2026 BAR EXAMINATIONS: A POSTMORTEM

The consensus among the bar examinees, academics, and experts was that the 2026 bar examinations were quite tough and challenging. I agree. To me, the reason for the increased difficulty of the recent bar is the comeback of the issue-spotter question and the multi-issue question.

Comeback of the issue-spotter

In the 2024 and 2025 bar examinations, the great majority of the questions were issue-posers. An issue-poser is a question where the core or decisive issue is explicitly stated in the call of the question or in the one or two sentences preceding the call.  An example of an issue-poser is question no. 8 of the 2026 Remedial Law bar exam:

Eliana, a resident of Quezon City, filed a Complaint for the collection of PHP 1.8 million against Ryan, a resident of Makati City, before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City, arising from an unpaid loan. Before Ryan filed an Answer or any motion for summary judgment, Eliana filed a notice of dismissal, without stating any reason.

Several months later, Eliana refiled a complaint against Ryan before the RTC of Makati City, this time seeking PHP 2.3 million, representing the same unpaid loan plus accrued interest and attorney’s fees. Again, before Ryan filed any responsive pleading, Eliana filed another notice of dismissal, stating that she wanted to give Ryan another chance to amicably settle the obligation.

When no payment was made, Eliana filed a third complaint against Ryan, based on the same loan. Ryan moved to dismiss the third complaint, invoking the two-dismissal rule. Rule on Ryan’s motion.

Here, the core or decisive issue, that is, the applicability of the two-dismissal rule, is explicitly stated in the call and the sentence preceding it. 

Issue-posers are easier for an examinee to answer because he or she does not have to devote time to spotting the core issue and can concentrate on determining the applicable rule. Quite often, the issue stated gives a hint to the applicable law or principle. 

However, in the 2026 bar examinations, issue-spotters made a comeback. In an issue-spotter, the core or decisive issue is not explicitly stated in the question. The issue is usually couched in factual terms (e.g., “may the plaintiff prove that his signature was forged?”) or couched in overbroad or sweeping terms, like, “is the contract valid?” or “is the evidence admissible?” Hence, the issue stated does not give a hint to the applicable law or principle.  

In the Civil Law bar exam, the 14 issue-spotters greatly outnumbered the 6 issue-posers. In remedial law, while there were more issue-posers at 9, the number of issue-spotters at 5 was still quite significant.

An example of an issue-spotter is question no. 7 of the 2026 Remedial Law bar exam:

Ares leased a warehouse from Athena for a fixed term under a written rental agreement. After Athena’s death, Ares filed an action against Minerva, Athena’s daughter and successor-in-interest, to enforce an alleged extension of the lease. Ares attached the purported written extension as Annex “A” to the Complaint and quoted its contents therein. The document bore the alleged signature of Athena signifying her consent to the lease extension. Minerva filed an Answer but did not specifically deny under oath the genuineness and due execution of Annex “A.” During trial, Minerva sought to present a forensic handwriting expert to prove that Athena’s signature on Annex “A” was forged. May Minerva present a handwriting expert? Explain.

Here, the question posed is whether Minerva may present a handwriting expert to prove that her signature on Annex “A” was forged. It is couched in factual rather than legal terms. It does not give a hint, or at least a strong one, about the applicable rule.  The bar examinee must analyze and parse the facts of the problem to extract the core or decisive issue. This makes an issue-spotter more difficult for a bar examinee to answer.  

Multi-Issue Questions

Although the bar bulletins for the past years provided that an examination shall consist of 20 questions with a single question per number, questions with two or more issues tend to crop up in the bar from time to time.

The number of multi-issue questions increased in the 2026 bar. In the Civil Law bar exam, there were 4 multi-issue questions and in Remedial Law there were 3 multi-issue questions. Question No. 14 in Civil Law even had 3 issues:

On January 1, 2026, Martha and Lazarus entered into a contract of sale, where Martha bound herself to deliver and transfer the ownership of a particular parcel of land to Lazarus on or before March 31, 2026, for PHP 4 million, payable on or before December 31, 2026. The following day, Martha and Lazarus executed a document denominated as a Deed of Absolute Sale and had it notarized by Atty. Lipas, whose notarial commission expired on December 31, 2024.

On February 2, 2026, Martha died leaving Moses as her sole heir. On April 2, 2026, Lazarus demanded from Moses the delivery of the parcel of land. Moses refused to comply, arguing that the document purporting to contain the sale between Lazarus and his mother is null and void, as the same was notarized by a person not authorized to administer oaths. Likewise, Moses averred that he is not in any way bound by the contract as he is a complete stranger thereto. Finally, Moses claimed that the purchase price was not yet paid when the demand was made. Is Moses correct? Explain.

In the above question, Moses raised three arguments to support his refusal to deliver the land to Lazarus. Each argument represents an issue which must be traversed by the bar examinee. A multi-issue question effectively contains subquestions.

Implications on Bar Preparation and Review

The increasingly challenging nature of the past bar exams, notably the 2026 bar, underscore the importance of training with mock bar exams and undergoing bar exam coaching. Nowadays, a bar reviewee cannot just rely simply on passive study of the law and cases to get by.   

Since 2005, Jurists Bar Review Center has been conducting, as an integral part of its review, a mock bar and coaching program whose aim is the scientific and rigorous training of the bar reviewee so that he or she can properly analyze a bar exam problem, identify or spot the issues, and write a logical, organized, and lawyerly answer under grinding time pressure. With the proliferation of issue-spotters, the need for training on issue-recognition and issue-spotting has become even more important.

AI and bar exam coaching

For the 2027 bar review season, Jurists has incorporated AI to its coaching program. The AI will provide instant feedback to practice-question and mock-bar answers submitted by reviewees based on rubrics and prompts provided by Jurists. AI will complement, not supplant, human coaching. To rely on AI-centric bar exam coaching or training without human oversight would be inadvisable.

Bar exam coaching is too subtle and nuanced an art to be left entirely to AI. Only a trained human eye can discern the fine points of a coachee’s answer and reasoning. While AI may provide instant feedback, true coaching requires a back-and-forth interaction between coach and coachee, as well as an assiduous analysis and parsing of the coachee’s answer, to enable the coach to tailor-fit the coaching session to the coachee’s unique and special needs. And of course, AI cannot provide the psychological and moral support that a human coach can. The proper approach is to combine both human coaching and AI tools to create a comprehensive coaching program that maximizes the coachee’s potential.

-oOo-