PREPARING FOR THE 2013 BAR EXAMINATIONS

Last 7 December, the Supreme Court issued Bar Bulletin No. 1. Those intending to take the 2013 Bar Examinations would do well to peruse and analyze the repercussions of this bulletin for the changes introduced therein are nothing short of revolutionary.

Venue and schedule

The Bulletin states that the bar examinations will be held in October. This put to rest speculations and reports that the bar schedule will be returned to the traditional bar month of September. The venue of the bar examinations will be at the U.S.T and the schedule of the bar is as follows:

2013 BAR EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

Date October 6 October 13 October 20 October 27 8 am to 12 noon Political Law Civil Law Commercial Law Remedial Law 2 pm to 6 pm Labor Law Taxation Criminal Law Legal Ethics

Two matters are worth noting in the schedule. First the examinees will have four hours rather than the former three hours to answer the afternoon examinations. It appears that this was meant to address the complaint in the 2012 Bar that although the length of the examinations for the afternoon subjects was the same, the time for answering them was shorter by an hour. Second, legal forms or practical exercises has been eliminated. While not explicitly stated in the bulletin, this is clear from the designation of the last subject as Legal Ethics rather than Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises.

Examination format
The examination shall consist of 80% essay-type questions and 20% MCQs. This is a volte face from the 60% MCQ and 40% essay question format of the 2012 bar examination.

Problem-type questions to be adopted

The bulletin states that [w]hether MCQ or essay, the questions shall be based on a givenset of facts, presented as briefly but as clearly and completely as possible.

This is a very significant statement. It means that objective or codal-based essay questions and MCQs, such as those asking for enumerations, definitions, and distinctions will not be asked in the 2013 Bar. Objective and codal-based essay questions and MCQs were liberally used in the 2011 and more so in the 2012 bar examination.

What the examiners will be looking out for

The bulletin enumerates the basic elements of problem-solving that the examiners shall particularly look for:

1. Proper understanding and appreciation of the facts, particularly of the components or details that can be material in resolving the given problem. 2. Appreciation of the applicable law or laws that may come into play. 3. Recognition of the issue or issues posed. 4. Resolution of the issues through the analysis and application of the law to the given facts.

The bulletin states that the examinees presentation and articulation of his or her answer shall also be given weight. The examinee thus has to be trained in presenting his answer in such a way as to display to the examiner his familiarity with the basic elements of problem-solving. These statements in the bulletin indicate that the examination will be argument-driven rather than conclusion-driven. This information is of capital importance since most law students have been taught in law school to be conclusion-driven rather than argument-driven and little if any time has been devoted to the proper presentation and articulation of ones answers. Bar Bulletin No. 1 could also be a harbinger of a shift from the typical issue-poser question to an issuespotter question.

Issue-spotter essay questions

The difference between the two types is illustrated by giving an example of each. First let us give an example of an issue-spotter question.

Q ) Jose filed a petition for declaration of his marriage to Maria. During the trial, the lawyer of Jose offered Joses testimony on the contents of a psychiatrists report which made a finding that Maria was suffering from nymphomania and which report was in the hands of Jose.

a) If you were the lawyer for Maria, what objections if any can you raise to the offer of Joses testimony? Explain. b) If you were the lawyer for Jose, how would you counter the objections of Maria? Explain.

c) If you were the judge, how would you rule on the objections? Explain.

A little difficult isnt it? Thats because the issues and the applicable laws were not laid down on a silver platter to the examinee. Its the examinees job to spot the issues and the applicable laws. The examinee is also asked to argue for both sides, a common feature of American bar exam questions. Using the same factual setting, the above question can be modified to an issue-poser question as follows:

Q) Jose filed a petition for declaration of his marriage to Maria. During the trial, the lawyer of Jose offered Joses testimony on the contents of a psychiatrists report which made a finding that Maria was suffering from nymphomania and which report was in the hands of Jose. Marias lawyer objected on the ground that the testimony would violate the physician-patient privilege.

If you were the judge, how would you rule on the objection? Explain.

The above essay question is less difficult to answer than the preceding one. This is because a narrow issue has been explicitly stated in the problem: Would the husbands testimony on the contents of the psychiatric report violate the physician-patient privilege? Knowing the issue, the examinee would find it comparatively easy to determine the applicable law, i.e., Section 24(c), Rule 130 of the Rules of Court regarding the physician-patient privilege.

On the other hand, in the issue-spotter question, the examinee has to spot the three issues involved:

a) b) c)

Would the husbands testimony violate the marital disqualification rule? Would the husbands testimony violate the physician-patient privilege? Would the husbands testimony violate the hearsay rule?

Spotting these three issues is not easy if one has not been trained to do so. Issue-spotting is not a matter of good luck. There is a science to issue-spotting. Knowledge of issue-spotting techniques and training exercises to develop proficiency in using these techniques would be of immense help.

Importance of mock-bar and coaching program further underscored

The new developments in the bar examination format further underscore the need for a training and coaching program that involves not only a series of mock-bar examinations but also one-on-one coaching with a feedback mechanism. The mere taking of practice exams by a reviewee and the giving to him

of the answers would be inadequate. The reviewee must have the benefit of feedback from an experienced and competent trainer and this can only be had under a program that provides for one-onone and face-to-face interaction with a coach. Using a series of specially crafted mock bar exams, the coach would be able to diagnose the weaknesses and strengths of the reviewee and to monitor and guide his progress. Individualized coaching is especially important for training the bar reviewee for the essay examination. Since the essay question requires the subjective judgment of the examiner, the examinee must be trained and honed in the proper manner of presenting his answer. Each examinee has his own strengths and weaknesses in approaching and answering essay questions and a one size fits all lecture or training session is not the proper approach. The comprehensive training program should especially train the examinee in the basic elements of problem-solving that the examiner is looking out for. Practice is also very important. Its absurd to just lecture a bar examinee on bar methods and techniques and then expect the examinee to magically deploy these during the bar examination. Its like lecturing a child on how to swim and then throwing him into a ten-feet-deep pool. The examinee should undergo a series of mock-bar exams where he can get the feel of applying the essay and MCQ tactics and strategies with guidance from his coach.

Fine-tuning of coaching and training to read and answer essay questions

With the great possibility of issue-spotter questions, Jurists has fine-tuned its coaching program to further train the examinees in issue-spotting skills, including the use of fact-pattern recognition, embedded-rule recognition, and other issue-spotting and rule-spotting techniques. Issue-spotter questions are rarely if ever seldom asked in law school; hence the overwhelming majority of bar examinees have not had the benefit of any training and coaching on how to face them. With this in mind, Jurists has added to its data bank of issue-spotter questions for use in the 2013 program and undertaken further training of its corps of coaches to respond to the latest changes.

Reinforcing the MCQ training program

In the MCQ examination, the MCQs would be in the form of read-and-analyze MCQs or Type C MCQs. With its databank of MCQs, most of which are Type-C MCQs, Jurists is in the best position to respond to the latest change in the MCQ exam. Jurists has been at the forefront in the development and use of MCQ tactics and strategies. These MCQ tactics and strategies may especially be used with optimal results in answering Type-C MCQs.

Utmost preparation and training

With new and additional changes being implemented again by the Supreme Court, the bar examinee should leave no stone unturned in his preparation for the 2013 bar. The 2013 Bar would be innovative in the sense that fact-based essay questions and MCQs will now be the norm. A traditional bar review

program based exclusively or heavily on lectures and passive study without any or scant training and mechanism for feedback would ill prepare the examinee for the new-fangled 2013 Bar. On the other hand the examinee who backstops a rigorous study regime with a tested mock-bar and coaching program which addresses the unique features of the 2013 Bar Examination would greatly increase his chances of finding his name in the list of new lawyers come 2014.