Common Questions to Prepare for Your ALJ Hearing

If you’ve been denied Social Security benefits and are waiting for an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing, you’re not alone. Most people don’t get approved on the first try. In fact, about two-thirds of initial Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications are denied.

Before we get into the common questions to prepare for your ALJ hearing, let’s discuss what it is. An ALJ hearing is your first appeal or second appeal. You’ll get to explain your situation, submit evidence, and answer questions about your health, work history, and daily limitations. Chances of approval increase greatly at this step. More than half of cases get approved after the hearing.

This article explains how to prepare for your disability hearing, what questions to expect from the judge, and practical SSDI hearing tips you can use to get ready.

Next, we’ll cover the main topics judges ask about and share example answers to help you prepare.

Preparing for Your ALJ Hearing

It’s normal to feel a bit intimidated about answering questions under oath. Being denied benefits can add to your unease. But, if you know what to expect and prepare ahead of time, the process will feel doable. Hopefully, you’ll feel confident about presenting your case.

At the hearing, the judge will ask questions to better understand your case. Your disability representative (if you have one) can also ask questions. Their goal is to evaluate how your health condition affects your ability to work and function day to day. The hearing allows you to explain gaps in your paperwork.

What to Expect at Your Hearing

An ALJ hearing is usually small and only a few people will be in the room – the judge, a hearing reporter, a vocational expert, possibly a medical expert depending on your case, and your disability advocate or lawyer if you have one.

Your hearing may be via phone or video instead of in person. Either way, the judge is evaluating the same information. Virtual hearings are just as likely to be successful as in-person hearings.

ALJ Hearing Prep Timeline

• A few weeks before: Review your medical conditions and daily limitations. Gather any new records or updates.
• A few days before: Practice answering questions out loud so your answers feel more natural.
• The day of: Plan how you’ll join the hearing and set up a quiet space with few distractions.

The rest of this article is a question-by-question preparation tool. As you read, take notes and think about your answers. Flag areas where you need help getting ready.

Personal Information and Background

When the hearing starts, the judge will confirm basic information about you. This may feel routine, but it matters. These details help the judge understand your background, education, and potential employability.

You’ll be asked to confirm your:

• Full name, Social Security number, and mailing address
• Age and date of birth
• Height and weight
• Educational background or specialized training 

Sample Questions

• Can you please state your full name and date of birth for the record?
• What is the highest level of school you completed?
• Did you receive any specialized training, certifications, or licenses.

Answer honestly and keep it simple. Don’t guess if you’re unsure about an answer – say you don’t remember exactly.

• Weak answer: I think I finished high school. I’m not sure.
• Stronger answer:  I finished 11th grade but I didn’t graduate. I got my GED in 2012. 

Employment Background

The judge will ask about your work history to understand how your condition affects your ability to work. These questions focus on what you did in the past and your ability to work full-time now.

You should be ready to answer questions such as:

• Are you working?
• Have you tried to work since your disability began?
• What job did you have when you became unable to work?
• What were your jobs in the past five years (with dates) and duties?
• What were your reasons for leaving those jobs?

The judge is looking for patterns in your work history. They need to understand the type of work you did, how physically or mentally challenging it was, and if your skills transfer to other types of work. They want to know if you tried to keep working despite your symptoms. Your answers should match your application statements.

Sample Questions & Answers

Question: You tried to go back to work after your injury. Why did that job end?

• Weak answer: I just couldn’t handle it.
• Stronger answer: I tried working four-hour shifts as a cashier, but I missed two to three days each week because I couldn’t stand longer than 20 minutes without pain. My employer let me go because I couldn’t keep a regular schedule.

Mention all of your work attempts, even odd jobs, short stints or failed job attempts. The judge is evaluating whether you can work full-time on a regular basis.

For your notes, write down:

• Your jobs from the last five years, with dates
• The heaviest things you lifted at each job
• How much time you spent sitting, standing, and walking in a typical workday
• Any jobs you had to quit or reduce hours because of your condition

Medical Issues and Limitations

A large part of the hearing focuses on your medical condition and how it limits you. The judge needs to understand how the condition affects your ability to work, not just your diagnosis. They need to know what you can and can’t do on a typical day. Give answers based on a typical day, not your best or worst day.

Example questions:

• On a typical day, how long can you stand before you need to sit?
• How far can you walk, at your own pace, without stopping?
• How often do you need to lie down during the day?
• Do you need help with things like showering, dressing, cooking, or cleaning?

• Weak answer: I can’t walk at all.
• Stronger answer: Most days, I can walk about one block with a cane before I have to stop due to pain. On very bad days, I stay in bed almost all day.

Describing your pain or fatigue on a scale of zero to ten, with 10 being the worst pain, is helpful. Tell them how often you have high-pain or high-fatigue days. Is your high pain level constant, a few days a week, or only during flares? Relate your symptoms to specific tasks.

An example would be that on a bad day, you can’t hold a gallon of milk or watch 30 minutes of TV without shifting positions.

Have a list of your doctors, clinics, and medications handy at the hearing. If you have a disability representative, they’ll help organize your medical evidence. Your job is to be honest about your daily life.

Mental Health and Other Topics

Mental health and behavioral symptoms can affect your ability to work just as much as physical ones. The judge will ask questions to understand how these issues show up in your daily life and on the job.

They may ask you about:

• How often you need breaks because of emotional symptoms, such as tearfulness, panic, or anger
• If you have problems with concentration, memory, or staying on task
• How your condition affects relationships with coworkers, supervisors, friends, or family
• If you have any history of drug or alcohol use in your past

Many people at disability hearings live with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health conditions. It is okay to talk about them openly.

Example Questions & Strong Answers

• Question: How does your depression affect your ability to get through a workday?
• Strong answer: Most days, I struggle to get out of bed. I miss appointments and have trouble focusing longer than 10 to 15 minutes.

• Question: Do you have trouble focusing or remembering instructions?
• Strong answer: Yes. I forget steps in simple tasks, like when I’m following a recipe. I forget to take my medicine and sometimes leave the stove on because I forget what I was doing.

If drug or alcohol use appears in your records, the judge will ask about it. They need to understand patterns and whether your symptoms would still exist if there hadn’t been substance use. Be honest. It’s usually more harmful to hide information than explain it.

If you get emotional during the hearing, it’s okay. Many people do. If you need a moment, ask for a short break.

It may help you to write down:

• How many bad days you have in a typical week
• What a bad day looks like for you
• How often you cancel plans or stay home because of symptoms

Tips for Answering Questions at Your Hearing

Most people worry that the judge is trying to trick them. They’re not. They need to understand if you can work full time with your current symptoms.

Here are a few tips to help you answer questions:

• Be honest and straightforward with your answers.
• Don’t leave out information, even if it feels uncomfortable.
• Focus on how your condition affects your ability to work and function day to day.
• Talk about what happens on typical days, not best or worst days.
• If something varies, say how often, like “about three days a week” or “once a month.”
• If you don’t know or don’t remember, just say that.
• Don’t minimize your symptoms to sound positive or tough.
• Answer only the question asked.

Common mistakes include:

• Overstating your limitations
• Understating your struggles
• Only talking about rare, good days

A Simple Rule to Remember‍

Tell the truth about what a full-time job would feel like for you on most days with your symptoms.

If this seems like a lot to handle, a Social Security lawyer or disability advocate can help you prepare and practice your answers before the hearing.

Seeking Legal Assistance

Having a disability advocate or attorney can make a real difference at this stage. A representative can help strengthen your case and improve the odds of an approval.

A representative can help by:

• Reviewing your file and requesting missing documents
• Preparing you for the judge’s questions
• Asking follow-up questions so the judge gets the full picture
• Asking vocational or medical experts more questions when needed

What you can do to help your representative:

• Tell them about new diagnoses, emergency room visits, or medication changes.
• Be honest about days you struggle.
• Ask if there’s anything you should bring or review before the hearing.

Advocate’s team and smart tools can help gather your records, organize your information, and prepare you to answer common hearing questions. This is what we do.

While you can’t control every part of the process, you can control how prepared you are. Understanding the questions you’ll be asked and practicing your answers will increase your confidence about the ALJ hearing.

You don’t have to do this alone.