Binary Solution is an approach to the LSAT that employs a few ideas in order to solve every LSAT question. Competing approaches are piecemeal: they solve questions on a case-by-case basis by employing many ideas in order to solve a single LSAT question. These approaches are difficult to apply to every LSAT question, and consequently, many questions remain unsolved.
Binary Solution is based upon a trademark tripartite theory that completely deconstructs the LSAT. Our solution relies on three concepts- truth, transition & cause- each of which corresponds perfectly to a section of the LSAT. The minimalism of our approach is a powerful weapon under timed circumstances
Our founder, who was an award-winning chemical researcher, wrote the course after she built a predictive model of the LSAT based on repeated word patterns and relations. The Binary model was built by counting every word that has ever contributed to the solution of any LSAT question, and mapping that language onto the section of the test where it appeared. Since 1991, the Binary Solution has predicted questions several years before they have appeared on the LSAT.
According to our theory, there are only a few fundamental relations on the LSAT: similarity, dissimilarity, quantity and causality. These concepts are binary- because they introduce bright lines, which are either/or distinctions. The language that triggers these ideas is also binary: consider the word IF, which bifurcates any sentence by creating a sufficient proposition and a necessary one. ['If A, then B' implies that A is sufficient to guarantee B, while B is necessary to A]
The three sections of the LSAT possess different types of language. For Analytical Reasoning (aka Games), the preferred language takes the form of truth and words like must, can and cannot rule the day. In Reading Comprehension, similarity and its flip side-- difference-- dominate the landscape and so, every transitional word in the passage gives rise to at least one question. Finally, Arguments (aka Logical Reasoning) is the domain of cause. The linguistic fingerprint of an Argument usually contains at least one propositional operator (if, only, unless)- or some other way of triggering the necessary/sufficient relationship.
Binary Solution uses three bedrock concepts- truth, transition and cause -to create a unique theoretical framework for the LSAT which allows us to explain and predict the nature of the test. These concepts have deep roots in legal reasoning: without a finding of truth, an observation of similarity or difference, and a basis for a cause of action, no legal case can be raised. Our solution to the LSAT translates into a theory of law, so our students understand the relevance of the LSAT to future legal studies.
RESEARCH MODELS: Innovative Concordances Demonstrate the Distinct Linguistic Patterns of each LSAT Section
Empirical evidence demonstrating the validity of the Binary Solution can be found in the diagrams generate by TextArc (created by Bradford Pailey of Didi Design). The TextArc application was used to:(1) position text from the LSAT along the perimeter of an ellipse and (2) count the frequency of every word in that text. TextArc creates a separate field for each word and ranks the words according to frequency. The brighter and more central a word appears in the diagram, the more often it is used in the LSAT. The spindles that radiate out of each word reach back to the location of the word within the LSAT text. Each TextArc is a spatial word distribution: simultaneously depicting both the frequency and location of any word.
