MANILA, Philippines - The November 2015 Philippine Bar Exam results are expected to be released after the special en banc session sometime in April to May 2016. Out of 6,608 law graduates who completed the tests on the four Sundays of November 2015 (November 8, 15, 22, and 29), the full list of passers and topnotchers who got at least 75 percent average grade will be announced by the Supreme Court (SC).
Full 2015 Bar Exam Results will be added here (Check back for the updates):- List of Passers: 2015 Philippine Bar Exam Results (A-L Surname)
- List of Passers: 2015 Philippine Bar Exam Results (M-Z Surname)
- Top 10 List: November 2015 Philippine Bar exams
Bar exams committee led by Associate Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro and the Office of the Bar Confidant conducted examination at University of Santo Tomas, Espana, Manila.
The 2015 Philippine Bar exam is consists of 20% multiple choice questions and 80% essay-type questions same with the previous year examination structure.
The SC said that from the
7,146 admitted candidates, only 6,619 left out on the first Sunday exams and 11 did not show up on the fourth week of examinations. The total number of examinees this year was higher than the previous exam.
As a protocol, examinees were not required to explain their absence. In effect, SC has no way of knowing if the examinees fell ill or were simply overwhelmed by fear of the grueling exams.
2015 Bar Exam Results releaseWhile a bar examinee is “deemed to have passed his examinations successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75%”, the Supreme Court en banc has always retained for itself (based on its authority to amend the Rules) the discretion to make adjustments, as it did in the 2012 Bar Examinations when it lowered the passing grade to 70%.
In 2013 and 2014, the Court also lowered the passing grade to 73% in view of the structure of the results, the difficulty the candidates encountered with the MCQ portion of the exam, and in light of past precedents.
The list of successful bar examinees will be flashed on a widescreen at the Supreme Court front yard and simultaneously be viewed at the official website of the SC.
2015 Bar Exam Updates and AnnouncementsSame on the previous years, TheSummitExpress.com will update this site once we got important updates prior to the release of results. On this page, the list of passers and topnotchers will be posted.
Once announced, the Bar passers may secure their clearances from the Office of the Bar Confidant during office hours, 8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m. on the specified date.
The oathtaking schedule for the passers of November 2015 bar exam will be announced also. In previous years, the event is usually being held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
Philippine Bar Examination overview and historyThe Philippine Bar Examination is the professional licensure examination for lawyers in the Philippines. It is the only professional exam not handled by PRC and exclusively supervised by Supreme Court.
The SC conducts the Bar examinations pursuant to Article VIII, Section 5 of the Constitution which provides that it shall have the power to promulgate rules governing the admission to the practice of law.
Some Filipino lawyers say the Philippine Bar exam is especially tough because it is centralized and covers eight bar subjects which only 20% to 30% of examinees successfully hurdle.
The bar examinations are held only once every year at a designated venue under the supervision of the Supreme Court which designates an incumbent Justice to chair a committee consisting of eight (8) examiners, one for each bar subject. The examinable subjects are: Political Law and Public International Law, Labor and Social Legislation, Civil Law, Taxation, Mercantile Law, Criminal Law, Remedial law and Legal and Judicial Ethics.
The examinations are given in the course of one month, spread over four (4) Sundays and are the only professional licensure examinations which require the examinees to answer a combination of open-ended and multiple choice questions in long hand. Due to the scope and difficulty, the bar examinations are regarded as the most prestigious professional licensure exam in the country.
The Office of the Bar Confidant of the Philippine Supreme Court is tasked to release the Official List of Successful Bar Examinees, usually during the last week of March or the first week of April of every year. In the case of the 2014 bar exam, results were released on the fourth week of March or earlier than usual.
Prior to the release of results, special en banc session for the 'decoding of bar exam results' is being done. Decoding is the process where the SC orders the Office of the Bar Confidant to open the sealed envelopes with the names of the candidates who passed the exams.
From 2000 to 2006, the Bar exam passing rate exceeds 30 percent three times (in 2001, 2004, and 2006). After that, the passing rates saw a decline, with the rate going as low as 20.26 percent in 2010.
However, the following year, in 2011, the passing rate suddenly increased to more than 30 percent (31.95%). This was the year the SC introduced multiple-choice questions (MCQ) in the exams.
For two years, results for MCQs weighed more (60 percent) than the results for essay questions (40 percent). But unlike in the 2011 results, the 2012 passing rate plummeted to a 12-year low of 17.76 percent.
The following year, in 2013, the SC decided to change the Bar exam rules anew. This time, essay questions were made to weigh more (80 percent) than the MCQ (20 percent). That year, the passing rate recovered (22.18) but still far from the 30-percent mark in the early 2000s.
Last year, bar passing percentage was 18.82 (1,126 out of 5,984) lower than the 2012 outcome.
Irene Mae Alcobilla, graduate of San Beda College of Law Manila topped the 2014 bar exam with 85.50% average grade.
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