Batas for Every Juan

presents

The Great Bar

Ó 2021 | Batas for Every Juan

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 About The Great Bar Exam Game Plan
The Great Bar Exam Game Plan is a series of activities aimed at optimizing a bar reviewee’s time
and making the best out of the reviewee’s review mode of choice. This game plan was first used by
Batas for Every Juan’s page creator, the undersigned, for the 2018 Bar Examination which he passed. It
is a framework that works for full-time reviewees but may be adjusted for part-time bar reviewees as
well.

In this game plan, a series of tips will be provided and some work plans will be crafted to give
reviewees various options on how to go through with the bar examination. Also, some materials may
be suggested in this material and the sequence of their use for maximum impact (these suggestions
are not paid advertisements). It is hoped that these prescriptions will aid the bar reviewee in making
sense of the law and ultimately, help her/him pass the exam.

It is important to note, however, that the best strategy is the strategy that works for the reviewee.
Some of these activities may not be helpful or productive to the reviewee, so the best thing to do is
ditch them. A personalized approach to the bar exam is always the best way of doing it.

To the bar reviewee reading this, I am wishing you all the best. You can do it!

John Angel N. Bautista

Batas For Every Juan The Great Bar Exam Game Plan 2
 Part 1: A Self-Help Guide to Passing the Bar
(with inputs from Atty. Roxanne Daphne O. Lapaan, Atty. Cherish G. Rufino,
Atty. Danielle D. Bunquin, and Atty. Richard L. Sayson)

For most people, the Bar Examination is the ultimate test of wits. They say that only smart people pass,
and those who are not, don’t. But we, lawyers, law students, and Bar reviewees, are not like most people;
we do not subscribe to that notion. We all know that there are really smart people who fail in the Bar.
And there are various reasons why.

To say that the Bar is merely a test of intelligence is, at best, ignorant. While intelligence is a big factor
in passing the Bar, other factors are likely to affect a person’s chance of passing. Tough luck, unfortunate
events, improper guidance, lack of resources, lack of support, distance from bar site, personal struggles
among other things take a toll on a Bar taker’s chances. Surviving law school is, in itself, evidence of
one’s intelligence. But surviving the Bar is another thing. It requires entirely different sets of skills and
strategies.

With these in mind, we came up with 14 tips that are aimed at guiding future Bar takers in their journey
to the coveted title, ATTY.

1. KNOW YOURSELF

The Bar examination is a war, one fought with notebooks and a pen (now a laptop and software). Like
a real war, it will entail a lot of sacrifices, require great skill and discipline, and deplete resources. And
just like any war, one cannot by any stretch of the imagination emerge victorious without any sort of
preparation. And the first step in the preparation phase is summarized in one of Socrates’ three Delphic
maxims: “Know thyself.”

Knowing yourself is part and parcel of your preparation for the bar. You will have to answer a few
questions before starting with your review, and these questions can range from existential ones to ones
that involve relatively shallow idiosyncrasies. “Am I ready?” “Why am I doing this?” “What is my goal?”
“What review center has a schedule that suits my waking-up time?” “Can I live on my own during the
review?” “Which color of highlighter works for me?”

All of these questions help you know and understand yourself. With enough knowledge of how your
system works and operates, start designing a game plan to hurdle the war that you are about to face
(just like this one). With an effective plan and sufficient knowledge of the subject matter, you will prevail.

2. THINK OF WHAT LEARNING STYLES WORK FOR YOU

Do you learn better reading? Or do you learn more by listening? Are you a note-taker? Or do you
prefer storing all the information in your head?

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People learn through different styles and different modes. Some prefer reading; others don’t. But
ultimately, what works for you is something that only you can answer. Think about this carefully because
this will determine what types of materials will work for you. If you learn more by reading, read more. If
you comprehend better by listening, invest in a recording device (Please ask for permission in case
someone else is speaking in your recording). If you learn by charts or mental maps, look for reviewers
that use those. Or make one yourself. A mistake in this area could spell disaster to a Bar examinee. If
you used the wrong style, your ability to recall the concept is affected.

3. LEARN TO MANAGE YOUR TIME

This is a lesson that is being taught since day one of law school. But this one becomes particularly crucial
in the Bar review. More or less six months of review is barely enough for one Bar subject, let alone eight.
A timeline of activities would help a lot in allocating the very limited time for the review. However, in
making the timeline, you need to account for and allocate time for unforeseeable events. Leave a few
days blank in case some things may come up. It must not be susceptible to shocks so as not to sacrifice
the time for other subjects.

Managing your time is also valuable in taking the actual Bar exam. Ideally, you are given four hours per
bar subject. And everyone who has taken the bar exams will tell you that those four hours are barely
enough to finish one bar subject. In this case, you will have to learn how to answer in a fast and efficient
manner (See tip #9).

4. DO NOT PRIORITIZE MEMORIZATION

The mind is not infallible. It is capable of committing mistakes, which it usually does. Hence, memorizing
provisions is not advisable as it is prone to mistakes, and these mistakes could potentially jeopardize
your chances of passing. A mistake in writing a provision verbatim is just as bad and dangerous as a
wrong answer. A better approach is learning the essence and wisdom of the law as it can be reworded
or rephrased without losing its meaning.

However, this is not to be taken to mean that memorization is not a good answering technique. If you
are confident that you have memorized the provisions in verbatim and you can write them as-is, you
have a much better chance of acing the exam, provided that you analyzed the provision well. Also,
there are instances that you have to memorize, especially definitions and of course, the Lawyer’s Oath.

5. ORIENT YOURSELVES WITH THE LAPTOP AND SOFTWARE YOU WILL USE FOR
THE BAR EXAM

New technologies can be really hard to learn especially for those who are not exposed to these
technologies on a regular basis. And sometimes, this hardship is purely psychological. As a

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consequence, a simple computer program can cause anxiety and fear in the minds of those not familiar
with it.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the 2020_2021 Bar Examinations will be administered using a computer
program, and the only way for you to familiarize yourself is to practice. If you have no access to the
software, you can practice your encoding skills first through simple word processing apps. Given that
the Bar is a very long examination, an advanced encoding skill is definitely a plus. But the correctness
of spelling and grammar is another thing, so be wary of this.

More importantly, familiarize yourself with the laptop that you will use for the Bar. Observe how it works
and make sure that no applications will interfere with your answering. Use it regularly and test its
performance regularly. Have an expert check it if needed. As much as possible, you should have
procured one a few months before the Bar to give you time to orient yourself with how it works.

6. MAXIMIZE THE USE OF THE SYLLABUS

Review and assess the Bar syllabus, no matter how stressed it’s making you. Knowing you do not know
half of its contents is a bitter pill to swallow. But it has to be done. Otherwise, you will be facing the
review blindly.

To make the most of the syllabus, use the Feynman Technique. The Feynman Technique was the
birthchild of Richard Feynman, an American theoretical physicist. As applied to the Bar exam, the
Feynman technique requires you to do the following:

a. Familiarize yourself with the syllabus - Browse the syllabus and decipher for yourself why it is designed
that way. The syllabus provides more information than you might think. It can show you how other
concepts are interconnected with other concepts from a different law. It can also give you valuable
insights as to which legal concepts are fundamental and which are not.

b. Explain the concepts to a common tao - The Feynman technique stipulates that the test of whether
you understood a concept well or not is your ability to convey the idea to a toddler. It is a metaphor of
course but, in your case, ask an ordinary person close to you and explain to her/him the topic. If s/he
understood the whole concept, you can proceed with the rest.

c. Identify gaps in your knowledge base - If, in an attempt to teach something to a common tao, you
found it difficult to explain or you hardly know the topic, flag the same as a gap. Mark these concepts
which you do not know.

d. Review and simplify the marked concepts - The key to a holistic and comprehensive review is having
at least an idea about every topic in the syllabus. To do that, the Feynman technique directs you to spot
the gaps in your review, read on them, and simplify the concepts. To test whether you were able to fill
the gaps, go back to explaining the topic to a common tao.

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A word of caution though: The Feynman technique might not work if the syllabus is too general. To
come up with a more detailed version, check previous Bar syllabi or make your own based on your
books.

7. CHECK BAR TRENDS

There is this principle in economics known as the Pareto Principle or the 80-20 rule. This concept was
coined by Vilfredo Pareto. As applied in the bar exams, the Pareto Principle entails that 80% of all bar
questions come from just 20% of all the legal provisions in the area. To get a feel of what these
provisions are, check the bar exam trends for the past few years.

There are various review materials out there that identify the Frequently Asked Questions in the Bar
Examination. These provide great insights as to what topics to prioritize in the review.

8. PRIORITIZE CORE LEGAL CONCEPTS

Some people have this misplaced notion that bar reviewees must veer away from common topics
because they will not be asked anyway. That notion must be corrected. The only way you could
understand other seemingly peculiar concepts is by learning the basics. Facing the Bar without a solid
foundation of the basic legal concepts is a recipe for disaster. And in fact, the bar examination itself is
a test not of advanced legal knowledge but the bare minimum in the practice of law.

9. PRACTICE ANSWERING BAR QUESTIONS

A great lesson that can be derived from Sun Tzu’s Art of War is that the key to winning battles is knowing
yourself and the enemy. Here, the bar exam is the enemy. And to fully understand how it works, you
might have to experience it firsthand.

Practice tests can help a lot in spotting potential mistakes and gauging your aptitude in preparation for
the bar exams. They can provide valuable information which can be used to diagnose gaps in your
study. And there are various exams you can take to improve your test-taking skills.

Diagnostic tests can be used to test your prior knowledge of a subject matter. Post-tests can be
compared side-by-side with the diagnostic tests to compare the improvements in the results of the
diagnostic tests. Speed tests can be undertaken to gauge whether you can work under pressure or not.
It is also imperative that you simulate the Bar Examination environment so as not to be overwhelmed.
Devote four hours for every bar subject, just like in the bar. Take note that in answering Bar questions,
brevity is your friend. For an examiner who has to check thousands of answer notebooks for a very
limited time, your “short story” will do no good for you or the examiner.

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10. MASTER ONE OR TWO REFERENCES ONLY

A famous (fictional) theoretical physicist Dr. Sheldon Cooper, BS, MS, MA, Ph.D., SCD once said, refuting
the the-more-the-merrier analogy: “That's a false equivalency, more does not equal merry. If there were
two thousand people in this apartment, would we be celebrating? No, we'd be suffocating.” The same
holds for the Bar exams. The volume of materials that you have is not directly proportional to your
probability of passing the bar. In fact, it can even be detrimental to your mental health. Having tons of
materials and not being able to read a lot of them will take a toll on your confidence, thinking that you
are not prepared.

Purchasing one or two main references will help with recall. Most review materials have the same
content because after all, they are commenting on the same law. Hoarding materials will just raise more
confusion than enlightenment, and confusion is a bar examinee’s greatest enemy. Meanwhile, mastery
of the same materials helps with establishing familiarity with the concepts involved, raising the
probability of recall.

11. DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOSSIP

The Bar is the most popular examination in the Philippines. That in itself is a guarantee that the
discussions on various platforms about the exam are a fertile breeding ground for gossips and false
news. But believing in these gossips will not help you. In fact, it might even be detrimental to your
overall strategy. Do not fall for it. Stick to your strategy because regardless of whether the gossips are
true or not (but the latter is more probable), if your game plan is foolproof, you will survive the bar.

Also, different reviewers give different advice on how to review. And they are giving these pieces of
advice because they mean well. But at the end of the day, it is your call. If you think that such a strategy
does not work for you or that your strategy works better, do not adopt it. Don't change horses in
midstream.

12. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK

Reviewing for the Bar should not be your end-all, be-all, your raison d’etre. While the Bar is an important
part of your life, do not study round the clock and ignore everyone or everything else. You are human;
you need a break. You are human; you need to be with your family and friends. You are human; you
need to treat yourself like one.

Sacrifices indeed have to be made, yes. You will have much less time to spend on gatherings and catch-
ups. But it is important that you maintain a semblance of normalcy. After all, when all of these are done,
you will have to revert to where you were before the Bar. It is good to have those connections once
that happens.

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13. DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY OTHER REVIEWEES

The Bar is not a race; what other reviewees are doing does not, in any way, affect you or your scores.
All you have to bear in mind is that you are racing against time alone and towards a certain mark.

Feeling intimidated by others is a valid feeling because it is almost always instinctive. But you should
learn not to mind others. You are two entirely different bar takers and what s/he is doing might not
apply to you or even concern you at all. At the end of the day, you will go to the exam room alone and
leave the same room alone. Eyes on the prize!

14. GET ENOUGH REST

Sleep should be non-negotiable. It is common knowledge that lack of sleep for a considerable amount
of time may lead to long-term effects on your health. The last thing you would want to happen on the
day of the examination is getting sick. Everything you sacrificed for will be rendered nil. Rest is important.
Burn-outs are common during review season. In order not to be burned out, take a rest every once in
a while. An unrested mind is not efficient.

Best of luck, pañeros, pañeras. See you on the other side.

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