Read, Think, then Answer

During our second exam in Criminal Law 2, a question is asked:

The Municipality allocated 2 million for the concreting of road in Brgy. Tagakpan. X, a municipal treasurer, authorized the release of 1 million for the purchase of fire truck. Besides, the ordinance for the purchase of fire truck was submitted to the Mayor for approval. Did X commit any crime? Explain.

To this question, I answered:

X did not commit any crime. He did not commit malversation of public funds because, although the fund was allocated for the concreting of road but was used instead for the purchase of fire truck, the fund was nonetheless used for another public purpose. Neither did X commit technical malversation because the ordinance allocating the 2 million was not yet approved. In technical malversation, it is essential that there is a law or ordinance allocating the fund for public use.

I almost had it right. X, of course, committed technical malversation because there was already an approved ordinance allocating the 2 million. The ordinance that was not yet approved refers to the ordinance for the purchase of fire truck.

Modesty aside, I find the question easy to answer. But why did I answer it incorrectly? Simple! I was so in a hurry I misappreciated the facts.

Lesson learned: Read, think, then answer. Never answer, then think later.

Far worse than answering incorrectly, however, is not answering at all. Unfortunately, this happened to me, too, during our Midterm exam in Persons and Family Relations. At least, if your answer is wrong, they give you some credit, however little. But if you have no answer at all, you get nothing.

In my Persons exam, I wasn't able to answer the last essay question. Nine of the ten questions are found on the first page, and I thought that there were only nine questions. Unknown to me, and to some of my classmates, is that there's still a tenth question, which is found on the second page, just above the instruction for the Multiple Choice test type. Those of us who did not answer the last essay question were of the impression that the tenth question was part of the instruction for Multiple Choice. It turned out it was not.

Lesson learned: Look before you leap.