The Supreme Court is expected to release the results of the 2017 Bar examinations before the end of this month.
SC insiders revealed to Manila Standard that the justices have set a special session in the last week of April for the Bar results.
A total of 6,750 law graduates took the grueling exams last November at the University of Sto. Tomas, facilitated by the high court’s committee on the 2017 Bar exams chaired by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin.
The Bar examinations, considered the most grueling government test, cover eight law subjects: Civil Law, Criminal Law, Labor Law, Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, Mercantile Law, Political Law, Taxation and Remedial Law.
In the 2016 Bar exams, a total of 3,747 law graduates passed, or just 59.06 percent of the total of 6,344 takers who completed the exams. It was the second highest passing rate in the history of Bar exams since 1954, when the passing rate was 75.17 percent.
Additional security measures were put in place since the grenade explosion that marred the Sept. 2010 Bar exams in De La Salle University in Manila.
In the past four years, examinees were required to use transparent or see-through bags for convenience and security.
In the 2013 Bar exams, the SC reverted to its previous format, which was predominantly essay-type. They consist of 80 percent essay-type questions and 20 percent multiple-choice questions.
In the two years prior to that, the SC conducted predominantly multiple-choice exams.
The tribunal also lifted its five-strike rule in Bar examinations, a policy implemented since 2005 in which examinees who have flunked five times are disqualified from taking further exams.
