MANILA, Philippines – How have Bar exam takers fared over the years?

The 2023 Bar has a passing rate of 36.77%, with 3,812 aspiring lawyers out of 10,387 making it, led by UST student journalist Ephraim Bie.  

This is lower than last year’s 43.47%, where only 3,992 out of 9,183 examinees passed the Bar. 

The highest passing rate in history was the 1954 Bar with 75.17%, and the lowest in the 1999 Bar with 16.59%.

The 2020/2021 Bar, the first time that two batches of law graduates jointly took one exam, recorded a record-high rate of 72.28%, a nudge to their extraordinary situation of having to study under the unprecedented pandemic lockdown.

There have long been discussions in legal education reform on whether to lessen fixation on the Bar examinations. Some arguments say being too Bar-centric produces lawyers who are good on text, but not lawyers who are innovative and attuned to the needs of the people, especially the marginalized.

Take a look at this graphic to see how the passing rate sof Bar exams in the Philippines have risen and fallen in the past decade.

– Rappler.com