Calculating The Bar

Yesterday I saw the Examiner’s Rating of a new lawyer whom I have always admired for his writing skill, humility and intelligence. He got a general weighted average of 75.55%. I sit back and got scared. I wondered in reticent why a person of such intellectual caliber got only a general weighted average of 75.55% in the bar exams. How could then I expect myself with less intelligence to pass the bar?

I looked again at the rating for each subject. He got a highest rating in Legal Ethics (95 and obtained a decent rating in Taxation (82) and Political and International (80). But he fared poorly in the other subjects ranging from 68 to 76. All in all the product he obtained was 1511, i.e., sum of all individual product per subject (rating per each subject multiply by corresponding relative weight). His general weighted average (75.55%) is the quotient of the product (1511) divided by the total relative weight (20).

Staring intently at the Examiner’s Rating, I made a mental interpolation on the ratings and ended up with an observation that a bar-taker could pass the bar exams if and when he would obtain a high rating in 2 or 3 subjects, particularly in a subject having a bigger relative weight namely Remedial Law, Political and International Law and Mercantile Law. I regained my courage and started calculating the bar ratings on the basis of this observation. Here’s what I got.

1. PIL (95), Legal Ethics (95), other subjects (70) = 75.00%

2. Civil (95), Legal Ethics (95), other subjects (70) = 75.00%

3. Remedial (83), PIL (86), other subjects (70) = 75.00%

4. PIL (88), Mercantile (86), other subjects (70) = 75.10%

5. Remedial (89), Legal Ethics (94), other subjects (70) = 75.00%

6. Criminal (90), Remedial (80), Legal Ethics (90), other subjects (70) = 75.00%

There are other variations depending upon one’s preferences. My favorite subject is Political Law and, modesty aside, I feel I’m quite strong in this subject. But proficiency in one subject alone is not enough. I need one more subject closer to my heart.