The aim of the Jurists coaching program is the scientific and rigorous training of the bar reviewee so that he or she can properly analyze a bar exam problem, identify the issues, and logically organize and present the answer in order to gain the most points from the bar examiner. In this regard, Jurists was the first bar review center to conduct a coaching program with mock bar examinations in the Philippines. Since then others have followed the trail blazed by Jurists but Jurists continues to remain at the forefront in the field of bar exam coaching. The Jurists program is sui generis and offers unique and special advantages and benefits not found in other programs.
Our coaching system features the administration of a series of 7 mock-bar examinations specially crafted by the Jurists coaching staff in consultation with the bar reviewers. After each mock bar (excluding the 7th), the coach checks the booklets and afterwards sits down with the reviewee in a one-on-one coaching session wherein the coach identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the bar reviewee and discusses the answers with the reviewee. The reviewee also receives a written feedback from the coach for his or her reference and file. The reviewee is also trained to use proven test-taking strategies and tactics specially developed by Jurists.
The performance of the reviewee is monitored by the coaching staff and weaknesses and faults are identified and then excised. The reviewee will note with satisfaction the marked improvement in the way he or she performs in the mock bar exams as the coaching program progresses. Jurists believes that each reviewee has his or her unique strong and weak points which must be addressed individually and not just in a group lecture or seminar. Reviewees are exhorted to undergo the full coaching protocol in order to gain the maximum benefits from the Jurists program.
At the conclusion of the coaching program, the reviewee has been thoroughly immersed in the Jurists Method of analyzing and answering bar questions such that its application becomes second nature or almost intuitive. This cannot be achieved in a program where there is only one or a few mock bar examinations and where there is only an omnibus or group lecture on how to answer the bar exam.
Our mock bars simulate the actual bar examination as to the number of questions, the format, and the time allotted to the examinee. This will better train the coachee, including in the vital area of time-management. We believe that allowing the coachee to “cherry pick” questions is not a desirable training strategy. We also administer not just one or two but seven mock bars (the first six of which have post-mock coaching sessions) so that the coachee will be intensively coached, his or her weaknesses diagnosed and excised, his or her time-management improved, and his or her strengths identified and leveraged by the coaching staff.
We have a dedicated and well-trained corps of coaches which has enabled us to effectively implement our unique program. Our coaches have themselves undergone an intensive clinic where they are taught the Jurists method of training and coaching. Our coaches include concurrent law professors or those with teaching experience, and Jurists lawyers who have themselves undergone the Jurists coaching program and the Jurists coach certification course.
The Jurists mock bar and coaching program is not simply a shallow checking of the physical format and lay-out of the answer but a scientific and multidisciplinary approach drawing from the fields of legal reasoning, logic and argumentation, rhetoric, semantics, heuristics, and psychology to empower the coachee with the weapons needed to slay the bar exam dragon. In this regard, Jurists has devised logical matrixes to enable the examinee to better analyze a bar problem, spot the core issues, and organize and present a logical and lawyerly answer.