Find Out What Evidence Wins VA Claims
This is a free nine page brief on which evidence tracked with the VA claims that won and the ones that were denied. It uses 101,518 condition records from the analyzed subset of Claim Raven's 501,000+ Board-decision library. It covers what a medical nexus opinion is worth, who should write it, what your own statement can and cannot do, how often a C&P examination fails review, and which appeal route tracks with the best outcome. The headline numbers are on this page. The brief goes to your email as a PDF you keep.
The Nexus Opinion Is the Whole Ballgame
A nexus opinion the Board rated strong tracks with an 89.7 percent grant rate. A weak one tracks with 3.7 percent, and an appeal with no nexus opinion in the file tracks with 1.6 percent. There were 18,253 weak-opinion condition records in the corpus against 12,502 strong ones, so the most common nexus opinion is one that barely moves the outcome. This holds across theories of service connection: filing a condition as secondary is not a shortcut, because it inherits the same nexus problem as any other claim.
Half of C&P Exams Do Not Survive Review
Where the Board evaluated the compensation and pension examination, it found the exam inadequate in 38,115 condition records against 39,603 it found adequate. The most common defect by a wide margin is an examiner who states a conclusion without explaining the reasoning behind it. In the 27,680 condition records where the Board tied an inadequate examination to the disposition, 78 percent were remanded. If your claim comes back for a new examination, that is the system catching a defective exam rather than a judgment about your condition.
Your Own Statement Counts, Within Limits
Where the Board quoted the veteran's lay evidence, the grant rate was 41.5 percent against 22 percent where it did not. Employment and work impact records track highest among lay evidence types, above buddy letters and well above the veteran's own written statement. But where the Board quoted the lay evidence and the nexus opinion was still weak or missing, the grant rate was 3.4 percent. Strong personal evidence does not substitute for a medical link.
How to Read These Numbers
These are associations, not causes. The Board may simply discuss stronger evidence more often in cases it was already going to grant. They describe Board outcomes on appealed claims, not initial claim outcomes, so a veteran filing a first claim is not in this population. A favorable outcome counts a grant, a partial grant, or a mixed decision; dismissed and withdrawn appeals are excluded from the denominator. Claim Raven is data analysis, not legal, medical, or VA-accredited advice.
Common questions
What does the evidence brief cost?
Nothing. It is free and no account is required. You give an email address and the download link appears immediately, with a copy sent to your inbox.
Where does the data come from?
The brief uses 101,518 condition records from the analyzed subset of Claim Raven's 501,000+ Board-decision library, predominantly from 2024 and 2025. Of those records, 98,625 reached a decision. One Board decision may rule on several claimed conditions, and each condition is counted separately. Board decisions are public records. Claim Raven analyzes them and publishes what the patterns show.
Is this specific to my condition?
Not yet. This brief reads the whole corpus at once. Condition specific pages, with the grant rate and evidence patterns for individual conditions, are published at claimraven.com/conditions.
Does a remand mean I lost?
No. A remand is neither a loss nor a win. More than one claimed condition in four is remanded rather than decided, and the Board is sending the claim back because the record is not good enough to decide on yet. The most common reason is an inadequate examination.