Reginald M.

Arceo

I. IDEAL SCHEDULE
• This is just “ideal” because I was not able to follow it. For instance, I started reviewing for Legal
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Ethics only during the 4 Reading, which is not advisable;
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• For the 1 Reading, I started with the subjects that I had for 4 year - 2 Sem. in law school
(Remedial Law, Mercantile Law, Taxation Law, and some Civil Law subjects);
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• Except for the 4 Reading, each day of the review was allotted for only one subject.

IDEAL SCHEDULE
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1 READING No. of 2 READING No. of
(35 Days) Days (31 Days) Days
1. Remedial Law 5 1. Legal Ethics 2
2. Mercantile Law 2 2. Remedial Law 4
3. Taxation Law 6 3. Criminal Law 4
4. Civil Law 5 4. Mercantile Law 4
5. Political Law 5 5. Taxation Law 4
6. Criminal Law 6 6. Civil Law 5
7. Labor Law 4 7. Labor Law 4
8. Legal Ethics 2 8. Political Law 4
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3 READING No. of 4 READING No. of
(31 Days) Days (31 Days) Days
1. Remedial Law 5 1. Remedial Law 5
2. Legal Ethics 2 2. Legal Ethics 2
3. Criminal Law 4 3. Criminal Law 4
4. Mercantile Law 4 4. Mercantile Law 4
5. Taxation Law 4 5. Taxation Law 4
6. Civil Law 5 6. Civil Law 5
7. Labor Law 3 7. Labor Law 3
8. Political Law 4 8. Political Law 4

II. OTHER GENERAL TIPS

• Use your old books and review materials, but take note of recent developments. When I was
in law school, it was my habit to put highlights and notes on my books. I decided not to prioritize
new materials because I did not want to spend time for highlighting or writing notes;
• While reviewing, some questions will pop up. Do not be pressured to find the answer right away.
Write the questions in a designated notebook, then answer them only after finishing your review
for that particular subject. More often than not, you will find the answer without intentionally
searching for it;
• It was my goal to top the bar, but after the bar exams, I did not expect to achieve it.
Nevertheless, I continued praying really hard and hoped for a miracle. Even with this goal, there
was no pressure throughout my bar review. Before law school graduation, I was actually excited
for the bar review because of the thought of having no recitations, staying at my home, doing
what I wanted to do, and having control of my time. I took breaks when I needed to;
• Prepare physically. Eat healthy food. Exercise. Sleep well. You lost so much sleep in law
school. Now is the time to make up for it, assuming of course that you will manage your time
well;
• Pray a lot. Trust God that He will take care of the things that you cannot control. Do not waste
your time thinking about them;
• The Lex Pareto Notes has a list of the most asked provisions in the bar exams. I used a color
coding system (Green: if the provision was asked 5x or more; Blue: 2 – 5x; Red: 1x), wherein I
put a box on the article/section numbers in my codals using the color that is applicable. It is
particularly helpful during the bar month when there was no enough time to read the whole
codals. I prioritized the provisions with green, blue, and red boxes. Please see the image below
as an illustration. Article 148 of the Revised Penal Code was already asked 5 times or more,
while Articles 151 and 152 were asked 2-5 times.

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III. TYPICAL STUDY DAY*

4:00 – 5:30 AM (Breakfast, Internet, TV)

5:30 AM – 12:00 PM (Study)**
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (Lunch)
1:00 – 5:30 PM (Study)**
5:30 – 6:30 PM (Basketball)
6:30 – 8:30 PM (Dinner, Internet, TV, etc.)
8:30 PM – 4:00 AM (Sleep)

*I followed this schedule every day of bar review, except that the study time was reduced to 2-4 hours
during weekends.
**Includes numerous 15-minute breaks and/or power naps.

IV. READING LIST (Per Subject)

• Generally, I used my old law school books and materials. For updates, I just thought that it
would be covered by recent jurisprudence notes and pre-week lectures and materials. The
reviewers and some of the books in my reading list were just supplements, but I was not able
to read all of them. The focus was really on my outlined codals with handwritten notes.
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• For the 1 Reading, I read books (mostly old law books). For the 2 Reading, I transferred the
important parts of those books into my outlined codals (Please see the image in Part II-Other
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General Tips). For 3 and 4 Readings, I read those outlined codals with notes, supplemented
by recent jurisprudence. However, I used new books for some subjects.

SUBJECT REVIEW MATERIALS

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 (Main Material: Outlined Codal with Personal Notes from my
Law School Books and Reviewers)

I. POLITICAL LAW (15%)

A. CONSTI LAW (i) Bernas Primer; (ii) Nachura

B. PUBLIC OFFICERS (i) Nachura; (ii) SBC MemAid; (iii) Agra Notes

C. ADMIN LAW (i) Nachura; (ii) SBC MemAid; (iii) Agra Notes

D. ELECTION (i) Nachura; (ii) SBC MemAid; (iii) Agra Notes

E. LOC GOV (i) Nachura; (ii) SBC MemAid; (iii) Agra Notes

F. PIL (i) Sarmiento; (ii) SBC MemAid

II. LABOR LAW (10%)

A. LABOR STANDARDS (i) Azucena Green Book; (ii) SBC MemAid

B. LABOR RELATIONS (i) Azucena Green Book; (ii) SBC MemAid

III. CIVIL LAW (15%)

A. PERSONS & FAM. REL. (i) Aquino; (ii) Sta. Maria

B. OBLICON (i) Aquino; (ii) Paras

C. PROPERTY (i) Aquino; (ii) Paras

D. SALES (i) Aquino; (ii) CLV’s Syllabus

E. SEC TRANS (i) Aquino; (ii) Zuñiga Notes

F. AGENCY (i) Aquino; (ii) CLV’s Syllabus

G. PARTNERSHIP (i) Aquino; (ii) CLV’s Syllabus

H. COMPROMISE (i) Aquino; (ii) SBC MemAid

I. LEASE (i) Aquino; (ii) SBC MemAid

J. LAND TITLES (i) De los Angeles

K. SUCCESSION (i) Aquino; (ii) Balane

L. TORTS AND DAMAGES (i) Aquino

M. CONFLICT OF LAWS (i) SBC MemAid

IV. TAXATION LAW (10%)

(i) Personal Notes from the Lecture of Atty. Barlis; (ii) PMReyes
A. TAX I
Reviewer; (iii) Ingles; (iv) Co-Untian

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 (i) Personal Notes from the Lecture of Atty. Barlis; (ii) PMReyes
B. TAX II
Reviewer; (iii) Ingles; (iv) Co-Untian

V. MERCANTILE LAW (15%)

A. LETTERS OF CREDIT (i) Sundiang; (ii) Agbayani; (iii) ALS Reviewer

B. TRUST RECEIPTS LAW (i) Sundiang; (ii) De Leon; (iii) ALS Reviewer

C. NIL (i) Sundiang; (ii) Abad; (iii) Perez; (iv) ALS Reviewer

D. INSURANCE (i) Sundiang; (ii) Perez; (iii) ALS Reviewer

E. TRANSPORTATION (i) Sundiang; (ii) Perez; (iii) ALS Reviewer

F. CORPORATE LAW (i) Sundiang; (ii) CLV Comm; (iii) Perez; (iv) ALS Reviewer

G. SECREG (i) Sundiang; (ii) CLV Comm; (iii) Perez; (iv) ALS Reviewer

H. BANKING (i) Sundiang; (ii) ALS Reviewer

I. IPC (i) Sundiang; (ii) CLV Comm; (iii) ALS Reviewer

J. AMLA (i) Sundiang; (ii) ALS Reviewer

K. FOREIGN INVESTMENTS (i) ALS Reviewer

VI. CRIMINAL LAW (10%)

A. BOOK I (i) Reyes (ii) Boado; (iii) Gregorio; (iv) Ortega Notes

B. BOOK II (i) Reyes (ii) Boado; (iii) Ortega Notes

C. SPL (i) Boado; (ii) Festin

VII. REMEDIAL LAW (20%)

A. CRIM PRO (i) Riano

B. CIV PRO (i) Riano

C. EVIDENCE (i) Riano

D. SPEC PRO (i) Festin

VIII. LEGAL ETHICS (5%) (i) Aguirre; (ii) Antiquiera; (iii) SBC Red Book

V. PRESCRIBED REVIEW CENTER

• Instead of enrolling in a traditional/classroom review center, I opted to stay at my house in
Bulacan. However, I was enrolled in two online review centers: ChanRobles Bar and Jurists
Bar. I highly recommend the pre-bar lectures of Atty. Barlis, Atty. Manuel, and Atty. Chan and
the pre-week lectures of Atty. Barlis and Atty. Jack Jimenez.