P.R. Laws tit. 4A, § 5
(a) The bar examination shall be administered during five (5) three- (3-) hour periods. The morning periods shall last from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and the afternoon ones from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The members of the Board shall be present during the periods when the questions prepared by their respective committees are being given.
(b) Every examinee shall be assigned an identification number which shall be notified to him before the date of the examination. Before the beginning of each examination period, each applicant shall occupy the seat marked with his identification number in the examination area. Each applicant shall be furnished with a black ink ball-point pen for his use which he shall return at the end of each testing period, and one notebook for every period, where he shall write his answers to the test. Each notebook shall be marked on the cover with the identification number of the examinee in arabic characters [numerals]. The notebooks shall be marked on the cover with a roman numeral corresponding to the period.
(c) When the Chairperson of the Board or the Executive Director so orders, each examinee shall be handed the question or questions to be answered during said period. The examinees shall wait for the instructions of the Chairperson of the Board to begin to read and answer the questions.
(d) Once an examination period begins, each examinee shall remain in his seat until he finishes answering the period’s question or questions, which he shall indicate by raising one hand, upon which signal one of the Board assistants shall go to the examinee and get his answer notebook. Any examinee who for any reason has to leave the examination area shall hand in his answer notebook and may not return until the period is over. At the end of each period, every examinee shall stop writing and hand in his notebook. An examinee who is unable to finish the examination will be deemed to have taken the examination and will be evaluated accordingly.
(e) No examinee shall write his name in whole or in part, or his initials, his identification number, letters or words, nor shall he make remarks or expressions of any kind that may identify him in his answer notebook or that may be interpreted as an intention to identify himself.
(f) On his desk, the examinee may only have the material furnished by the Board, or the books, papers or documents authorized by it. Once the beginning of an examination period is announced, the examinees may not communicate with anyone, except in the manner provided for by these rules.
(g) Any examinee who wishes to ask a question or communicate with the Board may indicate so by raising one hand. One of the Board assistants shall heed his indication and provide him with paper to write the question or message he desires, using the number assigned to him as identification. The assistant shall take his message to the Board. The Board or Executive Director shall immediately answer the questions asked by the examinees during the examination. If the Board understands that the question does not require an answer, the examinee shall be immediately informed thereof. If the question raises a general problem affecting all the examinees, the answer shall be made known to all. The Board shall answer the questions that bring up legitimate doubts when the wording is confusing or the facts are incomplete. It shall not answer those whose aim and effect is to get all or part of the answer of any part of the examination. If, following the above-mentioned procedure, any candidate brings up a doubt before the examination begins which, if clarified, would be beneficial for its administration, the explanation shall be made known to all the candidates.
(h) No examinee may keep or take with him the multiple-choice questions or related material unless otherwise provided by the Chairperson or Executive Director of the Board. The Chairperson, however, is empowered to release all or part of the contents of any of said questions if, in his opinion, this is justified.
The examinee may keep and take with him the essay question or questions of each examination period. The Board will provide papers for writing drafts of answers or for taking notes.
(i) The examinee shall answer the question, and any parts thereof, in the same order in which they appear and shall clearly identify his answers to each question or part of a question with its corresponding number or letter. If for any reason he alters said order, which is not advisable, he shall clearly indicate said change. Anything written by him that he does not wish the Board to consider when grading his notebook shall be crossed out with a line.
(j) The guidelines contained in this rule are [to be] of strict compliance. The failure of any applicant to comply with the same may cause his disqualification as an applicant to the Bar.
(k) The Board shall prepare an informative handbook containing:
(1) Detailed explanations about the bar examination process.
(2) The names of the Board members.
(3) The rules governing the administration of the examination.
(4) Examples of questions and acceptable answers from preceding bar examinations.
(5) The security measures adopted for the administration of the examination, as well as their justification.
(6) The rights of the examinees, and the procedure that must be followed to claim said rights.
(7) A copy of the Board’s regulations.
(8) The procedure to be followed to clear up any doubts regarding the administration of the test.
This handbook shall be given to the applicants together with the notice of admission to the bar examination and shall be distributed to persons and institutions involved with legal education who so request.
The Bar shall adopt the necessary measures in order to keep the applicant duly informed as to the type of test, its administration and evaluation.
History —Mar. 17, 1983; Feb. 23, 1984; Jan. 16, 1987.