While an Exhibit List may be thought of as a table of contents for a claimant's social security disability file, an Exhibit File may be thought of as the actual book itself.

The exhibit file contains copies of literally everything accumulated during the course of processing a claimant's disability claim.

This includes copies of applications and other paperwork submitted by claimants, letters sent to the Social Security Administration by claimants, and medical evidence gathered by disability examiners at the initial claim and reconsideration levels.

Exhibit files are made available to a claimant for viewing and copying, as well as to a claimant's representative.

An exhibit file, a.k.a. a social security file, can be very helpful to a claimant's attorney or non-attorney representative since it indicates everything that was previously used in the course of adjudicating a claimant's case.

In this regard, the exhibit file will reveal which evidence was gathered by Disability Examiners at DDS, and which evidence was not gathered and evaluated.

Likewise, an exhibit file will contain copies of RFC forms, and also copies of reports submitted by independent physicians who have been contracted by DDS to conduct third-party Consultative Examinations.

DDS examiners, of course, work with doctors assigned to their units who "assist" them with case development (mainly by completing RFC forms).

Consultative exams are the medical examinations that many disability claimants are informed by mail that they must submit to as a requirement of being evaluated for benefits.