Preparation is the Key

Preparation is the key to success to success in the Bar Exam. But this is not just any kind of
preparation. You must have a game plan and you should stick to it as if your entire life
depends on it. The following are proven preparation tactics:

Analyze your strong and weak subjects.

Before you begin your intensive Bar Preparation and Review, you should know your strong and
weak subjects. Evaluate your performance on each of the eight Bar subjects. Your transcript of
law school records can give you a more or less objective evaluation of your performance.
Examine your transcript of records and compute your grade average on each of the eight Bar
subjects. This will give you an idea on what your strong and weak subjects are as evaluated
and perceived by your law school professors. Consider this data when you allocate your review
time on the Bar subjects.

Consider the Weight of Each Bar Subject.

Consider also the weight of each Bar subject as well as your own perceptions on their levels of
difficulty in allocating your review time. More review time should be allocated to morning
subjects, especially to Remedial Law, but make some adjustments on subjects that you
perceive to be more difficult than the others.

Check your armory.

Conduct an inventory of your books and materials. Be sure you have all subjects and topics
covered.

Study to Beat the Exam

Bar Review and preparation isn’t law school anymore where you just sit down in long hours of
lectures and wait for your turn to recite provisions of law and cases. You no longer study to
survive the horrifying graded recitations. The Bar Exams is not only about what you have
remembered or what you can recite. It tests more than mere memory and understanding. It
tests your ability to analyze legal problems and to apply relevant laws and jurisprudence.

Bar Exam Preparation is not just about studying to know the law and jurisprudence. It is not
only about filling up your mind with legal knowledge. It is more about preparing your machine
to use and apply all these legal knowledge that you have acquired.

Study Smartly, Not Just Hard

Bar review and preparation isn’t really about studying hard and burning your machine too
much. Note that there are only around fifteen to twenty numbers or problems in each subject.
Hence, as a general rule, Bar Examiners will only choose topics which are important or
relevant. Questions that are out of this world should not really pose much of a problem. They
are rare and they are just icings on the cake.

Classify Legal Provisions

Since the Bar Examiners can only ask so much, therefore, the actual amount of legal
knowledge that you need in each subject is pretty much limited. The secret here is to classify
provisions of law into different categories. Example of categories are the following:
  Class “A” – very important provisions that should be mastered and memorized. Place
in this category those provisions that have already been asked in the Bar at least five
times. You will know this by studying past Bar Exam questions. Controversial
provisions that have not yet been asked should also be placed in this category;
 Class “B” – important provisions that should be mastered. Provisions that have
already been asked repeatedly in Bar Exam should be included here;
 Class “C” – relevant provisions that are the usual subjects of legal controversies and
cases but which have not yet been the subject of a Bar question or which have not
been the subject of a Bar question in the last five or ten years. Just study and
understand these provisions;
 Class “D” – Not so important or relevant provisions. This includes provisions that are
not expected to be in the arsenal of new legal practitioners. They have not yet been
the subject of a Bar Exam in the last century. More likely, they will never be asked in
the next century or even in the next millennium of Bar Exams. However, you should
still read them as part of your preparation, but if you lack time, they may be sacrificed
in favor of those in Categories “A”, “B” and “C”. Don’t worry, I’m sure you have
covered them in law school.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

The problem with many Bar takers is that they think they can hurdle the Bar Exam by simply
attending Bar Reviews, listening to lecturers, and reading their materials. Well, that is a good
way to prepare if the Bar Exam were only an exam on reading comprehension and listening.
But the Bar Exam is more than that – it is an essay exam! Even objective-type questions, like
those asking for definitions, distinctions, or enumerations are all to be answered in essay
form. Hence, there is only one effective way to prepare, that is, practice writing essays, good
essays.

The technique, therefore, is to acquire legal knowledge by listening to good review lectures
and by studying your materials and then spend time to practice applying that legal knowledge
by writing good essays.

Take Practice Test Under Exam Conditions

Law school exams usually take only about one to two hours. But have you already tested
yourself using a full-length Bar Exam questionnaire in a full stretch of four hours or two Bar
subjects for a total of seven hours in a single day? If not, then you are in for a big shock
mentally and physically in the first Sunday of the Bar Exams. To avoid this shock, the secret is
to take Mock Bar Exams that simulate actual exam conditions. You reserve days for Mock Bar
Exams. Simulate time allocations, ringing of the bell, completing the name card, inserting it
inside the envelop stapled in the notebook, sealing the envelope, actual answering, reviewing
your answers, etc. See if you your mind can stay active for the whole day, that is, from 8 a.m.
till 5 p.m. See if your writing hand and fingers can survive seven hours of punishment. See if
you can manage answering without having to answer the call of nature. Evaluate your mental
and physical readiness for this kind of exam.

Stick to Your Own Materials

Choose only one principal book per subject and be sure it is one of the books you have used in
that subject while you were in law school. It must have your markings, highlightings,
underlinings, and your notes and other jottings on the subject. But it doesn’t mean that it will
be your only book on the subject. You still have to quickly browse other books and materials
and look for concepts, matters, or discussions that are not in your principal book you have
chosen. Once you found anything of that sort, make marginal notes in your principal book.
The tactic here is that during the pre-month (August), your principal book should already
contain all you need in that subject.
 To Memorize or Not, That is the Question

Attempting to memorize all the law available will make the exam frustrating and difficult.
Besides, you won’t have the time to actively and consciously memorize everything. Moreover,
it is not really necessary for you to cite legal provisions, excerpts from cases or their titles
verbatimly. In fact, restating a legal provision of concept in your own words will have more
impact on the examiner because it exhibits profound understanding of legal provisions and
concepts. But I am not saying that you should not memorize anything. As discussed above,
you should limit memorization only to those provisions which you have classified as Class “A”.
As to the others, you will be surprised that you may somehow remember them, even
verbatimly to some extent, by simply studying and trying to understand them. Oftentimes, it
is also through repetition, that is, by reading, reviewing, and re-reviewing that you will
subconsciously commit legal provisions concepts to memory.

Stick to Codal Provisions

Never take codal provisions for granted. Bar Materials should always be studied in this order:
(a) Codal Provisions; (b) Commentaries; and (c) Cases. These are the three C’s in the study of
law.

Codal provisions contain the text of the law per se. If you have only read the commentaries or
the cases, but not the codes, how can you then write “the Law provides that…” with
confidence? You don’t know the law or what it provides if you have not read the code. I am
therefore surprised to meet many Bar Examinees who got the courage to take the Bar Exam
without having read the text of the Constitution, the Labor Code, Civil Code, the Family Code,
the Revised Penal Code, and the relevant provisions of the Code of Commerce, the Tax Code,
Tariff and Customs Code, Court of Tax Appeals Act, and other key provisions. Well, you may
fool some Bar Examiners some of the time, but you cannot fool all Bar Examiners all the time.
Worse, you may just be simply fooling yourselves.

Prepare Physically & Emotionally

The Bar Exam is not just about mental preparation. You might have prepared your mind for it
pretty well but if your body bugs down, then all your preparation will come to naught. Keep a
healthy lifestyle throughout the review period and the Bar Exam month. Get enough sleep. Eat
nourishing meals. Exercise to keep your body and mind sharp.

You should also keep away from all kinds of emotional problems. Most of these problems may
be avoided if only the persons close to you understand what you are going through in
preparing for and in taking the Bar Exams. One tactic here is to write love letters to your
spouse, fiancée, fiancé, parents, kids, relatives, friends, and your enemies (?) and explain to
them what you will be undergoing, its importance to you and to them, that you can no longer
spend the same number of hours with them as before, that they should spare you from text
messaging, chain emails, and errands that could be done by other persons. Ask for their
understanding and support, morally and financially if you need to or beg for it if you have to.

Avoid radical changes in your personal relationships

Avoid radical changes in your personal relationships during the review period and the Bar
Exam month. If you still have no boy friend or girl friend, then avoid the temptation of wooing
one during this period. You cannot afford heartaches during this period. Do not marry. Do not
break up or cool off with your boy friend or girl friend. Do not separate with your spouse. If
they want to, beg if you must but things like these just have to be postponed after you shall
have finished taking the exam.
If your mind starts to wander and you begin to lose focus on your preparations because of
anxiety, worry, grief, and other personal and family problems that you could not have avoided
like losing a loved one or critical illness in the family, always try to reclaim your mind and
channel your energy to your preparations. God forbids, but if you lose a loved one during this
period, then let him or her serve as your inspiration. Take the Bar Exam for him or her. To see
you fail in the Bar Exam is the last thing your loved one wants to see if he or she were still
alive. Worse, you lost focus in your preparation and review because of him or her.

Countdown

Have you already counted how many days you still have before the first Sunday of the Bar
Exam? If not, then try to count the days remaining and keep a countdown in a conspicuous
area in the place where you will be staying during the review period. I suggest you use a chalk
and an eraser and keep a countdown on your bedroom door. Every time you get up in the
morning, deduct one day from this countdown and it will give you a sense of urgency in your
preparation, as well as a sense of guilt every time a day passes and you have not really
studied anything.

Things to Bring

 Notice of Admission
 Identification Card
 Sign Pens
 Tissue Paper
 Emergency Medicines
 Books & Notes
 Lunch & Snacks