Chronicles of a bar crammer

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Chronicles of a bar crammer

August 18, 2007

It's official…. I finally got my permit to take the exam from the Supreme Court, I guess this means I really am going to take the exam (albeit unprepared). But with 13 days to go and no subject I've completely finished reading, there is not much hope to pass. Now the only thing left to do is to not go gently into the ~~not so~~ good night. I'll be kicking screaming and fighting -allotting 2 days for each subject (there are 8 ) using codal and reviewers and leaving the major cramming for the pre-week of each exam day and I ~~cross my fingers, pray to god, touch my ear and nose and turn around to the left 3x~~ believe that my ~~doubtfully~~ good foundation and ~~semi~~ photographic memory will get me through. Now all I need are super fast reading techniques so I'll know enough ~~to bluff~~ not to leave blanks.

For those who don't know what the bar exam in the Philippines is like, here's a little bit of info, which will probably help people understand why we reviewees rant about it so much. Personally it's the cost of failing that stresses me out. (and I'm not talking bout just the financial)

Last September 2006, more than 6,100 examinees took the Philippine Bar exam. Last April 3, 2007, the bar exam results was published after 6 months of waiting. 1,893 examinees or 30.6% of the examinees passed the bar. The other 4,294 or about 69.4% of the bar examinees did not make the grade. Good for those who passed, better luck next time for those who failed. Life must go on. And what would failure mean? Here's a breakdown of the costs of taking the bar exam.

For a person who earns 20,000 pesos a month, he needs to let go 120,000 pesos of income to review for 6 months. For a province-based person, he needs to rent a place in Manila for an average of 10,000 pesos per month or a total of 60,000 pesos. Plus a budget of 10,000 per month for meals and living allowance, this means another 60,000 pesos. Include the plane fare, communication and school supplies and bar exam fee of about 20,000 pesos, a total budget of 250,000 pesos is a fair amount. All of these you spent in order to take the bar exam and get the chance to practice law.

Now you add all that that to one's health cost: The sleepless nights, the deep anxiety and nervousness is part of the game during review. Then comes the examination month. The examination takes four days, 8 hours a day. Examinees tackle 8 subjects 4 hours per subject. After that, the examinees go back to their old life and wait for 6 months for the results.

soooo

Rumor has it that it's the hardest bar exam in the world since flunkers here easily pass the California bar (reportedly the hardest in the US) but I still think it's a hit and miss and that Lady Luck and God will help this sad lazy ass to hurdle it. Why? because the social stigma is great, especially if you come from the upper ranked schools. Every one expects you to do your best and failing isn't an option. (the bar exam also has the highest mortality rate -due to stress, depression, failure) Because in a sense it is a competition.

Since about 1913, the Bar exam in the Philippines is among the news maker in country. The highlight of every bar exam results are the names of Bar topnotchers and the names of their respective schools. Today, topping the bar exam means fame, honor and good fortune for the persons and their alma matters.

I heard that Bar exam in the United States Bar exam do not post the names of topnotchers. You only get a "pass" or "fail" grade. I'm sure the United States Bar has strong reasons not to publish topnotchers. And I'm sure among the two reasons are (1) to prevent fraud and taking advantage of the fame as topnotchers and (2) not to over hype the result of the exam because an exam score does not determine the greatness of a person…

Now if only we could anonymously fail then it wouldn't be so hard…. baH! Enough about results and top notchers and being on tv and fame and fortune… I just need to pass. So I'm tackling Civ law tonight… what that means is….

The Civil Code of the Philippines contains more than 2,000 articles. The family Code of the Philippines contains about 200 articles. Not to mention the countless other special civil laws, Gods knows how many landmark civil cases resolved and decided by the supreme court. All of them are possible topics in the bar exams under the subject of Civil law and given four (4) long hours per subject to answer a maximum of 40 questions. (handwritten mind you)…

SOOOOO for this zombie crammer, I'm stocking up on vitamins, racking up some living expenses bills, having spurts of emotional breakdowns in the midst of reading chapters. Luckily writing for me is my therapy. And well, sitting back and bloghopping … Which led me to the blogs that provide support for this emotional supertyphoon to come next month. Among the gems I found and haunted… well i still do

Atty Fred's blog where he also runs a forum to discuss strategies and tips
Macka whose commentaries on recent issues have been quite helpful.
Punzi's corner blog - some good experience articles about tackling it
Barops blog - thank you for the super tips.

If anyone else knows of more blogs, feel free to drop your link. Technology has become my support system since I've decided to live as a hermit.

Posted by rax at 8:36 pm | permalink

Previous Comments

Hello rax!
I found your site from my WP dashboard.

Anyway, I just want to tell you - there is still hope. Isn’t it sweet? haha!

I’m cramming too. Good luck and God bless!

PS: I added you in my blogroll tnx

Posted by Macka at August 24, 2007, 8:58 am

Hi Rax,

I write the Barops blog. Thank you for citing my site. I enjoy reading your blog.

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