Supreme Court of the Philippines

EN BANC
B.M. No. 2265
RE: REFORMS IN THE 2011 BAR EXAMINATIONS
Preliminary Statement
The Court has found merit in the proposed changes in the conduct of the bar examinations that
the Chairperson of the 2011 Bar Examinations and Philippine Association of Law Schools
recommended.
One recommendation concerns the description of the coverage of the annual bar examinations
that in the past consisted merely of naming the laws that each subject covered. This description
has been regarded as too general and provides no specific understanding of the entry-level
legal knowledge required of beginning law practitioners.
A second recommendation addresses the predominantly essay-type of bar examinations that
the Court conducts. Because of the enormous growth of laws, doctrines, principles, and
precedents, it has been noted that such examinations are unable to hit a significant cross-
section of the subject matter. Further, the huge number of candidates taking the examinations
annually and the limited time available for correcting the answers make fair correction of purely
essay-type examinations difficult to attain. Besides, the use of multiple choice questions,
properly and carefully constructed, is a method of choice for qualifying professionals all over the
world because of its proven reliability and facility of correction.
A third recommendation opts for maintaining the essay-type examinations but dedicating these
to the assessment of the requisite communication skills, creativity, and fine intellect that bar
candidates need for the practice of law.
Approved Changes
The Court has previously approved in principle the above recommended changes. It now
resolves to approve the following rules that shall govern the future conduct of the bar
examinations:
1. The coverage of the bar examinations shall be drawn up by topics and sub-topics rather than
by just stating the covered laws. The test for including a topic or sub-topic in the coverage of the
examinations is whether it covers laws, doctrines, principles and rulings that a new lawyer
needs to know to begin a reasonably prudent and competent law practice.
The coverage shall be approved by the Chairperson of the Bar Examination in consultation with
the academe, subject to annual review and re-approval by subsequent Chairpersons.
2. The bar examinations shall measure the candidate’s knowledge of the law and its
applications through multiple-choice-questions (MCQs) that are to be so constructed as to
specifically:
2.1. Measure the candidate’s knowledge of and ability to recall the laws, doctrines, and
principles that every new lawyer needs in his practice;
2.2. Assess the candidate’s understanding of the meaning and significance of those same laws,
doctrines, and principles as they apply to specific situations; and
2.3. Measure his ability to analyze legal problems, apply the correct law or principle to such
problems, and provide solutions to them.
3. The results of the MCQ examinations shall, if feasible, be corrected electronically.
4. The results of the MCQ examinations in each bar subject shall be given the following weights:
Political Law -- 15%
Labor Law -- 10%
Civil Law -- 15%
Taxation -- 10%
Mercantile Law -- 15%
Criminal Law -- 10%
Remedial Law -- 20%
Legal Ethics/Forms -- 5%
5. Part of the bar examinations shall be of the essay-type, dedicated to measuring the
candidate’s skills in writing in English, sorting out the relevant facts in a legal dispute, identifying
the issue or issues involved, organizing his thoughts, constructing his arguments, and
persuading his readers to his point of view. The essays will not be bar subject specific.
5.1. One such essay examination shall require the candidate to prepare a trial memorandum or
a decision based on a documented legal dispute. (60% of essays)
5.2 Another essay shall require him to prepare a written opinion sought by a client concerning a
potential legal dispute facing him. (40% of essays)
6. The essays shall not be graded for technically right or wrong answers, but for the quality of
the candidate’s legal advocacy. The passing standard for correction shall be work expected of a
beginning practitioner, not a seasoned lawyer.
7. The examiners in all eight bar subjects shall, apart from preparing the MCQs for their
respective subjects, be divided into two panels of four members each. One panel will grade the
memorandum or decision essay while the other will grade the legal opinion essay. Each
member shall read and grade the examination answer of a bar candidate independently of the
other members in his panel. The final grade of a candidate for each essay shall be the average
of the grades given by the four members of the panel for that essay.
8. The results of the a) MCQ and b) essay-type examinations shall be given weights of 60% and
40%, respectively, in the computation of the candidate’s final grade.
9. For want of historical data needed for computing the passing grade in MCQ kind of
examinations, the Chairperson of the 2011 Bar Examinations shall, with the assistance of
experts in computing MCQ examination grades, recommend to the Court the appropriate
conversion table or standard that it might adopt for arriving at a reasonable passing grade for
MCQs in bar examinations.
10. In the interest of establishing needed data, the answers of all candidates in the essay-type
examinations in the year 2011 shall be corrected irrespective of the results of their MCQ
examinations, which are sooner known because they are electronically corrected. In future bar
examinations, however, the Bar Chairperson shall recommend to the Court the disqualification
of those whose grades in the MCQ are so low that it would serve no useful purpose to correct
their answers in the essay-type examinations.
11. Using the data and experience obtained from the 2011 Bar Examinations, future
Chairpersons of Bar Examination are directed to study the feasibility of:
11.1. Holding in the interest of convenience and economy bar examinations simultaneously in
Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao; and
11.2. Allowing those who pass the MCQ examinations but fail the essay-type examinations to
take removal examinations in the immediately following year.
12. All existing rules, regulations, and instructions that are inconsistent with the above are
repealed.
This Bar Matter shall take effect immediately, and shall be published in two newspapers of
general circulation in the Philippines.
January 18, 2011.