Bar Review Notes: 1.

2007 Bar Exam Question #1 for Poli: Lesson: (a) The Bar ASKS A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGH NUMBER OF NON-BASICS QUESTIONS. To say that the Bar is all about basic questions is a fallacy; even professors take for granted. Thus, do not shrug off legal statements as not to be asked in the bar. The Bar asks obscure questions. See 2007 Bar Exam Question #1 for Poli: (b) Precision in the Bar is absolute. A displaced phrase may distinguish the meaning of a fact statement from the law. This may trick the examinee into recalling inaccurately. e.g. Fact Statement: For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are, until otherwise provided by law, Filipino and English. Law: Article XIV, Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. Conclusion: On the one hand, Filipino is a permanent official language that cannot be otherwise changed by law. On the other hand, Congress may change English as an official language for purposes of communication and instruction. 2. Answer Format: Concise statements! Short answer. Law. Conclusion. (1) Short Answer in bold. (2) Law Statement Basis in law. (3) Fact Statement[best omitted for two reasons: (a) unnecessary as question is deemed written into the answer; and (b) time constraints] (4) Conclusion Statement. Leave a line at the top for the short answer. Write the law statements first. Then the fact statement. Then the conclusion statement. 3. Break down the question, word by word. Dissect it. Then answer using the format. e.g. True or False? The 1987 Constitution has increased the scope of academic freedom recognized under the previous Constitution. Break down increased, which presumes a prior baseline. In this case, the most logical baseline is the prior constitution, i.e., the 1973 Constitution. Answer statements: Short answer. Law. Fact. Conclusion. 4. Better to err on the side of caution. (a) Examiners ask questions from a multitude of sources. Bernas, non-Bernas, etc. (b) When your mind retrieves multiple law statements for a question, it is better to err on the side of caution, and write each and every pertinent legal statement that comes to mind. As another point of caution, order the syllogisms from the most pertinent to the least pertinent. No points are deducted for excessive, however, accurate law statements and conclusions. 5. Make sure that recent jurisprudence has been studied. The reason the coverage of the exam was extended to March 2014 is to include recent jurisprudence to said date. a. PDAF b. Cybercrime c. UNCLOS and China

6. Marvin Sumner Llamas - Worrying about absurd scenarios. I spent a lot of time pondering about hypothetical questions, which turned out counterproductive since it did not come out and diverted my attention. 7. Trust your own logic. It is oftentimes even better that those of veteran lawyers.

8. The language of the New Civil Code is infelicitous. The translation from Spanish to English may sometimes be inaccurate. Some additions are also incorrect. 9. There are moments when the reviewer learns some laws and jurisprudential doctrines for the first time. 10. Everything a reviewer knows for the bar should be in the books, codals, and notes that he reads. 11. Questions for a particular subject may encompass topics within another subject by means of non-applicability to the present particular subject. See Bar Exam for Civil Law in 2009, Question in Part II. Where A and son B died, what law and rules of court applies regarding an insurance contract? The applicable law is not the provisions of the Civil Code on succession, but the provisions of the Insurance Code and the rules of presumption under the Rules of Court. Thus, the examinee must know when the present subject does not apply, and what other subject applies, and how it applies, in order to determine the correct answer. It is unfair, however, it is, reality at the moment. 12. How does a reviewer avoid an overheating brain leading to multiple study breaks? The reviewer must study as if he had no choice. The same happens during law school. The same should happen during the review days. 13. When the following happens, (1) begin by assessing the consequences of each scenario or decision; (2) use logic,value systems, and the process of elimination to eliminate a negative scenario or decision. a. The Bar asks questions which are not in the books I bought. See the question under Part V of the 2009 Civil Law Bar Exam. Can a child, in the eyes of the law, have more than one natural filiation with to different fathers?

b. The Bar ask questions which have not been squarely dealt with by law or jurisprudence, e.g. the question under Part V of the 2009 Civil Law Bar Exam. Can a child, in the eyes of the law, have more than one natural filiation with to different fathers? 14. The Bar asks questions that are outside the scope of Philippine Law. See Question VI(b) of the 2009 Civil Law Bar Exam which asks for the law of New York on intrinsic validity of wills in succession, considering the Filipino, who was later naturalized as American New Yorker, and died there. In the Philippines, what governs is the law of the nationality of the decedent at the time of his death. Thus, New York law governs. 15. Always be aware of the position of the page read to your eyes. The page must always be squared to your head and shoulders for maximum focus. 16. Answers to questions must be precise as to applicable law and conclusions, and exhaustive relative to the complexity of the question. This applies whether the question is valued at 2% or 5%, as long as the exam can be completed on time. 17. Bodily health must be at maximum during the review, and most especially during the exam, even during the 4-day mock exam. Keep it hydrated, with oxidized, vitamin rich, well nourished, and ripped. A non-working body translates to a non-working mind, which

translates to failure in the bar. This happened to me at question IX of the Civil Law Bar Exam of 2009. My mind was not willing to crunch out any more ideas. I missed the four options of the lawyer, and answered the one action which is bound to fail. 18. The Bar asks open-ended questions. When such a question is asked, broach and exhaust the criminal, civil, and administrative aspects of the question. Such was question IX of the Civil Law Bar Exam of 2009. 19. The Bar usually has 20-35 essay questions per subject, 2-5 points each. The examiner must have mental endurance. 20. Law School weaknesses: (1) Administrative Law under Political Law (2) Property under Civil Law (3) Torts and Damages under Civil Law (4) Special Proceedings under Remedial Law. 21. In exhausting the question to extract answers, discuss every contingent scenario and the conditions that must precede them. Use if-then statements. 22. Right answer, wrong legal basis still deserves a deduction. Essential is the precise legal basis. See part XI of the 2009 Civil Law Bar Exam when you answered citing jurisprudence in BF Corporation instead of citing Article 2045 of the NCC. 23. Pray. 24. Use Buzans Speed Reading and Speed Memory. 25. Take four or five words per fixation. See p. 45 of Buzans Speed Reading. Try six to ten words, as an attempt to better the 6-10 range proficiency. 26. The faster you read, the better your comprehension. See p. 45 of Buzans Speed Reading (Buzan, SR, pp). This is your visual gulp (Buzan, SR, 47) or visual chunks (Buzan, SR, 60). visual fixation (Buzan, ,SR, 84). a. Your first task then is to work at eliminating the habit of back-skipping, regression, and taking in too few words per regression. (Buzan, SR, 47). b. When looking at multiple numbers, remember the shape of the numbers, as if an x-ray photo of black background and white subject-foreground was taken. This is my technique developed from the exercise in page 52 (Buzan, SR, 52). c. Back-skipping and regression are unnecessary. (Buzan, SR, 60). I wonder how true that is. d. Photographic memory beats conceptual every time? e. five to ten word visual gulps + photographic memory f. Keep your body moving, as when DoTA player keep on moving around the minimap or when MtG players keep on flicking their cards in hand. This is to keep your mind alert through the use of the body (Buzan, SR, 64). g. Speed readers read down the middle of the page. (Buzan, SR, 70). h. It is an extraordinary fact that some people who are unusually gifted with memory may actually talk of hearing color and seeing sound. This might be expected from an unusually large number of synaptic connections enabling the brain to cross-reference information to a higher degree. (Buzan, SR, 75). i. What is brain reading? (Buzan, SR, 80). Super-speed reading. (Buzan, SR, 83). Central Eye? Magic Eye (Buzan, SR, 88). Advanced meta guiding technique under chapter 8? j. See Antonio di Marco Magliabechi (Buzan, SR, 84).

k.

(Buzan, SR, 84). l. It is your brain that reads your eyes are simply the very sophisticated lenses it uses. (Buzan, SR, 90). m. brain had to hold everything in waiting until it received the final piece of information

(Buzan, SR, 94).

n. o. SR, 97).

(Buzan,