AQ barrister's headquarter was near La Salle. We were billeted at EGI Tower for convenience. I woke up at 5 am before the wake up call. I ate heavy breakfast, took warm shower, and fix myself to face one great challenge of my life...
At 6:30 am, the line along Taft Ave. was too long, a bit infuriating. However, we have to fall in line for some SOP to enter La Salle. When I arrived at room 404, Yuchengco Bldg., most of my roomates were already there busy scanning their notes. Once inside, I read my notes as well. At 7:45 am, all things were brought in front of the room. Only pens and light snacks were allowed to stay with the barristers.
>>>Anxious<<<
From 7:45 to 8 am, it felt eternity. All you hear is nothing but silence. The absence of sound got me anxious. And that's the only part where I felt that. I remembered my professor saying "Never entertain premature fears." So I closed my eyes to relax. Close and open my hand to prepare for a writing marathon. Then uttered a short prayer. Then the first bell...
Envelopes bearing our name, school, thumb mark, and signature were already sealed. Then the second bell...
Pages turning, brains spinning... Sure, the battle has started...
Poli
The first part of the Political Law (Poli) exam was tenable. It was pretty reasonable. Until I got to part II. Public International Law is supposed to get the least number of questions in Poli. But that was not the case in our Bar. I want to cuss. I want to stop writing. But I just can't. Sigh.
I studied hard for Poli. I know I did. But I did not concentrate much on the answers for part II of the exam. I thought the questions having them as subject won't be extensive. Unfortunately, they were. So many twists. So many traps. So confusing. So many questions. So cruel.
It was also in Poli when I have to erase a page in my booklet by making a vertical line at the center. I have answered the last number but I noticed that subquestions b and c of the penultimate number were left unanswered.
Poli exam was way too loooooooong. In fact, after finishing it I felt I took 2 bar exams for Poli. I do mock bar to prepare but I did not encounter a single exam as long as that. There were cases where I answered one or two sentences just to make a good pace. I did not follow the 3-paragraph rule nor the 'Koko Pimentel formula.' There was certainly no time for that. The bell rang. And I'm freakin' hungry. I have to eat chocolates on my way to the hotel to ease the burning sensation in my tummy. I was so down but I don't want to lose hope.
Labor
After taking my lunch. I get some rest then returned to my exam room. I scanned my reviewer. The dogeared page was about wage distortion. I started reading it. I opened my bag to return the reviewer and found my codal for Consti. It was not supposed to be there. The exam for Consti is through. But for the heck of it, I opened it to Sec. 3, Art. XIII about labor. To my surprise, wage distortion as well as the rights of employer and employee were asked in the labor exam. I call it Divine intervention.
One problem that I encountered in Labor involves mnemonics. In sexual harassment, my memory aid was i-h-o (intimidating, hostile and offensive). I forgot the i. When I scanned my booklet, only i was written there. I cannot recall the word so I thought of a negative word starting in i (I know it was not the word intimidating that I wrote). It was funny but I need my last resort. I hope the examiner won't see the disparity though.
Labor law was as long as Poli, more or less. But the latter was only answerable in 3 hrs. If Poli with 4 hrs. was too long. How would you react to the labor exam?
First Sunday's done, nonetheless. I'm pretty worried with my performance in Poli.
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