ACT Critical Thinking Boot Camp

Summer Course: June to September

In 2020, 1.67 million students took the ACT exam. 1.1 million students took the SAT exam. Many SAT testing centers were cancelled.

Taking the ACT June and July exams will increase students’ possibility of being able to take any ACT or SAT exam. Taking both ACT and SAT exams doubles students’ chances of achieving good scores. Scoring well on the SAT and ACT exams showcases a student’s academic mastery. This may be especially important when applying to top universities.

Our ACT Critical Thinking course description:

In this course, we will sharpen the essential reasoning skills that students need to succeed in high school and beyond. We will develop their abilities to read passages quickly and efficiently, identifying which parts are most important. We will also teach students to approach texts as critics, and not simply passive observers, showing them that understanding what an author is trying to do is only a starting point, and that true comprehension involves being able to identify the author’s successes and failures. We will place a heavy emphasis on logic and mathematical reasoning.

This description can be used for college applications and college summer programs. I routinely write letters of recommendation for students stating that they participated in a critical thinking course with Lee Academics. Our Critical Thinking Course will teach students to think with ACT questions.

Lee Academics ACT Summer Critical Thinking Course (50 hours) includes:

• 40 instructional hours.
• Up to 10 office hours.
• Up to 6 proctored exams
• Makeup lessons as needed
• Access to 80+ real ACT exams, many with answer-explanations.
• ACT math book by topic with explanations. It is desirable to learn a topic at a time to gain mastery.
• Access to 4 books of ACT questions with answer-explanations from former released exams.
  • English
  • math
  • reading
  • science

English, Reading, Science (optional), Writing (optional 40-minute essay)

• Critical reading section – introduction to and procedure for each of the segments
• Critical reading (more in depth) – analyzing and deconstructing difficult passages with the intent of improving general critical reading skills as well as attempting to define words by context alone.
• English section – grammar, rules and tips.
• Essay – Lee Academics instructors will individually go over essays with students. This verbal feedback will allow a student to ask questions. On some essays, an instructor will email critiques for students to refer to as they write future essays.
• The test – How to read the test makers. Lee Academics teachers can answer questions on the ACT critical reading sections with more than 50% accuracy without reading the relevant passages. Our teachers can also get close to 50% correct without even reading the question based on certain “tells”.
• Essential guessing and test taking strategies (no scoring penalty for the ACT).
• Basic Introduction to the ACT – What it is, time periods, how it’s graded.
• ACT optional science passage – How to analyze and interpret scientific passages, charts and
  graphs.

ACT test prep with Lee Academics:

• Scott will email essay critiques. Scott will give one-on-one reviews. Our instructors will teach students to understand words. We teach students to break up words into components.
• Students will learn how to analyze the meaning of these vocabulary words.
• Our teachers will go over student’s mistakes so that they can learn the concepts missed. This will be done individually, small groups or with the main class.
• We will use many practice ACT questions in our Critical Thinking Course. We will go over your questions. For the math, Mamie will teach you the background math of each problem. This will help students to do problems of similar topics.
• Mamie has extremely detailed knowledge of the ACT math. Mamie teaches all math/SAT/PSAT/ACT/AP calculus. Mamie is familiar with the teaching styles of many local math teachers. Based on who a student’s math teachers have been, Mamie will usually know about a student’s math knowledge level.
• Mamie will teach tricks and shortcuts to make math problems easier.
• Geometry is a foreign language to some students. Mamie will teach the geometry necessary for the ACT test.
• Mamie will teach a math logic in class. Some ACT problems can be logic based.

Many of Lee Academics ACT students do very well on their first try at the ACT. Work hard. Aim high. We will help you to get the score of your dreams.

ACT and SAT comparison

	Digital SAT – 2 hours, 14 minutes	ACT (digital or paper) – 2 hours, 5 minutes
Reading	For modules 1 and 2: 32 minutes/27 question. The harder module 2 is challenging. Both SAT and ACT test fundamentally similar concepts, but the SAT has fewer places to hide. If you don’t know what a passage means, you won’t be able to figure it out from reading the rest of the passage. On the ACT, you’ll be able to.	40 minutes/36 questions – The ACT reading passages and vocabulary tend to be easier, but students have less time per question
Writing	The SAT writing questions are similar to the ACT English (grammar).	35 minutes/50 questions – ACT English (grammar) has more questions and is similar to SAT writing. The ACT English is a separate section of the test.
Calculator	Allowed	Allowed
Math question type	For modules 1 and 2: 35 minutes/22 questions multiple and short answer.	50 minutes/45 Multiple choice.
Math skills required	algebra 1, data analysis, some algebra 2, a little trig, a little geometry. Some SAT math problems are multi-step. The SAT has less geometry. Math harder module 2 is challenging.	algebra 1, algebra 2/trigonometry, vectors, matrices, conics, geometry and data analysis. ACT math has about 20% geometry. A basic knowledge of most of algebra 2 is helpful. There are fewer hard math problems on the ACT than the SAT.
Science	None	ACT science is optional on the new ACT test. The science section is based on reading charts and graphs. Some scientific background could be helpful with the pacing on the test. The science section could demonstrate variability between testing sessions
Essay – optional	The SAT has no essay.	The optional 40-minute essay score will not be factored into your ACT composite score. It will, however, be factored into your English-Language Arts sub-score, which averages your English, Reading, and Writing scores and rounds up to the nearest whole number
June and July test available	no	yes
Online test	Completely digital and adaptive.	Non-adaptive – Everyone gets the same exam. Digital ACT starting April 2025 The new ACT paper test is available starting September 2025
Number of times the test can be taken	There is no limit. However, some universities require that all scores must be sent. A parent of a Lee Academics student working for an elite college shares this with us, “Withholding scores are not in the student’s favor, indicating the student does not follow directions, may not be sincere, and may have something to hide.”	The ACT can be taken 12 times. You can send scores from a specific test event. Superscore In order to send a superscore you must have scores from at least two test events. Your superscore is made up from your best individual scores to create the best overall composite score. When institutions receive your superscore they not only receive those scores, but also scores from your highest test event, as well as the events that make up that overall For “practice” or a benchmark, taking the ACT first may be a good idea.
Rounding	no	31.5=32 31.75=32 32=32 32.25=32
Score Conversion	SAT 1570-1600	36 ACT is a perfect score
Number of students who took SAT or ACT exams	2024:1.97 million 2023:1.91 million 2022:1.7 million 2021:1.5 million 2020:1.1 million 2019: 2.2 million 2018: 2.1 million 2017: 1.8 million 2016: 1.6 million 2015: 1.7 million 2014: 1.7 million 2013: 1.7 million	2024:1.4 million 2023:1.39 million 2022:1.35 million 2021:1.30 million 2020: 1.67 million 2019: 1.8 million 2018: 1.9 million 2017: 2.0 million 2016: 2.1 million 2015: 1.9 million 2014: 1.9 million 2013: 1.8 million

Lee Academics ACT Critical Thinking teachers:

• Mamie Lee Nicholson: I have a plethora of material to draw from to teach students concepts for the ACT math. Additionally, based on a student’s school, teacher and percent earned in the math class, I will know that student’s ability level. For 3 decades, I have taught students from many of the bay area tri-city schools and private schools. Additionally, Lee Academics has also taught SAT, ACT, math, philosophy courses and Pathways to College for the James Logan High School forensics team with Dr. Tommie Lindsey. I am so fortunate to do what I love every day. I love teaching math and talking about education. It is amazing to wake up each day and shine light to those in “math darkness,” to be able to build students minds, to promote education. I am so privileged to work with so many great students, parents and educators. Many of my students become my friends. Thanks for the great adventure.
• Scott Nicholson: Scott started teaching SAT and ACT for Lee Academics as a sophomore in high school. Many of his students attribute their success on the English, reading, writing and science to Scott’s teaching. Over his years of teaching, Scott has developed methods of teaching to make reading comprehension easier for students. Some students report being able to hear Scott as they take the ACT exams. Scott had a 4.7 GPA at James Logan High School. In Scott’s high school junior and senior years and as a Lee Academics instructor, Scott taught SAT and ACT at James Logan High School for Dr. Tommie Lindsey’s speech and debate team. Scott attended Rice University with a 4-year half tuition scholarship and a 2-year research fellowship before returning to California for medical reasons, finishing his degree at UC Davis. Scott is a National Merit Finalist and received many full-ride scholarship offers.

ACT Critical Thinking Course cost and discounts

Please email for details. Group rates are offered for students registering for an ACT Critical Thinking Course with concurrent enrollment of students new to Lee Academics.