THE 2020/21 Bar examinations produced a record harvest of lawyers as 72.28 percent of takers passed the shortened test.

The Supreme Court said that 8,241 passed the exams out of 11,402 examinees.

The passing rate was the second-highest in its history after the 1954 Bar with 75.17 percent.

It was the first time that the exams were held digitally. Instead of four days, it was shortened into two.

There were 31 testing areas, also a first in the Bar’s history.

It was also the quickest turnaround for checking, as the results were released aftet two months. Usually, results are released four to five months after the exam.

“All these are historic achievements,” Bar Chairperson Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said.

The court also did away with the tradition of declaring the Top 10 Bar passers. Instead 761 students received a distinctive mark or grades ranging from 85 to 90 percent.

Fourteen Bar passers got excellent marks for receiving marks of 90 percent or higher.

The Bar passers had mixed emotions after seeing the results. Most of them cried for joy, some shouted, others were in shock.

Mary Joe Arada, an alumna of the University of the Philippines, said she was glad that she made her parents proud by being the first lawyer in the family.

“Siya ang kauna-unahang naging abogado sa pamilya namin. Sinabi ko sa kanya na pangarap ko na maging abogado siya,” Joel, father of Mary, said.

The father of Maria Patrice Gabito, a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila Law School, shared how difficult it was to provide tuition for his child amid a pandemic.

“Pag-umpisa ng Covid sa Kuwait nawalan talaga ako ng trabaho kasama ako sa lay-off. Napakahirap [magpaaral] dahil wala akong income. Basta ‘yung pera na inuwi ko gagamitin para mapatapos natin ang anak. At least nakatapos siya, nakapag-review siya,” Rowan Gabito, who worked in Kuwait, said.