Advantage Learning Center

  • Advantage Learning Center
  • Online Tutoring
  • Tutoring
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • College
  • College Prep
    • Critical Thinking Skills
    • Learning Styles
    • Reading Skills
    • Study Skills
    • Vocabulary Skills
  • Test Prep
    • PRAXIS Test Preparation
    • SAT / ACT / PSAT Test Prep
    • AP Test Preparation
    • SSAT Test Prep
    • GED Test Preparation
    • GRE Test Preparation
    • TOEFL Test Preparation
  • Writing
    • Middle School Writing
    • High School Writing
    • College Writing
    • Plagiarism and Cheating
    • Wikipedia, Yes or No
  • Languages
    • Italian
    • French
    • ESL
  • College Admissions
  • About Us
    • Testimonials
    • Our Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
Home > College Preparation > Critical Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking Skills

What are Critical Thinking Skills?

Critical thinking skills are essential life skills; the more selective colleges seek out students with critical thinking skills because they know how to learn.  Employers recruit such students because they have demonstrated a capacity to reason abstractly.

Critical thinking is a form of metacognition: thinking about thinking. Critical thinking means moving from thinking concretely about a topic, such as family, to thinking more abstractly about the idea of the family, which may not be like the student’s own family. It requires them to question the assumptions about the information presented to them. These “higher order“ thinking skills include the ability to

  • Know or recall details, main ideas, cause and effect, and/or characteristics: usually with memorization. For example, “I know Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania.”
  • Apply and comprehend such information, translating conceptual material into your own words. “A state capital is a kind of Washington DC but for Pennsylvania”
  • Analyze and conceptualize, that is, remember as part of larger categories. “All states have capitals. Pennsylvania is a state, therefore, it has a capital and Harrisburg is that capital”
  • Synthesize, and put together facts to reach a generalization or concept or definition. “Federalism gives the states some powers, and politicians get together in state capitols to make and pass laws” or “State capitols are places in states where politicians get together to make and pass laws that the governor signs.  “
  • Make informed judgments and decisions about the world around them based on evidence and reasoning, not emotion or prejudice. “Federalism gives the states some powers, and politicians get together in state capitols to make and pass laws which the people have to obey because a majority of people voted them into office”

Critical thinking means making arguments supported by reasoning and facts, not opinions. Poorly-educated teenagers grow into badly informed adults, who can be swayed by fake news, propaganda and half-truths. Our democracy won’t survive, let alone prosper unless more individuals know and use critical thinking in their daily lives.

Advantage Learning tutors know how to assess the level of a student’s critical thinking and show how faulty assumptions and unsupported opinions can weaken written or oral work, particularly at the college level.

Related information:

  • Tutorial C01: What is Critical Thinking and Why is it Important?
  • Defining Critical Thinking at www.criticalthinking.org
  • What is Critical Thinking at www.criticalreading.com
  • Critical Thinking from Wikipedia

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas….
Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. They will always seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments, and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not.
Critical thinkers will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct.

What is Critical Thinking?

Serving Southeastern Pennsylvania

Counties

  • Montgomery
  • Chester
    and parts of
  • Delaware
  • Bucks
  • Berks
  • Philadelphia

School Districts

  • Colonial
  • Great Valley
  • Harriton
  • Lower Merion
  • Methacton
  • Norristown Area
  • North Penn
  • Perkiomen Valley
  • Owen J. Roberts
  • Phoenixville Area
  • Pottstown
  • Souderton
  • Spring-Ford
  • Upper Merion
  • Wissahickon

Colleges

  • Arcadia Univ
  • Cabrini Univ
  • Delaware CCC
  • Eastern Univ
  • La Salle Univ
  • Montgomery CCC
  • Philadelphia Univ
  • Rosemont College
  • Saint Joseph's Univ
  • Temple U Ambler
  • U of Phoenix Phila
  • U of Valley Forge
  • Villanova Univ
  • West Chester Univ

Find Out What Advantage Learning Center Can Do For You

Call or click today for more information or a consultation!

610-636-9188

610-564-1473

Get the Advantage Now!

  • Rss Feed
  • Facebook
  • Google Maps
  • Advantage Learning Center
  • Online Tutoring
  • Tutoring
  • College Prep
  • Test Prep
  • Writing
  • Languages
  • College Admissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

Copyright © 2011–2023 Advantage Learning Center · Privacy Policy · Site Design by Delos Incorporated and Advantage Learning