First: Make an honest assessment of the subjects you are good at, and the subjects you feel

you
have an inadequate foundation on. Adjust the number of days devoted to each subject accordingly.
Second: Compact reviewers might not necessarily help, especially for those subjects in which
you are weak at, and the morning subjects.
Third: Choose the review classes you want to attend. (I enrolled at the law center but didnt
attend most of the lectures).
Fourth: Avoid unnecessary comparison to the pace of others. We all have our own rhythm
according to the laws of inertia.
Fifth: Perfect your handwriting and grammar.
Sixth: Write things down. I had so many post-its in my codals, especially for Civ and Rem. It was
like a mini-book where all the important doctrines were jotted down.
Seventh: No need to memorize laws. If you must memorize, memorize only the key words of
important doctrines. Please, dont memorize case titles and SCRA citations. Dont clog your brain with
useless clutter. Understanding is key.
Eighth: For the bar, short answers dont necessarily work. The answer must be firm yet
exhaustive. I did not cite cases nor specific provisions, but just went straight to the answers.
Ninth: Updates on latest jurisprudence are indispensable. Request that the updates come with
short facts, because bar questions are often facts-based.
Tenth: Always make time for gimmicks and relaxation to keep you sane during the review.

The Ten Commandments in Answering Bar Exam Questions

by Atty. Ralph A. Sarmiento (10th placer, 1997 Bar Exams)

I.
Thou shall not abandon your common sense.

II.
Thou shall leave your personal biases at home.

III.
Thou shall answer only what is being asked.

IV.
Thou shall not invent facts.

V.
Thou shall write legibly and clearly.

VI.
Thou shall not write unduly long answers.

VII.
Thou shall not brag about your legal knowledge.

VIII.
Thou shall not criticize the problem.
 IX.
Thou shall always state the legal basis of your answer.

X.
Thou shall not make an unjustified conclusion.

So you really want to study law and be a lawyer?

You should be very and thats very serious. And your decision must not be a latent one. The
idea must have been conceived years before youd even been aware of it. The truth is, you should have
prepared enough for it, from day one that is, from the first day you stepped in college, or better yet, in
high school, or better yet. What they say is true about the troubling difficulty and even futility of
plunging yourself into the ocean and learning to swim just then.

Alright, am not an expert nor an exemplary law student, but to provide some advice to those
who opt to take up law, heres my brief checklist of what I call the Law School Kit.

1. English grammar and communications skills. The language of the law, whether youre patriotic
or not, is English. That is because Philippine laws are written in English. Ergo, your first best weapon is
your firm grasp of Standard English. A precaution: you should have at least eighteen (18) units of
English in your pre-law curriculum; otherwise, most law schools require students to add English to their
law subjects. Does that sound odd? Ridiculous at most. Pardon my impertinence, but should law schools
be really filling this big, crucial gap? According to Bar examiners and law professors, most candidates did
fail the Bar because of faulty English grammar, sentence construction, reading comprehension. You
could just drop your jaw to hear students having difficulty in expressing themselves in English. If there is
difficulty in the basic communication skills, could they excel in higher skills of creative and critical
reasoning? Thus, the first book to grab is not any law book; rather, try to get a hold of an English
Workbook. Hurdle the English communication skills tests of active reading, writing, speaking,
listening.

2. Logic and reasoning abilities. Laws are not constructed the way other disciplines are normally
constructed. The meaning of words between legal provisions is not exactly the same as we ordinarily
understand them to be. Study of law demands correct reasoning ability. No, it doesnt mean we should
learn how to debate or argue; it means finding the right reason for the answer to some questions
however erronous the answer might be. Question, answer, but justify the answer. It must be a sound
answer, based on some principles or established rulings (call that precedents), or some accepted custom.
We train how to think properly in the same way that we must also train our brains to remember, and
remember important provisions. In the past, and as correctly provided in the Rules, the pre-law courses
had been and should be Bachelor of Arts (AB) studies, since AB is designed to train the students to think
and reason out properly. Now, for as long as he/she has completed four years of college, anyone can be
admitted to the LlB program. [This challenges me to make a comparative study on the Law graduates
performance in the Bar vis a vis their pre-law course; there must be an underlying connection
somewhere].

3. Good health and strict discipline. If you see that there are incoherence in this piece, the
writer must be suffering from mental or physical fatigue due to myriad of factors. But there are just no
excuses once the recitations begin (which is the fixed call of each day). When your name is called, dont
aim to touch nor glance at your book/notes go to the classroom aisle with only the kilometric
provisions, doctrines and principles and case laws stored in your brain as your ammunition. Do not
fidget nor be onion-skinned even if the terror professor hurls invectives for unsatisfactory answers,
as being soaked to humiliations forms part of the training or admonitions for not doing what is expected.
Cadets and seminarians hurdle similar degrees of discipline-harnessing trainings and tests. So must law
students. To succeed in the jungles of legal studies, the keys are always the basics: good health and
strict discipline. One is not exaggerating when you hear him say he lives a regimented lifestyle. That is,
he divides 24 hours of his day into meaningful, productive endeavors and strictly following each task to
the letter. No cigarettes, no alcohol, no movies, no loud music, no gossips, even no relationships. Say no
to everything that will divide your attention. Remember: Lady Justice is a jealous mistress, and you
should devote your commitment to her alone from the very moment you stepped into the study of law.
Also, make sure that you get eight hours of sleep each day if this sounds impossible, then find ways to
catch up on it. Now that you get 8, devote at least six hours to reading each day. For us working
students, this is a tall order of getting enough of quality reading hours each day. What I do, I try to
devote at least double the hours of the number of units in any subject. For example, give a minimum of
eight hours per week of active reading for a 4-unit subject. Couple this with at least 30-minute of proper
exercise each day, and a bunch of healthy food. Dont forget to attend to daily devotions at least it
relieves your soul, which in effect calms down tired muscles and weary nerves.

4. Put up your own library. Never rely on books from the school library alone. Whats ideal is to
stack a copy of each author for a given subject. Call this a valued investment which will not depreciate
even until you have become a lawyer. While its good to have a laptop to store your database of laws
and cases, it is still best to have hard copies of the basic documents. Books are indispensable, so invest
on them. First list would be:

Legal Profession and Introduction to Law

Philippine Constitution Annotated
Revised Penal Code Annotated
Family Code of the Philippines Annotated
Civil Code of the Philippines, Book One Annotated
Statutory Construction
Legal Writing
Legal Research
Codal Provisions of Revised Penal Code, Philippine Constitution, Civil Code of the Philippines

SECRETS ON HOW TO PASS THE BAR EXAMINATION

 by Dean Wenceslao G. Laureta

1. Actual preparation for the bar examination starts from the first day a law student attended
class during the first year in the law school.

2. The blooming secret in passing the bar examination is this: Present good answers that will
make the examiners take notice. Good answers anchored upon logical reasoning, written in readable
English and more importantly, justified by appropriate legal authority.

3. If the candidates are at a loss as to what specific legal provisions or case doctrines to use in
answering problems, the only alternative left for them is to use their own common sense.

4. The key to passing the bar examinations is contained in one word: ARTICULATION. Articulation
is expressive of the following basic fundamentals: good language, impressive presentation, logical
reasoning and substantial background knowledge of law and procedure.

5. The examinee who has a fairly good command of English, assuming that he is prepared in all
other matters, stands definitely with a much better chance of passing.

6. The responsive character of a given answer would depend to a great extent, on command of
good language, logical reasoning and impressive presentation. This objective of preparing impressive and
responsive answers can only be achieved by constant practice.

7. Get this straight right now. Passing the bar examination has been, still is, and will always be a
difficult proposition!

8. No one can really help you pass the bar examination but yourself.

9. The greatest blooming secret of passing the bar examination is and will always be:
PREPARATION! Not just any kind of preparation, but proper, sound and systematic preparation.

10. Systematic review can only be done by the use of what we call schedules which the
candidate must follow vigorously to the letter if he expects to attain the best results.

11. There will be times when you become sleepy while reviewing but never for one moment, tell
yourself: Man, this review can wait! Do not be stupid. Always remind yourself that time is of the essence
and is decidedly running too short for you.

12. Force yourself to read, understand and absorb what law you reviewed. Otherwise, all your
efforts will go to waste.

13. Love and review cannot mix in the business of preparing for the bar examination.

14. Early to bed, early to rise, that is the way to make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

15. A morning shower is a must.

 16. Never stay up late to the wee hours of morning, cramming law into your head. This would
not do you any good. Remember, you have to conserve as much energy as you possibly can.

17. Remember, keeping your health in good running condition is just as important as reviewing
and passing the bar examination.

18. Good handwriting is decidedly a great factor in passing the bar examination.

19. To beat time, never write kilometric answers.

20. By far the most important tool that the bar candidate could equip himself with which to
tackle the examination that is inherently personal to him is command of written English.

21. You have to write simple, grammatically correct English if you want to hurdle the
examination.

22. Presentation of answers that are not only good but logical, full of substance and supported
by law and other authorities, are gems to the examiner, whether he has a good or black heart.

23. Make your motto now: Stick to codal provisions! Compliment this with doctrines laid down in
recent decisions of the Supreme Court.

24. Impressive answers showing the candidates reasoning faculty is what the examiners want to
read in your examination notebooks.

25. Ability to retain your understanding of the substance of the law through efforts of study is
more desirable quality to possess than mere ability to memorize legal provisions.

26. Memorizing a particular provision of law word for word but without understanding it and its
various implications is a lot of wasted effort.

27. Never fail to read the newspapers when you are preparing for the bar examination. Read
newspapers from 20 to 30 minutes every day.

28. You can never expect to pass the bar examination without preparation.

29. Predicting probable questions based on important principles or provisions of law is the safer
method of speculating what the examiners are likely to ask in their examinations.

30. Never depend on tips for your passing. But never brush these tips aside as nothing but trash.
They may likely cause your downfall. Never, however, bank too much on them.

31. Cheating is one sure way to endanger your future career as a prospective member of the
legal profession. Never commit such atrocious act like cheating in the bar examination. It never pays.
Depend on your own capabilities. Fight your battle royale on a high plane!

32. Fountain or sign pens are really the most important equipment in bar examination. Never
start for the examination without bringing along with you two or more fountain or sign pens.
 33. Like the weather, examiners are absolutely a bunch of unpredictable fellows, capable of
asking unpredictable questions.

34. Do not try to memorize 50 definitions or distinctions in any given time. Two or three will do.

35. The real secret in remembering the matters contained in an enumeration is the use of
keywords. Make your keywords on enumerations you consider important.

36. Never leave a blank in an enumeration! However, if you use the letters a, b, c, etc. for
numbers in the enumeration, so much the better. Ten to one, the examiner may not count his fingers.
Make the first four in the enumeration definitely good.

37. The bar candidate should do well to be always on guard against catchy questions capable of
being answered in a number of ways, e.g. What is a complaint? The perfect answer should include both
definitions in criminal and civil procedure.

38. Never be content to answer questions with a mere yes or no. You must, at all times, give
justification why your answer is a yes or no. Unless, of course, the examiner qualifies his question with
instruction enclosed in parenthesis like: (Answer with a yes or no only).

39. Always determine the real facts (examiners have the bad habit of including irrelevant facts to
confuse you) and the issue or issues in controversy. Which side you take, always justify your side with
reasons based on law, rule, equity and justice. Whatever your answer may be, provided it is written in
legible language, the examiner will never deny you the corresponding credit you deserve.

40. Always remember, make efforts to frame your answers so that they are responsive to the
questions. Never beat around the bush. Go right straight ahead with your answer. Avoid citations if and
when you are not absolutely sure about them. The shorter the answers are, the more direct, the better.
Avoid display of flowery expressions which are complicated by legal verbosity. All you need are sensible,
direct and reasonable answers that are responsive to the questions.

41. Legal knowledge is not enough to solve a particular legal issue. What is important is ability to
apply this knowledge to the solution of legal controversies.

42. The most convenient method of tackling problem questions is to present immediately the
conclusion of a given answer. Practice, practice, constant practice will help the bar candidate write good
answers that examiners will give favorable credit.

43. The technique of writing down answers responsive to questions is a matter that the
candidate must learn as a matter of imperative necessity.

44. Brevity and directness when done properly could make an answer both effective and
impressive. However, when overdone to a point where the ideas sought to be conveyed becomes vague
and difficult to understand, they become a liability.

45. Never forget that every candidate is a potential bar topnotcher.

 46. So, if you are a candidate just preparing for the bar examination, whose chances of passing
are quite problematical, just limit your ambition for the present to just working hard to obtain a 75
percent in the great battle of your life.

47. Take comfort in this: That even those who become lawyers by just luck, are making good in
the practice of law. Nothing can really put a determined man down