Unlocking the mystery of the MCQ format in the 2011 Bar

mby Atty. Joel R. Dizon
 
     The reforms in the 2011 Bar Exam are not intended to make the exams more difficult. Neither are they intended to make it easier. They are intended to make the exam more accurate, in terms of gauging how well the bar examinee knows his law.

     Keeping this in mind, you will realize that the new type of multiple choice questions (MCQs) that the Supreme Court will use in this year’s Bar will all follow a uniform structure, consisting of basically of 4 parts: a proposition, a question stem, a right answer and a wrong (in fact, three wrong answers).

    But the wrong answers are more likely to be independently correct in themselves. They are only wrong in relation to the proposition. Thus they are called "distractors."

     The proposition will be an established doctrine or a legal provision. Whatever it is, you must presume that the proposition is always valid. Do not waste any time testing its validity.

     Also do not always look for the proposition literally. It may be stated as a preface to the question, or it may be entirely hidden--meaning unstated. A hidden proposition requires that you infer that proposition from the way the question is worded.

     Next, the question will start by stating an incomplete application of the proposition. In other words, the question will be a half-complete sentence. The answer that you choose will complete the sentence.

     But you must be careful because ANY of the choices will actually complete the sentence, from a purely grammatical point of view. But only one choice--the right answer--will complete the sentence and result in a statement that is TRUE.

     The other statements will be FALSE.

     The beauty of the MCQ format is that the correct answer is staring you in the face. Also, every information you need to enable you to answer the question will be expressly or impliedly included in the sentence itself.

     Although this is not a hard and fast rule, the wise approach to answering MCQs is this: recognize the proposition, recall the rules and theories that define or control that proposition, read the question stem and choose the answer that results in a TRUE statement, that is a correct application of the proposition.

     Good luck!