86-year-old took 2023 Bar exams

The Supreme Court disclosed that an 86-year-old applicant took the 2023 Bar examinations that were concluded last Sunday, 24 September.

The oldest bar examinee took the three-day tests in San Beda College – Alabang (SBCA), while the youngest was a 23-year-old applicant assigned to the University of the Philippines – Bonifacio Global City local testing center (LTC) in Taguig City.

No other details though were provided by the SC about the oldest and youngest bar examinees this year.

Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, 2023 Bar examinations chairperson, expresses his profound gratitude to all who helped in making the 2023 Bar exams a "smashing success" on 24 September, the last day of the exams.

The 2023 Bar examinations came to a successful conclusion, with 10,387 examinees out of the original 10,791 Bar applicants taking the exams, or equivalent to a 96.26 percent turnout, hurdling all three days of the professional licensure exams for future lawyers.

"I am overwhelmed by the smooth, peaceful, and orderly turnout of the 2023 Bar examinations. It was more than what I hoped and envisioned it would be. Indeed, it was a smashing success," said Hernando.

Raising the bar for this year's Bar examinations, Justice Hernando made sure that this year's regionalized and digitalized Bar was accessible and inclusive to all examinees, including those with special needs, to take the exams under exceptional accommodations.

Conducted in 14 local testing centers nationwide, the Bar exams on the last day were on Criminal Law and Remedial Law, Legal and Judicial Ethics with Practical Exercises.

Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity, this year's Bar Examinations was a testament to Justice Hernando's commitment to promote accessibility and inclusivity within the framework of digitalized and regionalized Bar examinations, in line with the institutional objectives of the Supreme Court.

Upon the recommendation of Hernando, the Court, through separate issuances, and after carefully considering the highly exceptional circumstances surrounding the applicants, allowed select examinees with special needs to take this year's examinations under exceptional accommodations, either through the traditional handwritten modality, with an encoder‟s assistance, or with the use of the novel Digital Booklet Method.

In Bar Matter No. 4399, a visually impaired examinee was allowed to take the test through the use of the Digital Booklet Method for the 2023 Bar, where a Court-issued laptop with installed Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) served as his examination booklet.  The said examinee, with the aid of NVDA, completed all three days of the examinations at the local testing center in Ateneo de Davao University.

The examinee finished law school through the use of software programs like NVDA and OpenBook. NVDA, in particular, is a screen reader that "reads aloud" scanned text of his books and testing booklets, enabling the examinee to study his books and take his exams through ear reading.

While it was not the first time that an individual with visual impairment was allowed to take the Bar exams, it was the first time that the Court permitted the use of the NVDA application. There have been visually impaired Bar applicants admitted in the past years who took the tests with the assistance of a special encoder.

The Bar applicant who took the 2020-21 Bar Examinations and one of the two applicants who took the 2022 Bar examinations passed and are now full-fledged lawyers.

In Bar Matter No. 4277, the Court allowed an examinee to take the examinations in San Beda College – Alabang, with the assistance of a special encoder because of his visual impairment due to ophthalmic meningitis.

In Bar Matter No. 4662, the Court also allowed other examinees, who are senior citizens and suffering from varying physical disabilities, to take the examinations through the traditional and handwritten modality in the LTCs in SBCA, Muntinlupa City; University of San Jose – Recoletos, Cebu City; and University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City.