Law deans endure the tension of the Bar Examinations every year as they watch their students take the career-defining test, Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier said at the start of the 2025 Bar Examinations.

Speaking at the University of Santo Tomas, Lazaro-Javier, who chairs the 2025 Bar Exams, praised law deans for their “sacrifices” in nurturing students. She noted that while aspiring lawyers face the pressure of the exam once, deans suffer from the tension annually.

Lazaro-Javier said deans “watch their students grow from clueless freshmen to full-fledged lawyers in waiting” and feel the pain of every student’s struggle. “Nobody sees the birth of a lawyer more than a law school dean,” she said.

A total of 11,437 examinees, or 86.7 percent of those admitted, took the 2025 Bar Examinations.

The number of examinees who showed up for the test represents a significant portion of the 13,193 aspiring lawyers who were admitted to take the exams this year. Of those who took the test, 5,215 were first-time takers, 4,239 were repeaters and 1,984 were refreshers.

Lazaro-Javier also noted that among the test takers were 241 people with disabilities, 206 senior examinees, 41 pregnant women and 139 with a medical condition.

In a separate development, the Supreme Court confirmed it will maintain the current digital and regionalized exam format for the next three years, ruling out a return to the traditional “pen-to-paper” format.