How to study the law, and how to sit the Bar
100 articles on the work around the syllabus: planning a review season, answering the way examiners score, reading a decision for doctrine, and the parts of practice the Bar does not test but assumes. Every article is written by our editorial team, cites the law and the Courts, and links to the material that teaches the topic.
Bar review
Planning the review season: how to divide a year across eight subjects, what to revise, and how to keep the plan honest week to week.
A 12-month bar review plan, built backwards from 5–12 September 2027
A month-by-month plan for the 2027 Bar, weighted the way the exam is weighted, with the last 90 days protected for consolidation and timed practice.
20 October 2026·7 min readA reading list for the Bar: the official texts, in order
Six documents do most of the work, and all of them are published by the Court or the government. What to read, in what order, and what not to buy first.
20 October 2026·3 min readA subject you hate: the repair plan
Every candidate has one subject they avoid. Avoidance is a scheduling problem with a study method attached — and it is fixable in six weeks.
20 October 2026·3 min readBar review myths that cost candidates marks
The advice that circulates every year — the 5% rule, the one-subject rule, the mock-score rule — and what the actual bulletin and the actual paper say.
20 October 2026·3 min readChoosing a bar review centre: what to ask before you pay
The questions that separate a centre that teaches from one that entertains: current materials, marked mocks, and a schedule you can actually survive.
20 October 2026·6 min readFlashcards or outlines: choosing the tool by the job
Both work, for different things. A rule for which instrument to use, where each fails, and why the argument between them is mostly about preference.
20 October 2026·3 min readFree bar review materials, and how to judge them
What the Supreme Court publishes for free, what a free law library can and cannot do, and four tests for judging any free review material.
20 October 2026·5 min readHandling review burnout without abandoning the plan
Burnout in a review year is usually a schedule problem, not a discipline problem. The signs that matter and the repair that is not "study harder".
20 October 2026·6 min readHow to build a bar outline you can actually use
The outline that helps is the one you wrote, pruned and rebuilt. Three passes, a page per topic, and what a usable outline looks like in September.
20 October 2026·6 min readHow to measure whether you are ready for the Bar
Hours and pages predict nothing. Four checks you can run monthly — closed-book rebuild, timed marking, coverage, retention — and what to do with them.
20 October 2026·4 min readHow to pass the Philippine Bar: a working method
The Bar rewards retrieval and writing under time more than hours read. A working method for the 2027 review year, from coverage to a scored answer.
20 October 2026·7 min readInterleaving versus blocking: why rotating subjects feels worse and works better
Studying one subject for six weeks leaves four decayed by September. Why mixing subjects feels worse and works better, and when blocking is still right.
20 October 2026·5 min readMeasuring a week: what to log, and what to ignore
Streaks, pages and hours feel like data and predict nothing. Four numbers that do predict, and the ten-minute log that keeps a review year honest.
20 October 2026·2 min readNote-taking that survives to September
Notes taken in October and reopened in August are usually useless. A format that records what you could not do, not what the book said.
20 October 2026·5 min readOne year out: what to do first
Twelve months before Day 1, five decisions matter more than any chapter. What to settle in the first fortnight, and why Remedial Law comes first.
20 October 2026·3 min readReading speed versus recall: the trade nobody measures
Faster reading covers more and retains less. Where the useful threshold is for bar material, and how to read slowly enough only where it pays.
20 October 2026·3 min readReviewing for the Bar while working full time
The arithmetic of a review year built around a job: what 15 hours a week buys, a weekday template that survives overtime, and what to compress first.
20 October 2026·5 min readSleep and the Bar: why the all-nighter borrows at a bad rate
Memory consolidates during sleep, which is why a short night costs more than an extra hour of reading buys. A schedule for the review year.
20 October 2026·5 min readSpaced repetition for the bar: a schedule that survives real life
What to repeat, and when, so eight subjects stay in memory until September. A routine built on questions rather than cards you hoard.
20 October 2026·5 min readStudy calendars and drift: keeping a plan honest
A plan without a weekly check drifts. What to log, what to ignore, and the ten-minute review that catches a lost month before it becomes a lost year.
20 October 2026·3 min readStudy groups that work, and the ones that quietly cost you the year
A group can mark answers, test recall and keep you honest — or become a daily exchange of anxiety. The structure that separates the two.
20 October 2026·5 min readStudying by ear: audio as a second pass, not a substitute
Commutes, queues and walks are free hours. What audio can carry, what it cannot, and the two-minute test that tells you whether it worked.
20 October 2026·2 min readStudying with narrated lectures: the second pass, done properly
A lecture is an input, not a study session. How to use narrated material so it produces retrievable knowledge rather than the feeling of coverage.
20 October 2026·3 min readThe last ninety days: consolidation, not coverage
From July the work changes shape. What to stop doing, the weekly rhythm that replaces reading, and how to spend ninety days producing answers.
20 October 2026·5 min readThe pre-week: what to do in the last fourteen days
A day-by-day shape for the final fortnight: no new material, one timed answer a day, logistics two days early, and arriving with something left.
20 October 2026·6 min readThe two-hour study block: a shape that fits a working day
Most review advice assumes a free morning. Here is a block that fits an evening, produces retrieval as well as input, and does not need motivation.
20 October 2026·3 min readThe week before Day 1: a schedule for 29 August – 4 September 2027
The last seven days before 5 September 2027, hour by hour — no new material, a daily timed answer, logistics on Wednesday, and nothing on Saturday.
20 October 2026·4 min readExam technique
The paper itself — how a bar answer is scored, how to structure one, how to spend the four hours, and what to do when the question surprises you.
Answering legal ethics questions: the canon applied to a fact pattern
Ethics is the cheapest subject to score well in and the easiest to answer vaguely. How to name the provision, split the duties, and state the consequences.
20 October 2026·6 min readExam-day anxiety: the physiology, and a protocol that settles it
Nerves are a physical event with a predictable shape. What happens in the room, why the first five minutes matter, and a protocol that gets you typing.
20 October 2026·5 min readExam-day logistics for 2027: the boring list that saves a sitting
Testing centre, documents, travel and timing for 5, 8 and 12 September 2027 — and the small failures that cost questions when they are left to the morning.
20 October 2026·5 min readFour hours, twenty problems: running a bar sitting
Twenty problems, four hours, twelve minutes each. How to triage the paper, when to leave a question, and what the last twenty minutes are for.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow a bar answer is scored, and how to write one that scores
Each problem is worth 5%. The difference is rarely what you know — it is whether the answer can be marked quickly. A structure that survives a rubric.
20 October 2026·7 min readHow to use mock bars so they change what you do next
A mock sat and not marked is entertainment. How to sit one, how to mark it in forty minutes, and the two lists that turn a score into a study plan.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to use past bar questions without memorising answers
Past questions predict the paper's shape, not its content. A method that mines them for question archetypes — and why memorising answers fails.
20 October 2026·5 min readPlaying the weights: how the subject weights should change your strategy
Remedial and Ethics is a quarter of the result; Labor and Criminal are a tenth each. What that arithmetic changes about hours, risk and recovery time.
20 October 2026·5 min readThe formatting mistakes that cost marks on a finished answer
Numbering, sub-questions, identifier slips, unlabelled parts — the errors that cost marks on answers whose law was right. A last-two-minutes checklist.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe practical exercises sitting — what "with practical exercises" changes
Remedial Law and Ethics is examined with practical exercises. What to expect, the four formats that recur, and how to prepare inside a 25% sitting.
20 October 2026·5 min readThe six question shapes the Bar uses, and how each is answered
Twenty problems, but only a handful of question architectures. Recognise the shape in the first minute and the answer writes itself.
20 October 2026·5 min readTyping speed for the Bar: accuracy first, then pace
Twenty answers in four hours is a typing task too. Why accuracy beats raw speed, the drills that transfer, and the pace you need.
20 October 2026·5 min readWhen you cannot answer a question: three fallbacks that still score
Every candidate meets a question they cannot place. Three fallbacks that still score, and the four-line emergency answer that beats a blank box.
20 October 2026·5 min readWriting a conclusion — the sentence candidates leave out
A rubric asks for issue, rule and application. The conclusion markers look for is the one most answers omit — and it costs a mark every question.
20 October 2026·5 min readWriting the Bar on a computer: what the platform changes
Four hours in a plain text box is a different task from handwriting. What to rehearse: navigation, editing, saving, and the limits that catch people.
20 October 2026·5 min readSubject guides
One subject at a time: the doctrines the examiner actually asks about, the errors that cost the most points, and how to build an outline you can carry in your head.
Civil procedure: the parts the paper actually examines
Not the whole Rules of Court — the sequence that generates questions, from cause of action through judgment and execution, with the periods that get asked.
20 October 2026·4 min readCommercial law traps: the distinctions that keep appearing
Most commercial law marks are lost on pairs, not principles. The comparisons the syllabus keeps asking for, and how to learn each as a table.
20 October 2026·5 min readCriminal procedure: the examined parts, from complaint to finality
The sequence a criminal case follows, the points where questions concentrate, and the rights that convert a factual problem into a procedural one.
20 October 2026·4 min readDismissal and money claims: the two questions Labor actually asks
Almost every Labor problem ends in 'what is the employer liable for'. The dismissal structure, the money-claim analysis, and the answer sequence.
20 October 2026·5 min readEvidence fundamentals: the decision tree that answers most questions
Evidence questions are classifications with fixed steps — relevancy, competency, burden, originality, exclusion. Learn the order and the answer follows.
20 October 2026·4 min readHow to study Civil Law and Land Titles for the 20% sitting
Nine blocks, one morning, with Land Titles riding along in the same paper. The order to study them in, the hour split, and the block that decides it.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to study Commercial and Taxation Laws for the 20% sitting
Seven blocks, one afternoon, a fifth of the result. A map of the syllabus, the order to study it in, and why tax is doctrine rather than arithmetic.
20 October 2026·6 min readHow to study Criminal Law for the 10% sitting
Two books of one code and a named list of special statutes. Finite, precise and cheap to secure — the map, the order, and the parts that get asked.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to study Labor Law and Social Legislation for the 10% sitting
The smallest subject with the shortest statute. A map of the Labor Code syllabus, the blocks that generate questions, and how to hold a 10% sitting.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to study Legal and Judicial Ethics: the cheapest block in the paper
Short statute, enumerated duties, precise consequences — and it rides on the 25% sitting. What to learn, in what order, and the one-page map that holds it.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to study Political and Public International Law for the 15% sitting
The syllabus's own order is the study order. A block-by-block map of the 15% morning sitting, and why the international component gets skipped.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to study Remedial Law for the 25% sitting
The largest single weight in the paper, and the one that rewards structure. A map of procedure from jurisdiction to evidence, and the drills that work.
20 October 2026·6 min readHow to study taxation for the Bar: doctrine, not arithmetic
Taxation is half of a 20% sitting, examined as principle and remedy rather than computation. A map of the syllabus and the traps in each block.
20 October 2026·6 min readJurisdiction and remedies: the spine of Remedial Law
Most remedial questions are one of two: does this court have power, and what can be filed. A map of jurisdiction, hierarchy, and remedy tables.
20 October 2026·4 min readLabor jurisdiction and procedure: the half of the answer candidates skip
A labor answer that computes the liability but names the wrong forum loses half its marks. Which body hears what, the conciliation step, and the periods.
20 October 2026·5 min readLand titles in one sitting: the small subject inside a 20% paper
Land Titles rides in the same morning as Civil Law. It is small, examinable, and usually left half-finished — a map for the twelve hours it needs.
20 October 2026·5 min readNotarial practice on the syllabus: the requirements and the consequences
A small block with hard edges — who may notarise, what a notarial act requires, and what a defect does to the document. Precision wins these marks.
20 October 2026·4 min readObligations and contracts: the distinctions that decide the answer
Civil law questions turn on pairs — void and voidable, rescissible and unenforceable, natural and civil. Learn them as consequence, not as vocabulary.
20 October 2026·5 min readPenalties and their application: the mechanism, not the arithmetic
The Bulletin removes the computation from Criminal Law, not the reasoning. How the penalty rules work, what moves them, and what an answer must state.
20 October 2026·5 min readPractical exercises for legal ethics: the formats that appear
Ethics is examined inside a sitting with practical exercises. The four formats — advise, choose, draft, evaluate — and the shape each one wants.
20 October 2026·4 min readPublic international law for the Bar: the component candidates skip
It sits inside the 15% Political sitting, it names its instruments, and most candidates give it nothing. Twelve hours covers the block examined.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability, as a map
The canons are not a list to memorise but a set of relationships. How the Code is organised, the duties that generate questions, and the consequences.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe constitutional structure: how the three departments and the commissions fit
Separation of powers is the spine the 15% sitting hangs on. A map of the departments, their powers, and the tests the questions keep using.
20 October 2026·6 min readThe special penal laws on the 2027 syllabus, and how to cover them
The coverage names the statutes, so the examinable set is closed. A four-point method for each, ten hours of work, and the elements that get asked.
20 October 2026·5 min readLegal research
Finding the law and reading it properly: the Supreme Court E-Library, statutes, reading a decision for doctrine, and citing Philippine cases correctly.
Checking whether a case is still good
A decision is a snapshot. How to find out whether it was reversed on reconsideration, modified by a later case, or overtaken by an amendment.
20 October 2026·3 min readCiting Philippine cases and statutes correctly
An examiner follows your citation or does not credit your authority. The forms that work, how to verify one, and why an unverified cite is worse than none.
20 October 2026·5 min readFinding a case by docket number, and what the number tells you
G.R. numbers are not arbitrary. How to use one to find a decision quickly, what the number does not identify, and the mistakes that send you wrong.
20 October 2026·4 min readHow our case digests are made, and what they are not
Facts, issues, ruling, doctrine — the same shape for every digest, generated from the decision and read against it. What that buys, and where it stops.
20 October 2026·3 min readHow to brief a case for the bar (and what to leave out)
A bar brief is a working tool: five fields, one page, a rule you can use under time. The mistake that makes briefs useless, and what to leave out.
20 October 2026·5 min readHow to read a Supreme Court decision for doctrine
A decision has a shape, and the part that matters is one or two paragraphs inside it. How to find the ratio in forty-five minutes.
20 October 2026·6 min readHow to use the Batas law library, and what it will not do
Search 159,000 decisions and statutes, open the full text, and use digests to decide what to read. A practical guide to the free library, and its limits.
20 October 2026·3 min readLegal writing basics: sentences a court can follow
The habits that make legal prose followable — one idea per sentence, the conclusion early, the actor named. Worth marks in an answer, and in practice.
20 October 2026·4 min readReading a statute: text, context, purpose, and the limits of each
A provision is not a sentence to paraphrase. How to read one for the bar — the words, the structure around them, and what purpose can and cannot do.
20 October 2026·4 min readResearching administrative issuances, where the detail lives
Statutes delegate, and the rules decide. How to find the implementing rules, circulars and regulations that answer the question the statute left open.
20 October 2026·3 min readStatutory research in the Philippines: finding the text in force
A statute is not one document — it is a text as amended. How to find the current version, check what changed, and avoid answering last year's law.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe Supreme Court E-Library: the free source that controls
The Court's own repository is free, authoritative and faster than any commercial alternative for one purpose — checking what a decision actually says.
20 October 2026·4 min readUsing the Official Gazette, and when it is the source that matters
For a new law, the Gazette is where the text and the effectivity live. What it is good for, where it stops, and how to cite what you find there.
20 October 2026·3 min readWhy secondary sources are not authority, and what to do with them
A reviewer, a commentary, a digest — useful for finding and useless for citing. The distinction that decides whether an answer reads as law or as hearsay.
20 October 2026·3 min readWriting a memo versus writing a bar answer
Both are legal analysis, and they are not the same document. The differences in audience, structure and depth — and why practising one improves the other.
20 October 2026·3 min readThe 2027 Bar
The 2027 Examinations as announced by the Supreme Court: the schedule, the weights, the syllabus and the cut-off date, and what each one changes about the way you study.
Counting down to September 2027: a dated plan
From twelve months out to the morning of Day 1 — a dated countdown in phases, with what each phase must produce and what to cut when it slips.
20 October 2026·4 min readReading the 2027 syllabus as a checklist, not a reading list
The coverage names every examinable topic. That makes it the best instrument you own — if you use it to mark what you can produce, not what you have seen.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe 2027 Bar Examinations: schedule, weights and the 30 June 2026 cut-off
Three days, six subjects, fixed weights and a cut-off of 30 June 2026. What Bar Bulletin No. 1-2027 says, and what each part changes about studying.
20 October 2026·6 min readThe 2027 Bar: the questions candidates actually ask
Schedule, format, cut-off, practical exercises and where official announcements appear — answered from the bulletin, with what is still unannounced.
20 October 2026·4 min readThe 30 June 2026 cut-off, in practice
A single date decides which version of the law is examinable. How to check your materials against it, what it excludes, and the four traps it creates.
20 October 2026·4 min readWhat changed since the 2019 Bar, and what it means for 2027
The examination is electronic and now twenty essay problems per subject with fixed weights and a hard cut-off. What a returning candidate should unlearn.
20 October 2026·4 min readWhere the Bar bulletins are published, and why it matters
The Court names the only official sources for 2027 - a microsite, three social accounts, a Viber channel, the Bar Confidant. The rest is second-hand.
20 October 2026·4 min readLaw school & after
The four years before the bar and the first ones after it: recitation, case digests, note-taking that survives to review season, and what actually helps a new lawyer.
Choosing a practice area, and how much the choice actually decides
Litigation or corporate, firm or government, specialty or general practice — what the choice changes, what it does not, and how to decide on evidence.
20 October 2026·3 min readClerkship and apprenticeship: what to look for in a first position
The first job teaches a method more than a specialty. What actually decides whether you learn — supervision, volume, feedback — and what to ask.
20 October 2026·4 min readHow to brief cases in first year without wasting the semester
A first-year brief is a comprehension tool, not a filing system. The fields that matter, the ones to skip, and why it is worth the time.
20 October 2026·4 min readIf you do not pass: the next year, honestly
Failing is a known outcome with a known recovery path. What to do in the fortnight after the results, and how to rebuild a year that works.
20 October 2026·4 min readMoot court, and why it is worth the hours
The closest thing law school offers to the actual work — a rule you must find, a court you must persuade, and a clock. What it teaches that class does not.
20 October 2026·3 min readNotes that last four years
A note taken in first year should still be usable in review season. The conventions that make that possible, and the ones that guarantee it will not be.
20 October 2026·3 min readProfessionalism beyond the canon
The Code sets the floor. What earns trust in practice — candour, deadlines, boundaries, other people's money — is not on any syllabus.
20 October 2026·4 min readReading assignments and the Socratic method: how to prepare for class
The assignment is not the reading; it is being able to answer questions about it. A preparation routine that takes thirty minutes and survives recitation.
20 October 2026·3 min readRecitation technique: answering well when you are called
Recitation is a retrieval test with an audience. How to answer a case question, what to do when you do not know, and why it is worth practising.
20 October 2026·3 min readSurviving first year: the habits that decide the other three
First year is not harder than the rest — it is where habits form. The five that carry a law degree, and the three that quietly sink it.
20 October 2026·3 min readThe summer between law school and review
Three months with no classes and an exam eleven months away. What to do with it, what to leave alone, and why it is a cheap head start.
20 October 2026·3 min readWhat a new lawyer actually does, and what that tells a reviewee
The first two years are mostly reading, writing and waiting for a period to run. Knowing that changes what you practise, and what you worry about.
20 October 2026·3 min read