SC associate justice: No to reducing bar exam’s difficulty
Reducing the level of difficulty of the Bar Examination is not the answer to Bar exam failures, Associate Justice Arturo Brion said in a speech during the oath taking of successful 2015 bar examinees.
Out of the 6,605 examinees only 1,731 passed the exam.
COMPLETE LIST: 1,731 successful passers of 2015 bar exam
“A ready and convenient excuse in considering the reasons for the failures is the perceived imperfection of the bar exam itself. One imperfection claimed has been the level of difficulty of the Bar exam questions,” Brion said.
The bar exam, according to Brion is not easy but not that difficult.
“Ang totoo, ang bar exam ay ginawa o ginagawa na kayang ipasa ng karamihan,” he said as he noted that there are examinees who managed to get a score of not lower than 80 percent.
“I cannot personally agree to lowering the level of difficulty of the questions under our present system as a certain level of knowledge and expertise is needed for a bar applicant to be admitted ad an Officer of the Court,” Brion added.
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He said a lawyer is admitted to the practice of law because the Court is satisfied “that he or she can competently handle cases and legal matters with some guarantee that justice would be done or at least approximated.”
Brion said the difficulty level cannot be reduced but the questions can be calibrated.
The high court justice said the other problems that can be addressed to improve the bar exam passing percentage include improving the bar admission system, the bar correction issues and improvement in legal education. IDL
