novemBAR: the chaos that was | bar exam month vlog

Hi, all!

I’m back with a new series of vlogs — my bar review series! I know a few of you guys will be taking the bar exams this year and/or are still in law school, so I hope these vlogs will be able to help you in any way, shape or form.

Just a disclaimer— I’m not a bar topnotcher nor am I a top student. I failed a few subjects back when I was still in law school but I still made it out alive!! Hehe.

I want to thank all of you guys for taking the time to watch my vlogs and for keeping me in your prayers. I’ll try my best to become someone you guys will always be proud of 🤍 Good luck to those who will be taking their respective licensure exams and may you all reach the wildest of your dreams. I’ll be here rooting for you guys as well. Let’s spend more happy times together 🥰

I’ll still keep on uploading vlogs as much as I possibly can and to the extent that I can willingly share to the public, so don’t worry! We’ll still keep seeing each other in here 🤍

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I asked you guys on Instagram if you have a few questions so I decided to just compile the most asked ones and answer them in here.

👉🏻 Duration of bar review
6 months // full-time

👉🏻 Review center
I enrolled in Jurists — but I didn’t get my money’s worth since I never really made use of their lectures, mockbars and materials. I was much more comfortable using materials I was already familiar with and listening to lectures from our own professors from law school.

👉🏻 Routine
I’m not a huge fan of routines. In fact, I hate doing the same things every day— my alarm is always set at 6:30am but I only get out of bed sometime between 8-9am lol

My study style was basically just.. freestyling 😂 Instead of establishing routines, I made goals. I alloted specific number of days for each subject and set a quota as to the number of pages I have to read every day so I can hit my target goals on time. If I reached my quota for the day, I stop reading and just chill.

But if we’re going to be literal about routines… I take pilates classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and study at coffee shops after. The rest of the days are either spent studying at home or at the library. Saturdays are my rest days :)

👉🏻 Materials

FIRST READING:
* POLITICAL LAW - our law school professor’s lectures & notes
* LABOR LAW - JG Chan reviewer + law school notes for updates
* CRIMINAL LAW - Campanilla reviewer
* COMMERCIAL LAW - Divina
* CIVIL LAW - law school professor’s lectures & notes; Rabuya for supplement
* REMEDIAL LAW - Riano for CrimPro, Riguera for the rest of Rem, law school notes for supplement

SECOND READING:
* Beda Red Notes (Book 1&2)
* Personal notes / notes on syllabus

👉🏻 How I read my materials
The materials I used during bar review were the same materials I used during my 4th year in law school, so I was already a bit familiar with its contents. But while reading, I took down notes so as not to ‘speed read’ my way out of the material :)

IMPORTANT: CODAL!!!!!!!!! I always have my codal with me whenever I read, together with my syllabus. They’re my lifelines. I annotated my syllabus as much as I can, and in a way I can easily understand.

👉🏻 Vitamins & supplements
Vitamin C, probiotics, biotin, gingko biloba, fish oil — I drink biotin & gingko every other day only!

👉🏻 Coffee
Starbucks lol I find myself being super productive there. My order would just depend on my mood.

But when I’m at home, I just use my Nespresso machine.

👉🏻 Dealing with stress/anxiety/pressure
Listen to your body. If you feel like you’re tired, rest. If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re sleepy, sleep.

Stress eating — I ate well but also didn’t indulge. I tried my best to eat healthy during my review days because I was really scared of getting sick. I made sure to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night as well.

Weird as this may sound, but I think I was able to spend more time with myself during bar review compared to my law school days 😂

👉🏻 Staying calm
I tried to stay calm majority of the time. I’d like to attribute this to my pilates classes — I learned how to control my breathing which was really helpful while I was taking the exam.

Trust in your law school foundation. You’ve probably heard this a thousand times — but your preparation for the bar exam begins on your first day in law school. You made it through four (more) years. You got this 🫶🏼

👉🏻 Superstitions I followed
* Red underwear !!!
* Didn’t cut my hair for the entire duration of bar review
* Kicked the chair on my way out of the classroom after taking the last exam (kicked it lightly so as not to disturb the other examinees)
* Threw all of my notes & pens after the last day of the exam except for codals and books

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💜 Music
BTS - Yet To Come | Bittersweet Piano Version -    • BTS - Yet To Come | Bittersweet Piano...  
Music by Reed Gaines - All That They Told You - https://thmatc.co/?l=31405210
Music by Labit - summer died - https://thmatc.co/?l=EF650769