Summer 2015

Dear fellow Ateneo law graduate,

Congratulations! It is your graduation. A graduation is a milestone. It is a celebration of four years of
your life. A lot of work remains to be done but regardless, enjoy the experience. You deserve it and your
loved ones deserve to share the joy with you. An Ateneo law diploma is priceless; your family is very
proud that you have it in your hands now.
Having said that, I will never sugarcoat my Bar exam experience.
For most of us, the entire Bar exam experience would be a very tough seven months of your life,
including the actual Bar month. On many mornings, you would wake up hating yourself; you would be
frustrated about so many things; you would question your self-worth. But hold on. Place your full trust
in the LORD and do your part. The work shall then begin.
Every bar taker is different, in the same way that no two bar exams are ever alike. You know yourself
best. You know the best strategy that will work for you.
The first few weeks or months of the Bar review are the toughest. Do not be hard on yourself but do not
waste time either.
I considered April and May as my buffer months. I realized that the Bar exam review has its own
"learning" curve -- you will start so slow and will eventually pick up the pace.
I started with Criminal Law, particularly Crim 1, because I knew that I was weakest in Crim. And because
I needed a solid review, I decided to read Luis B Reyes' Crim 1 textbook. I started after graduation but I
finished the Crim 1 book only three weeks after. That's almost a month! And that's a very long time to
read just one book! I was aware that I wasted so much time during the first few weeks of my review, but
in fact, that's the way it is. During the summer months, I'm sure I never reached the famous target of
eight study hours a day; I actually barely reached four study hours a day at that time.
In other words, do not panic if you are not in the zone right away. Eventually, you will get there. Thus,
don't be hard on yourself. Don't blame yourself if you cannot immediately follow your study schedule.
Still, start as soon as you can (i.e. after graduation) so that when you cannot focus, you have an excuse.
Your excuse will be the fact that you started early anyway. You still can afford to "waste" time. That's a
confidence booster for you.
Here are the materials I used for the Bar.
*ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BAR SYLLABUS BY YOUR SIDE. Always check if the topic you are reading is covered
by the syllabus in the first place. Of course, it is very possible that the examiner will ask a question that is
not covered (it happened to our Tax and Commercial Law Bars), but it is still more likely that he / she
asks something that is covered than otherwise.
POLITICAL LAW
The CONSTITUTION
All of us have observed that Consti is a case-driven subject because actually, the Constitution is short.
However, a lot of Poli Bar questions actually come from the text of the Constitution itself. In fact, there
are a lot of trick questions that could be asked from the Consti codal. For example, what is the period

for the President to appoint a Supreme Court justice and to appoint any other judge or justice? Is the
period even the same? There's a difference and you will notice it only if you focused on the codal too.
Having said this, take time to make a table that compares important items found in the Consti. For
example, how much is the foreign equity limit for mass media, for advertising, for public utilities?
When you are studying Political Law, read the Constitution as your bedtime story.
FATHER BERNAS PRIMER
Please do not forget to include Father Bernas' supplement of cases from 2011 onwards.
JACK JIMENEZ CASES
NON-CONSTI SUBJECTS: A LITTLE OF AGRA AND NACHURA, THEN JACK JIMENEZ FOR ELECTION LAW
For local government law, administrative law, election law, public officers law, relax. You will be
frustrated but carry on. First of all, you do not need to read the actual laws themselves. I never did.
Instead, this is the time you take out your Political Law syllabus and be smart in studying. Look for the
items in the syllabus in your respective study materials. Those are the only items you will have to study.
I was torn between Nachura and Agra. Both have pros and cons. Agra's non-Consti reviewers are long
and do not follow the syllabus but they are more updated than Nachura. The format of Nachura's book
makes it more difficult than Agra to read, but then, Nachura seems to be tried and tested for the Bar. I
read both Agra and Nachura during the first few readings but I made sure I did not use up a lot of time.
While I read Bernas seriously, I only skimmed Agra and Nachura; again, I looked only for the items that
are mentioned in the syllabus with respect to those non-Consti subjects. (The condonation doctrine
which is hot topic currently was mentioned in Agra.)
For election law, however, I read neither Nachura nor Agra. I saw Atty Jack Jimenez's very thick
"Political Law Compendium" book published by Central and I noticed that there was a chapter devoted
to the objective (not jurisprudential) portion of election law. I read it just for confidence, and it helped
that Atty. Jimenez's format for that particular chapter was outline form. For the cases in election law, I
depended on my Father Bernas' primer and Atty. Jack's cases.
Also, if you mastered the local government, accountability of public officers, and COMELEC provisions
and cases in the Constitution, then most probably, your non-Consti materials will simply be a
reinforcement or review of what you should already know from the Consti perspective.
Bottomline. You can win over these non-Consti subjects. Do not spend too much time on them if your
Consti foundation is solid enough.
PIL BERNAS TEXTBOOK
For public international law, I used my Political Law syllabus again. There are a lot of PIL materials
around but none of them are tailor-fit for the Political Law Bar. So what I did was consult my Bar
syllabus again and just look for the PIL Bar items in Father Bernas' PIL textbook (blue cover, 2009). Of
course, I did not read the entire PIL book.
There were items in the syllabus that are not in Father Bernas' PIL book. For those items, I consulted
the Ateneo Bar Ops Political Law reviewer.

In our Bar exam, we were fortunate that the questions were mostly Constitutional Law questions.
There was one question on ambassador's immunity but even this, I guess, could have been answered
using Consti.

LABOR LAW
EVERYONE'S LABOR CODE BY AZUCENA (GREEN BOOK)
I chose to read the green book for two main reasons. First, it is a very short book (actually, it was the
thinnest book I read from cover to cover for the Bar). Second, I read the Azucena red books for both
Labor 1 and Labor 2.
There were also a few other factors that helped me stick with Azucena despite the many other materials
available.
First, the Green Book is organized according to the law. In other words, you will read the codal provision
first, followed by Azucena's annotations. Just like the Constitution, the Labor Code is a very important
law that a Bar taker should read and master. Since I did not have a Labor Code codal (remember too,
that the Labor Code has recently been amended substantially by RA 9481 (2007) and RA 10151 on
nightwork), my Green Book doubled as my Labor Code codal.
When I read the Green Book, I will focus on the codal provisions also. The provisions on Labor Relations
are especially tricky. I took the time to master the periods involved in for example, declaring a strike,
conducting a strike vote, filing a petition for collective bargaining, etc.
Second, the Green Book cites important cases. So I get the law and the jurisprudence in one go.
SPECIAL LABOR LAWS BY AZUCENA (THIN RED BOOK)
For other social legislation (SSS, 13th month pay law, all those special leaves), I read just for the Bar the
Special Labor Laws book by Azucena. Azucena has annotations (including cases) for some laws or the
important provisions of these laws.
In Labor Law, just like in Political Law, I focused on the core subject (Labor Code, as amended) so I did
not overthink my material for the social legislation portion.
In special labor laws, however, just like in Labor Code, I am very particular about the codal. Many times,
I forget to what kinds of employees the special laws or the special leaves apply. Do you have to be an
employee for a certain period of time before you can avail of the paternity leave? Are piece-rate
workers entitled to a thirteenth month pay? Some reviewers might not even get the text or the wording
of the law precisely, so I always go back to the text of the law. It might help if you make tables
identifying the applicability of the special laws / leaves, although in our Bar, no question about this came
out.
ATTY MANUEL'S RECENT LABOR LAW JURISPRUDENCE POWERPOINT
Atty Manuel did a survey of recent cases for Labor Law before the Bar month. I made the very wrong
decision of not attending this survey class so I checked with Blessings if Atty Manuel's powerpoint slides

were available. Thankfully, they were, so I got a copy and read them during pre-week. As you would
know, our exams on the first Sunday of the Bar (and even in the succeeding weeks) consisted of many
questions based on new cases.

CIVIL LAW
A lot of us fear Civil Law because usually, we do not stick to one material for all the Civ subjects. What I
did was studied my law school materials for the three major Civ subjects and stuck to one material for
the rest. I realized that my Civ strategy was wrong because reading three thick books for one subject
was counter-intuitive, and in fact, in our Civil Law exam, I observed that the questions were equally
divided among the Civ subjects (i.e. there was one agency question, one sales question, one partnership
question, one land titles question (!), etc). I thought that the questions would mostly come only from
the four main subjects but I was wrong.
Persons --- CODAL + STA MARIA PERSONS BOOK
Ideally, your Persons review in fourth year should still be fresh in your mind as of now. If so, maybe one
fast reading of Sta Maria will help, and read the book together with the Codal already. When you are
already comfortable with the codal without any annotations, then by all means, please go on with just
the codal for your succeeding readings.
It might help if you construct tables about the effects of annulment, legal separation, nullity of marriage
based on non-compliance with Art 40, and with Art 54 in relation to Art 53, etc. For example, in what
marriages are children legitimate and illegitimates? These were not asked in our Bar, however.
I noticed that in law school, I always get to focus on the first part of the Family Code but end up
neglecting the later portion likes support, paternity and filiation, etc. In my Bar review, I took time to
study them. Of course, I gave special attention to adoption (domestic and inter-country) which I never
liked studying in law school. For adoption, I stuck to the law. I tried to really understand the provisions
on who may be adopted, who may adopt, and the requisite periods, age gaps, etc. Requirements also
vary depending on the nationality of the adopter.
ObliCon --- CODAL + STA. MARIA OBLICON BOOK
I stuck to Sta. Maria's ObliCon book only because Atty Mel Sta Maria was my teacher for Oblicon and
Civil Law Review (also Persons). I felt that I would study faster if I was already familiar with my material.
Succession --- CODAL + BALANE BOOK
Many people notice that Balane's book is not very long if you remove all his case digests in the book. I
skipped the case digests after I listed the cases and their corresponding doctrines in the first reading (I
read the same book for Succession under Balane and Civil Law Review too).
I focused on preterition, fideicommissary substitution, reserva troncal (but totally forgot what reserva
troncal is when it appeared in our Bar).
I memorized the fractions for legitimes and totally intestate succession, and the people who are
compulsory heirs and intestate heirs.

Property --- CODAL + PARAS BOOK (for certain portions)

In Property, I read the Paras book but only for the portions which I thought were important. For
example, I felt that easements were important so I studied what easements are positive, negative,
apparent, non-apparent, and their prescriptive periods. I also read up on the rights and duties of
builders in good faith, builders in bad faith, etc. (confusing) as well as accretion and its kinds (i.e.
alluvium, avulsion, etc).
For the rest, I stuck to the codal.
I read the text of the Condominium Act only once.
Sales, Agency, Partnership, Security Transactions, Trusts, Lease, Torts, Damages --- CODAL + JURADO
BOOK
When I read the codal for the "minor" subjects, I do not read all the provisions (i.e. Sales codal is
extremely long). I just guess what could be important and trust my hunch. Some provisions are
enjoyable, such as in torts and damages.
I liked Jurado because it is Q and A and it covers the important provisions in all these minor subjects. It
also helped that the minor subjects in Jurado make up probably only a total of 100 pages of the entire
Jurado book (the last portion), so I was motivated to read Jurado because it won't take me a long time
to finish it.
In Agency for example, Jurado discussed agency coupled with interest. In our Bar, the agency question
was about revoking an agency coupled with interest.
Land Titles --- DE LOS ANGELES POWERPOINT
I thought that Land Titles would not be asked in our Bar but it was asked and I did not know the answer,
even if I read De Los Angeles PPT on land titles. Honestly, I did not know what to read for Land Titles but
the De Los Angeles PPT is the material usually mentioned by Ateneo bar placers. If you have extra time,
maybe you can scan whatever your reading material was for Land Titles in Law School, or just consult
the Ateneo bar reviewer. Of course, still read the De Los Angeles PPT, for security. It's short.
Recent Jurisprudence --- ANYTHING AVAILABLE
I only read up on recent cases in Civil Law during pre-week, when we realized that the first Sunday was
full of recent cases. Again, I did not attend the recent jurisprudence lectures for Civil Law (because I
thought there was no landmark recent jurisprudence in this field) so I just asked Blessings photocopy for
the PPT of any recent jurisprudence. I only remember Atty Amparita Sta Maria's Persons cases.
Honestly, I think I was able to pick up new cases as late as in the Blue Tips on the morning of the Civil
Law exam.
Conflict of Laws --- CODAL + SEMPIO-DIY BOOK
The Conflict of Laws provisions are scattered in the Civil Code (i.e. Art 16,17,18, etc). I think the codal
provisions are sufficient for the purpose of the Bar. In my case, I also read the Sempio-Diy book in
Conflict of Laws. It's an easily understandable book.

TAX LAW
NIRC portion -- BLUE CASASOLA
The Casasola blue book (NIRC with annotations) was my favorite new find for the Bar. I originally wanted
only an NIRC codal because I realized that I never read the Tax codal in my entire law school journey.
However, at the time I bought my books, I think there was no copy available of Casasola's brown NIRC
codal (I actually didn't know it existed), so I just got the blue book with annotations (around Php 1,800)
and I actually enjoyed it.
It is a very thick book but it is complete. I think it is the only tax book which has codal followed by
annotations. Casasola is a BIR officer, so she knows what she is saying. I find her annotations very
organized and understandable too. The book was published early 2014 so recent cases are included in
the annotations. With this thick blue book, I got what I wanted. I had codal and I even had annotations
at the same time.
My first reading of Casasola was very slow but I found the book easy to read after that. It also has
discussions on DST, excise tax, so I skipped those (although there was one DST question in our Bar).
Remedies --- RELATED PORTIONS OF THE LAWS FOUND IN THE BROWN CASASOLA NIRC CODAL; MICKEY
INGLES REVIEWER
Tax remedies were covered only lightly in the blue Casasola book because tax remedies lie not only in
the NIRC but also other laws like the CTA law. I looked for these laws in the NIRC Codal (brown book)
and just read them. I tried to remember the procedure (when to file, where to file, what to file).
I also read Mickey Ingles reviewer for tax remedies because I used this material during my Tax Law
Review in fourth year.
Local Government Taxation, Real Property Taxation, Tariff and Customs Code --- MICKEY INGLES
REVIEWER
I looked at nowhere else but the Mickey Ingles Reviewer because again, this is what I used in fourth
year. It already has the important codal provisions also. I did not separately look at the LGC or the
Customs Code anymore.
General Principles of Taxation --- ATTY GERONIMO PPT SLIDES
People kept on saying that General Principles is important for the Bar. I did not know what to study so I
settled with Bar lecturer Atty. Geronimo's PPT slides on the topic. I heard he was a good lecturer.

COMMERCIAL LAW
SUNDIANG AND AQUINO COMMERCIAL LAW REVIEWER (cover to cover)
I was apprehensive to read Sundiang, the fact that is so condensed made me insecure. However, the
book is actually very reliable and updated. At certain point, I learned how to trust Sundiang.
HECTOR DE LEON NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
I read De Leon (for college students) for Nego only because I've been reading it since second year and all
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the way to Comm Law Rev. I was never confident with Nego so I made sure I read the law again. I paid
special attention to forgery, rights of holder in due course, and similar topics, but I think the Nego
question that came out in our Bar was not from the usual Nego topics.
JACK JIMENEZ CASES
CORPORATION CODE CODAL
This is a major law. Like what I did with the Constitution and the Labor Code, I made sure that I went to
the Bar with a good recall of the Corp Codal. I don't have a codal so I just printed it from the Internet.
The most important provisions in Corp are found in the first part of the Corp Code anyway, so it would
actually be a fast read.
I remember in our Bar, there was at least one question about Corp that needs only mastery of the codal
to be answered (citizenship / residency requirements for incorproators and members of the Board of
Directors), so please never ever neglect the codal.
CLV CORPORATION LAW OUTLINE
I read this because I could not afford to read CLV's giant Commercial Law Review book (although I
scanned it early on). The outline will have the important cases too.
AMLA, Banking, SecReg --- JACK JIMENEZ HAND-OUTS / NOTES
These are the hand-outs that Atty. Jimenez gave us during Comm Law Rev in fourth year.
Transpo --- ABANO TABLES
I had Atty Abano for Transpo in Law School and he was generous enough to provide us with hand-outs in
table form. I used them for reinforcement.
Letters of Credit and Trust Receipts Law --- JURISPRUDENCE
For these two topics, I reviewed the cases I read up in my Nego class. The cases on letters of credit and
trust receipts law are rich in discussions on what these things are so they are very instructive.
Foreign Investments --- CODAL
I read the relevant provisions in the IRR of the Foreign Investments Act of 1991 and the" Foreign
Investment Negative List" (check latest edition).

CRIMINAL LAW
Crim was my biggest problem. I had a difficult relationship with Crim in law school. And my greatest
fears with Crim came true because I was lost and confused in our Crim bar. Having said this, I am not
confident in sharing to you what I did in this subject.
RPC CODAL
The RPC is not really long. It's 365 articles, which is, as Justice Gesmundo would say, just like the number

of days in a year. Kindly note the recent amendments to the RPC (i.e. on subsidiary liability, etc).
LUIS B REYES CRIM LAW BOOKS 1 AND 2
This is probably not advisable because these are two thick books. Of course, I did not read them cover to
cover all the time. In my succeeding readings, I was reading only the highlights and the text in bold. I
have zero confidence in Crim so I gambled with the Reyes books.
I paid special attention to the tricky items in Crim, like the recidivism, habitual delinquency, etc bunch. I
did not master the penalties. If I remember correctly, however, there penalties came out in our Bar.
Special Laws --- CODAL
I have the Rex Crim codal so I just consulted my syllabus and looked for the corresponding items /
provisions in the text of the special penal laws. I did not read any other material for special penal laws.

REMEDIAL LAW
RULES OF COURT CODAL EXCEPT FOR SPEC PRO; CODAL OF "SPECIAL LAWS / RULES" (i.e. Environmental
Cases)
I take down notes of enumerations in the codal (i.e. grounds for motion to dismiss)
RIANO BOOKS
I read Riano in law school. However, my Riano CivPro was 2009 edition. I did not use the 2013 twovolume book anymore.
Riano is not codal-based but you get the big picture, so Riano + codal could be ok.
In Riano CrimPro, I skip the long chapters on searches and seizures and other Consti items, because I
read them in Consti. However, if you want a material for Consti 2, Riano CrimPro could help too.
I relied on Riano's discussion on jurisdiction and non-codal topics in CivPro.
Specpro - JUSTICE MAGDANGAL DE LEON BAR REVIEW OUTLINE (available in Blessings)
For SpecPro, I did not read the codal at all. I just kept on reading the SpecPro outline of Justice
Magdangal De Leon which follows the Bar syllabus.

LEGAL ETHICS
CODAL
There's a lot of objective information in the Rules of Court Legal Ethics provisions. For example, there's a
procedure for the discipline of lawyers and of judges / justices. The objective type is what I try to digest.
ATENEO LEGAL ETHICS BAR OPS BAR REVIEWER
This is based from Agpalo's Legal Ethics book, which I read in law school. Some items seem
commonsensical but that's how it is. However, I paid special attention to the objective types, like who
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are disqualified to practice law or which non-lawyers could appear in which courts and cases.

Personal Study Habits

I did not have a routine, and I was so frustrated about it. I tried to build a routine, just like what many
other bar takers before me had done but somehow, I could not stick to a schedule.
For example, many people advise us to sleep early and wake up early. It was only when I tried to be on
bed at around 9 or 10pm that I realized that law school has screwed up my body clock. During all those
months, I would be awake early (i.e. 6am) but throughout the day, I would take so many naps (postlunch nap is the most notorious) that I would already be awake and energetic around 9 or 10pm, the
time when I am already supposed to sleep. In other words, I could not even bring myself to sleep 8
hours a day. And when I say I take multiple naps, I am talking about a nap in the morning, around 10am,
and maybe four naps throughout the afternoon. It's how bad it was!
Also, being focused is very very difficult. In the last four years, we have learned how to focus (and cram)
when it is exam week. However, the law school kind of focus is a lot easier to have because in law school,
you know that after one and a half weeks, you would be happy again and you could already rest, at least
until the next exams. In the Bar review, however, you are talking about seven months! Even if you take a
rest on weekends, there's a heavy pressure hovering above you because you know the Exams are still
around the corner. They would not go away.
I could honestly say that I probably never studied full eight hours on any given day the entire Bar month.
I noticed that there would be time periods when I am very focused and could read so many pages in one
sitting, and then at a certain time, the focus would plateau and then I would just suddenly find myself
staring into space longer than I studied.
Thus, again, please do not be hard on yourself. If these things happen to you, as it did to me, please
know that you are not alone. We are not perfect. As long as you do your best and pray, then forgive
yourself.
Because of my undesirable habit, I just told myself that I would spend any available time for studying.
This means that I study on weekends. By studying on weekends, I could tell myself that my weekends
would just compensate for those weekdays that I do not have perfect focus (which was all the
weekdays).
I did four readings. In my first reading, I studied the subjects in the order I wanted; Crim came first
because it was my weakest. In the second and third readings, I studied the subjects according to the Bar
exam order . In the fourth reading, I studied the subjects in reverse order (Rem first).
In all readings except the fourth, I would devote a day to only one subject. In the fourth reading, I
wanted to see how I would study in the pre-week so I studied two subjects in one day. Also, in my fourth
reading, I targeted five days for every two subjects to see if pre-week is doable. In other words, it took
me twenty days to do my fourth reading.
I finished my fourth reading more than one week (around ten days) before the first Sunday. I stuck to
Poli and Labor on those 10 days, also because that's already pre-week. Remember that my fourth
reading ended with Poli and Labor also so this means that by the time I took the Bar, I would have been
studying Poli and Labor for already 15 days immediately before the first Sunday. I felt insecure about the

length of time I devoted for Poli and Labor (because there are six other subjects out there), but I kept
telling myself that I want to be very confident with my performance on the first Sunday. Being confident
on the first Sunday is an advice that Mang Nats, the source of Bar review wisdom, once gave me. He said
that the first Sunday would set your pace for the entire month. If you start high, you will go higher.
Generally, I used the same materials for all my readings. I knew that I am only as good as what I
remember when I'm at UST. Thus, I chose few materials but I stuck with them and repeatedly read them.
And because I was studying the same material, by the fourth reading, I was able to finish two subjects in
five days.

Ateneo Bar Review Lectures

I attended some Recent Jurisprudence lectures (during our time, they were held in one week a month
before pre-week), notably except for Atty Marlon Manuel's recent jurisprudence, which I immediately
regretted not going to. If I do not attend the lecture, I would check if a copy of the PPT would be
available.
I attended Atty Jack Jimenez's pre-week lectures.
I did not have a permanent study place. I thought I could last at home but by June, I decided to move to
the library. Starting June, I would study at home or at the library. If I could feel that I have focus at home,
I would stay at home. Once the focus disappears, I would go to the library.
Being in the library has its pro's and con's. See if it works for you. One thing is sure. Whenever I was at
the library, I would feel "depressed" by dinner time. The library is a very sad place for Bar reviewees
because unlike in law school, you have nowhere else to go throughout the day. Even if you attend
lectures, the auditorium is basically still the library (they both belong to B1).
However, being in the library meant that I could take a peek at the Bar review lectures at the auditorium
anytime I wanted.
In pre-week lectures, I multitasked. I would feel bad if I only sat down in a lecture during pre-week so I
tried to have the best of both worlds by sitting down in a lecture and reading my material at the same
time. It was probably counter-productive but at least it did not hurt my confidence.
Basically, I "multitasked" in pre-week lectures of Political Law (Jack Jimenez and Alberto Agra but Jack
Jimenez would have been sufficient in my case), Labor Law (Azucena), Succession (Balane), Sales (Dy),
Corp (Dy), Comm (Jack Jimenez), Crim (Villa-Ignacio).

Exam Days and Days Before the Exam

The first Sunday would be the toughest physically. You will feel physical pain all over your body the
Monday after.
The first Sunday probably is the most important because you would already feel the "trend" of the
Exams after Poli and Labor, if there is such a trend.
In our case, we knew that our battleground would be 30 questions for every exam.

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And after the first Sunday, we knew that new jurisprudence would be forming a bulk of the questions.
Actually, this view would prove to be inaccurate because not all our exams were heavy on questions
based on new cases. Crim Bar was not case-heavy, and if I am correct, I think Rem Bar, Ethics Bar, and
Civ Bar were also not case-heavy. In fact, the fact that there was a weird trend (in other words, there
was no trend) made our Bar especially difficult because during pre-week, we would spend time reading
up on new cases (that I never read during the last six months), only to find out that they would not be
asked (in the case of Crim, Rem, Civ, Ethics).
In any case, the law (i.e. codal) would be your friend. When all else fails, if you know the law, you will
survive. Thus, again, never ever neglect the big laws / codals (i.e. Consti, Labor Code, Corp Code, NIRC,
RPC, Rules of Court, Family Code, Civ).
I chose to be at Sofitel on the four Saturday nights. The check-in process on the Saturday afternoons
could be stressful so beware of that. On Saturdays, I would do a very light and relaxed review until
before dinner time. I stopped preparing for the next day's exam before dinner. Prayer puts things into
perspective.
I would be at Sofitel around 2pm, just in time for check-in.
Perhaps the most helpful thing that I did on the Saturday night before the Bar was sleep early. I would
already be on bed at around 7:30pm (8pm latest) and thankfully and miraculously, I think I slept before
9:30pm on all the four Saturday nights. It was really a miracle because my body was never trained to
sleep early during the Bar review months.
I would wake up at around 3:30 or 4am and eat a proper breakfast.
Reading the Blue Tips takes some time. Perhaps I would always need an hour to read the Blue Tips. I
read them all, although the tips for some subjects would be more helpful than those for others. If I have
time after reading the Blue Tips, I would lightly go over my codals again just so that I am doing
something. Needless to say, I brought codals and my main materials to UST.
I brought my own lunch on all four Sundays. After the morning exam, I would sit on the corridor. I did
not mind if I sat beside the toilet or a garbage bin, which was always the case. The corridor is where I ate.
I did not go out of the building anymore because as I mentioned, it always took me an hour to read the
Blue Tips.
I would try to immediately forget the exam. Moving on is most crucial after you take the morning exam;
you need the same energy and confidence as those that you had before the morning exam you eat lunch
and prepare for the afternoon exam.
On Mondays, if I could not focus on studying, I would at least sort my things out for the next exams. I
tried to study on Mondays but I am sure it was a futile effort.
End
My fellow Atenean, I am sorry for this long discussion. In the end, this Bar exam is about you. Trust the
Lord and trust yourself. You can do this.
Try to enjoy the experience. And at all times, learn how to be grateful. I survived my Bar experience
mainly because my family and close friends were very supportive. They really gave way for me. Promise
yourself that you will make it up to them after November (it's Christmas!).

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Most importantly, always be grateful to the Lord. He is perfect and his plans are mysterious but perfect
as well. Find simple reasons to be grateful everyday, in spite of the stress, frustrations, and fears. God is
by your side.
If there is anything you think I can help you with, please feel free to e-mail me at
tristandelgado@yahoo.com.

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