UST is “all-systems-go” as it prepares to host the 2015 Bar Examinations for the fifth straight year.
Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina said feedback from Supreme Court Justices had been positive as regards to UST as venue for the bar exams.
“It’s all-systems-go for UST, the memorandum of agreement has been signed between UST and the Supreme Court,” Divina said in an interview.
The 2015 Bar Examinations is slated on all four Sundays of November. Like in previous years, a liquor ban will be implemented around the campus. The sale of beer and other alcoholic products between 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. will be prohibited during examination days.
UST Security Office Chief Joseph Badinas said there were no reported liquor-related incidents around UST last year, but some examinees came to the University drunk. The Philippine National Police will deal with such cases, he said.
UST’s performance
In terms of the University’s performance in the bar exams, Divina said UST was aiming at improving its passing rate and producing a bar topnotcher this year.
Last year, only 69 out of 157 Thomasian examinees passed the bar. No Thomasian made it to the top 10 list.
“Our goal is not only to be one of the top-performing law schools. We want to keep on improving our bar passing percentage, and hopefully get a topnotcher,” Divina said.
To prepare for this year’s “case-heavy” exams, Divina introduced mock bar examinations with diagnostic assessments.
Questions for the mock bar exams were to be provided by a third party outfit that was also tasked to conduct the assessment.
“[This is to allow the students to] know their strengths and weaknesses, then we will hopefully be able to address the weaknesses as we go near the bar examinations,” Divina said.
According to Divina, departmental examinations, which were administered at the beginning of this academic year, should encourage students to “be updated” and be “more responsible in reading.”
As a result of stricter policies, only 49 law students are expected to graduate next year, Divina said. Clarence I. Hormachuelos
