Take the Bar exams with a clear mind that may be had with complete sleep. Go to bed as early as you can. And if you don’t get to sleep, just take it as it is, and relax.

For majority of Filipinos, All Saints’ Day is spent commemorating the lives of their dearly departed, but for the 8,245 admitted candidates for the 2019 Bar exams, today shall be spent doing last minute review for the upcoming tests on Political and Labor Law to be held this Sunday, 3 November. With Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe as the chairperson of the 2019 Bar examinations, the Supreme Court (SC), through its Public Information Office’s Twitter account, announced the official hashtag to be “#BernaBar2019.” (Note: Although I received inside information that Justice Bernabe’s team contemplated on “#BARnaBeh.”)

This year marks the return of the Two-Examiner Rule, first done 10 years ago in 2009, which is coincidentally this writer’s Bar exams. This means there will be two examiners for each of the eight subjects. The expected consequence is longer exams and more comprehensive topics to be included in each exam. The examinees should be ready to write fast and quick, but in a clear and concise manner. And given the huge number of examinees, it is important for examinees to write in huge print letters since each examiner will just be spending a few minutes checking each exam booklet, and hideous handwriting may spell the difference in passing and failing.

Examinees from the provinces will be in Manila to take the Bar exams and supportive law students have booked their hotels for the Bar operations. There will be a huge buzz in several hotels this Saturday as students billeted will be up the entire night to prepare and gather last-minute tips to be read by the examinees when they board their busses at 4 a.m. that will bring them to the University of Santo Tomas, the venue of the Bar exams since 2011. Considering that there only a few hotels in the vicinity of UST, the law schools, fraternities and sororities that conduct Bar operations book hotels from all over Metro Manila, from Quezon City, Makati, Manila and Ortigas.

Alas, my message for the examinees is to take the Bar exams with a clear mind that may be had with complete sleep. Go to bed as early as you can. And if you don’t get to sleep, just take it as it is, and relax. I recall having not slept at all for my second weekend due to nervousness and I had to chug a few energy drinks to get me through the day. Luckily, I still passed those subjects!

If this is not your first time to take the Bar exams, then arrive at UST more confident than ever. You know how you fared the last time and you know where you may need some improvement.

Notably, this will be the first Bar exams under Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta and he shall be having three Bar exams under his belt before he steps down (e.g., 2019, 2020 and 2021). His good buddy and his predecessor, Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, continuously mentioned the need for reform in the Bar exams whenever he had the chance. Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, next year’s Bar chairperson, took up the challenge and proposed to implement the Pass/Fail Bar exam system in 2020. However, in last Monday’s flag ceremony at the SC, CJ Peralta revealed his 10-point agenda, which did not include Bar exam reform.

If I may share something on this matter: this writer is now in Canada for the annual law firm outing of the Aquende, Yebra, Aniag, Loon and Associates Law Firm (“AYALALaw”), of which I am a consultant for. Incidentally, the 2019 Canadian Federal elections were held last 21 October that saw Justin Trudeau win a fresh term as Prime Minister. Being the law geek that I am, I just had to check how one can practice law in Canada.

Since Canada is a Federal country, the rules vary from each of the 10 provinces, but what is common is each state has a required Bar exam and a Law Practice Program or what they call “Articling,” which means the candidate must undergo a 10- to 12-month program under a supervising lawyer or in a law firm, public interest group, judicial clerkship or government office, depending on the province, before he/she may be admitted to the local Bar association. This ensures that the candidate is fully prepared for the actual practice of law, not just with hypothetical textbook knowledge. Surely, this is something the SC, Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Legal Education Board can look into.

In any case, this is something that concerns the future candidates to the Bar exams. For now, let us wish the best for this year’s examinees. God bless, Godspeed, and go break a leg, just not your fingers.