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ClaimScope field guides

Plain-English VA claim guides. All four, free.

Written by Gabe, a VA-accredited attorney and Afghanistan infantry Veteran: how to prepare for your C&P exam, talk to your doctor about a nexus opinion, read a decision letter and understand your review options.

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  1. FIELD GUIDE · FREE

    C&P Exam Prep

    What the examiner is scoring, how to describe a bad day without exaggerating, and what to do the week after.

    • How DBQs turn your words into a rating
    • Flare-ups, functional loss and the questions that matter
    • Chapters on six common exams: PTSD and mental health, tinnitus and hearing loss, sleep apnea, migraines, joints and back, and hypertension, with how VA's rating rules read for each
    • Four fillable worksheets: a two-week symptom and flare-up log, a worst, typical and best day sheet, an exam-day card, and after-the-exam notes
    • Bringing a witness, taking notes, requesting the report
    • What to do when the exam went wrong

    Get all four free · What's inside

  2. FIELD GUIDE · FREE

    Talking to Your Doctor About a Nexus Opinion

    What a nexus opinion is, when you need one, what VA looks for in it, and how to ask your own doctor without putting words in their mouth.

    • Direct, secondary, aggravation and presumptive claims, and when no opinion is needed
    • "At least as likely as not" and the benefit of the doubt
    • What VA and the Board look for in a medical opinion
    • What to bring your doctor, and the red flags to walk away from

    Get all four free · What's inside

  3. FIELD GUIDE · FREE

    The Decision Letter Field Manual

    How to read a VA rating decision the way an attorney does: what each section means, the seven errors that show up most, and the one date that controls everything.

    • The anatomy of a rating decision and the code sheet
    • Effective dates, and why they are worth more than the rating
    • Where VA hides the reasons for a denial
    • A one-page checklist to run on any letter

    Get all four free · What's inside

  4. FIELD GUIDE · FREE

    The Review Options Playbook

    Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claim or the Board: how to pick, what each one can and cannot fix, and how to keep your effective date through all of it.

    • The three lanes compared on one page
    • When new evidence helps and when it hurts
    • Deadlines, continuous pursuit and the one-year clock
    • Filling in VA Forms 20-0996, 20-0995 and 10182

    Get all four free · What's inside

  5. ORGANIZER KIT · ALSO FREE

    Claim Organizer Kit

    Blank forms to keep a VA claim organized: an editable spreadsheet and a printable PDF with an issues tracker, evidence inventory, contacts log, records-request checklist, chronology, receipts log and pre-submit checklist.

    Included free with the guides · What's inside

Already have a decision letter?

Our free decision check reads it against VA's own rules: each issue VA decided, how strong it looks, and your deadlines to ask for a review. No card.

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Guides are general education, not legal advice. Read a free sample.