsiness and how it affects work and driving
- • What a partner has noticed about your breathing at night
- • Other conditions that may be connected, like PTSD or weight changes
- • How often headaches come and how long they last
- • Whether they are prostrating, meaning you have to stop and lie down
- • How many times a month you miss work or activities
- • What triggers them and what you do to cope
Your worst-day worksheet
Jot down a few notes before your exam so you can speak to your worst days, not your best. Nothing here is saved to a server. Print it or copy it into your own notes.