Topnotcher tips for bar takers: Eat, sleep, pray, breathe

Be calm and confident. Eat and sleep well. Most of all, pray.

As more than 6,000 aspiring lawyers prepared to toil through four Sundays of the bar exams starting Sunday, bar topnotchers now working at the Office of the Solicitor General on Friday listed tips for before, during and even after the test, one of the Philippines’ toughest licensure examinations.

And by the topnotchers’ experience, making it takes more than just memorizing the law.

“By this time, the focus should be on physical and mental preparedness. Proper sleep, calming and breathing exercises, especially during exam day, will do wonders to achieve that optimal mental state because all the reading [and studying will] be futile without a healthy brain,” said Manuel Sarausad, who is from the University of Cebu and sixth placer in the 2013 bar exams.

Christian Gonzales, a University of Santo Tomas graduate who finished fifth in the 2011 exams, cited the value of positivity in passing the grueling test, which only 22.18 percent (1,174 of 5,593 aspirants) passed last year.

“Enhance your positive vibes and avoid the negative ones. Stay focused on doing well [in] the exams. Surround yourself with positive, optimistic and supportive people. Avoid unnecessary stress and distractions,” Gonzales said.

The bar exam, after all, is more than just a test of brain power, said Rudy Ortea, from the University of Batangas and third placer in the 2013 exams.

Test of character

“Never quit. That’s the most important lesson I learned from my experience in the bar exam. I almost quit because I had many problems before, during and even after the bar. The bar is not only a test of knowledge, it is also a test of character,” he said.

Gonzales recommended that the examinees wear comfortable clothes and shoes, and eat just right, “or you’ll feel heavy and sleepy instead of being sharp and focused.”

Of course, it matters that the examinees prepare well, even answering past bar exams or mock tests during their review.

“Read your materials, understand, take down important notes. Reread. Memorize key provisions. Review your notes, recite what you [have] memorized. Test yourself by answering past bar exams,” said Graciela Base, from the University of the Philippines and fifth placer in the 2012 exams.

Move on after each test

Ateneo Law School’s Irene Qua (eighth placer, 2011) and Danielle Bolong (second placer, 2012) said the examinees should move on after each test day and avoid worrying about mistakes they may have made.

“After each Sunday, avoid discussions on the possible correct answers to the bar questions. Each exam is only a part of the big picture. If you think you did not do so well [in] one exam, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will fail. Don’t dwell on your mistakes. You can’t correct them anyway,” Qua said.

“Move on, prepare for the next Sunday and try your best to make up for [your] wrong answers in the previous exams,” she added.

Echoing Qua, Bolong said: “If you [feel] the exam for a particular subject is hard, just as with life, move on. There is no sense in moping around.”

Bolong also reminded the examinees to have just the right amount of confidence.

“The bar is a test of the basics you’ve studied in law school. Lack of confidence will pull you down; boastfulness will get the best of you. Just be steady,” she said.

Exams begin Sunday

A total of 6,344 aspirants will take the exams starting today at UST. Of that figure, 3,229, or 50.9 percent, are retakers, while 3,115, or 49.1 percent, are first-timers.

The 2014 bar exam is the first round, as the Supreme Court removed the five-strike limit on retakes in a full-court resolution last year.

Every year for the past decade and a half, less than a third of examinees have passed the bar, according to information from the Supreme Court.

The highest passing percentage in the last 13 exam rounds was achieved in 2001, with 32.98 percent, or 1,266 of the 3,849 examinees, making it.

The lowest was recorded in 2012, when only 17.76 percent, or 949 of 5,343 examinees, passed.

Bar lowered

Last year’s passing percentage reached 22.18 percent when the Supreme Court decided to adjust the passing grade from 75 percent to 73 percent, considering the difficulty of the exams. Without the adjustment, only 694, or 13.13 percent of the examinees, would have passed.

The bar exams cover four subjects spread over the four test dates: political law and public international law, labor and social legislation, civil law, taxation, mercantile law, criminal law, remedial law, and legal and judicial ethics.

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