The C&P examiner’s clipboard, decoded.

The PTSD DBQ walks through eight symptom domains and a single 'overall level' rubric. The examiner picks one box on a 0/10/30/50/70/100 scale. The boxes are written in CFR vocabulary — your job is to ground every symptom you describe in that vocabulary.

▶The 70% trigger: occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas.

The Sleep Apnea DBQ is short. The whole rating turns on three boxes: do you have a sleep study confirming OSA, are you prescribed CPAP, and is there respiratory failure or tracheostomy. The CPAP box is the 50% trigger.

▶The 50% trigger: prescribed use of a breathing assistance device (CPAP, BiPAP, APAP).

The thoracolumbar spine DBQ is a measurement DBQ. The examiner uses a goniometer to measure flexion in degrees. Without that tool present, the measurement is invalid. The numbers drive the tier directly: 30° forward flexion = 40%, 60° = 20%.

▶The 40% trigger: forward flexion of the thoracolumbar spine 30° or less.

The shortest DBQ in the schedule. There is no objective test for tinnitus — your lay report is the evidence. Two questions: do you have it, and when did it start. Everything else (severity, frequency, ear) does not affect the flat 10% rating.

▶The 10% trigger: a credible report of recurrent tinnitus, MOS with documented noise exposure.

The knee DBQ measures three things separately: flexion (DC 5260), extension (DC 5261), and stability/subluxation (DC 5257). Each can be a separately compensable rating. Painful motion under § 4.59 raises a 0% to 10%.

▶The under-rated combo: limitation of flexion + limitation of extension + instability stack.

The whole migraine rating turns on one word — 'prostrating' — and how often the attacks happen. The DBQ asks the examiner to characterize frequency and severity. Two attacks a month that stop you cold reads very differently from 'headaches.'

▶The 50% trigger: very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability.

A pure-measurement DBQ. Two tests drive everything: the puretone audiogram and the Maryland CNC speech-discrimination score. Those numbers feed Table VI and Table VII, which set the percentage. No room for narrative — but the test must be done right.

▶The rule that matters: the Maryland CNC test is required, and § 4.86 covers exceptional patterns.

The TBI DBQ scores ten 'facets' of cognitive and behavioral function from 0 to 3 (plus 'total'). The single highest facet level sets your rating — a 0/10/40/70/100 scale. One severe facet drives the whole evaluation.

▶The rule: rate the highest facet — level 2 = 40%, level 3 = 70%, total = 100%.

Major depressive disorder uses the exact same General Rating Formula as PTSD. The examiner picks one 'overall level of occupational and social impairment' box on a 0/10/30/50/70/100 scale. Same rubric, same magic words, same tier triggers.

▶The 70% trigger: occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas.

GERD is rated on a symptom cluster, not a single test. The 30% tier needs persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation. The magic words are clinical — use them, and document weight loss and impairment of health.

▶The 30% trigger: persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation + impairment of health.