Disclaimer: I made this as a guide to my brods and friends who are taking the Bar.

By no means do I claim
that I am a bar review expert. There are other better bar prep books or tips such as the Ateneo Bar Review
Primer. I only wish to lay down the strategy and preparation I adopted in my bar review in the hope that
you may get something helpful out of it.

Five Principles in Bar Review and Preparation

1. Whatever you learn in your four years or so in law school is pretty much the ones you will
remember when answering the Bar. Make no mistake that Bar review is helpful. But whatever
you learn something new will just be temporarily remembered. Thus, you have to honestly
appraise your performance in law school. Give extra focus on your weak subjects.

2. Stick with your study habit in law school and made adjustments only when necessary. Of course
if you were a party goer before you should lessen partying during bar. What works for you in law
school will work for you during the bar preparations. Just improve the aspect of your habits that
can be improved.

3. Be flexible. There are times when you wont be able to meet your quota for the day or the days
allotted for one subject are about to lapse and you have to go to another subject. Be flexible.
How?
a. Make a schedule that works for you. Copy others schedule as a guide. But dont copy it
exactly because whatever works for them may not work for you.
b. When allotting days for a subject, make a room for opportunity to compensate off days.
Give extra days for your schedule.
c. Be well-rounded. For example, when I was reviewing for Civil law, I used Jurado. I
wwouldnwt be able to finish Sales in Jurado so what I did was to use other reviewer,
Aquino, which is shorter so at least I can finish the reading. I just promise to read the
portions I fail to read in Jurado in the next reading or when I have extra time from other
subjects.ch is shorter so at least I can finish the reading. I just promise to read the portions
I fail to read in Jurado in the next reading or when I have extra time from other subjects.ch
is shorter so at least I can finish the reading. I just promise to read the portions I fail to
read in Jurado in the next reading or when I have extra time from other subjects.

4. Understanding is the key. Dont skip a topic you feel is important or will come out in the bar
without understanding it. In my case, I exerted more effort to study SRC and Banking.

5. Prayer and exercise. Exercise keeps the body healthy as well as the mind. Prayer gives you peace
of mind, whatever you believe in. My family relatives prayed 2000 Hail Mary each for each of the
Sundays of the bar. Maybe prayer made me passed the bar exams.
10 Bar Review Tips.

1. Answer bar questions every day. It is better to answer bar questions which you have already
review. In this way, youll be able to practice your handwriting, assess how you answer bar
questions, and recall topics you read by answering the questions.

2. Conduct mock bar exams after completing a subject. Try to simulate the actual bar exams.
Time yourself, find a conducive place, do not look at the right answers in your materials no
matter how tempting, and finish the exams within 4 hours. I suggest the 2015 bar to serve
as mock exam questions because the 2015 bar examinations are long. If you are able to
finish it on time, then it is safe to say that you answer quick enough to finish the bar exams.
Of course you cant factor in the pressure the examinees feel when answering actual exams
but still youll be able to recall the subject, practice the way you write and your handwriting.

3. Mark topics which you find important or worthy to highlight as you study, or hard to
understand that you have to skip it in order not to spend too much time, especially in your
first reading. If you do this, you need not study the entire material as you will need to gloss
over the highlighted portions only. I used green post-it for topics that I feel worthy to read
again and blue post it for hard to understand topics that I have to return to again. Use post
its and post it at the edge of the page so that you will quickly see just by looking at the book
how many topics you have to re read for your subsequent readings.

4. Use a lap timer and time your every page of reading. I used my cell phone to time myself.
Normally I spend 2 min to 2 min and 30 secs to finish a page. At this rate, youll be able to
read 25 to 30 pages per hour. Sometimes I can read less than two minutes per page
(example Sundiang Commercial) and sometimes it takes me 5 minutes or more to finish a
material (example Nachura Reviewer). You have to know the content of one page so that
you can time yourself accordingly. The benefit of timing yourself is that you stay focused. IF
you allotted 2 minutes for every page and you are on your 3 minutes and still not finished,
you get focus. Youll also stay focus because you have a quick idea how much time you are
losing for slackening off.

5. Assess your every day reading. After reviewing, give a quick assessment of your review. If
you feel like youve understood well the material and feel that you really grasp the subject,
give yourself a high wrting. Meanwhile, there are really off days that no matter how hard
you try, understanding the material is difficult. Worse, you cant even reach your quota.
Then give yourself a low rating. This is beneficial when you reached your 2nd reading
because you will have a quick reference on what subjects to give more focus on.

6. Use a calendar to inform you how many days are left before the bar. It may give you an
added pressure but it is better to know your track so youll be able to adjust according to
the time left.
 7. Always rest before Every Sunday. As much as possible, stop your readings by Saturday. But if
you really have something to finish, dont study past 5pm. After that, any study is just
cramming and will make it harder for you to sleep early at night.

8. There are things to buy for convenience: A nice chair to sit on, lots of post its, Backjoy,
because your long hours of reading will take a toll on your back, fountain pen because it
writes more smoothly. I suggest Lamy with 1.1MM Nib or F or M nib.

9. Rest once a day. Drink but not too much (because of may have to study tom) or watch
movies, or do whatever activity that relaxes you. There are times when you really feel that
you cant stop reading and you still can go on. But you have to stop at some point. Because
you dont know it at the time but it will eventually wear you out.

10. Do not compare your study phase to others study phase. You have your own phase.

11. Organize your things. I bought eight carton boxes for each of the subjects.

12. Avoid listening to rumors. I almost read Katrina Legardas persons because of rumors
circulating around. Good thing I hesitated and stuck to my original material.

13. Engage in discussions with other bar takers. In our case, we posted questions in facebook
and someone would just answer it. Or you may also answer others questions. The
important point here is do not engage in a discussion with someone who doesnt feel having
a discussion. You will just annoy that person. Do not unto others what you do not want
others do unto you.

Listen to Vice Reinier Yebras scheduling tips. I believe it is more organized and well planned. But What
I give as advice is to compute all days starting your review up to the pre week of the 1st Sunday. Then
substract the days you believe you really wont be able to study. I deducted my parents birthday and
mine, among others. Allot more days to you weaker subjects.

Bar Materials