Our Founder

Patrick Craig

Patrick, a 2001 Milton High School graduate, earned a BS in Business from the University of Virginia. After graduating from UVA, Patrick worked for 2 years at The Boston Consulting Group before leaving to start his own company. In 2007, he began preparing students for standardized tests. Patrick discovered teaching to be a perfect fit, thriving when he could directly impact scores as well as his students' academic and personal success.

In the last 15 years, Patrick Craig Academy has served over 3000 students in topics ranging from ACT & SAT test prep to 7th grade math through AP Calculus. He has worked with students from almost every high school in North Fulton, public and private. In the past few years, he has perfected the teaching process for the ACT and SAT, which has allowed this business to expand.

Our Method

Understand.

The first step towards earning the best possible ACT/SAT score is to understand the material tested. Tutors at Patrick Craig Academy have an in-depth grasp of the standards, curriculum, and style of the test and are specialized in their ability to pass this knowledge to students. Group classes present an opportunity to tailor standardized content to individual students’ strengths and weaknesses. PCA’s commitment to making sure every student understands the inner workings of material from commas to vectors and angles to semicolons helps students answer questions with certainty and confidence. 

Practice.

Once the information has been taught, repetition is key! Content is created by students, for students, ensuring that the material is presented at a level that everyone can understand. Our materials are assembled with staggered levels for the students to complete, allowing progression through the learning process and significant opportunities to practice test content. 

An integral part of practicing for the test is to take it via a mock test! Mock tests allow students to experience the timing, format, and environment of the test in a low-stress, low-risk setting. Additional benefits include familiarity with how questions are worded and implementation of test-taking strategies.These mock tests make sure students take the content they now understand and put it into practice, helping them increase their scores. 

Master.

The learning environment created through Patrick Craig Academy, combined with the expertise of qualified tutors, propels students towards full mastery of the ACT and SAT. The sense of community fostered through group sessions makes PCA a fun place to attend; the result is confidence with the test and score increases for those who take advantage of that beneficial environment. We find that students’ results are highly correlated to their effort. For the past fourteen years, this model has generated motivated, successful students, with ACT and SAT scores that they are proud to send to colleges.

  • “I highly recommend Patrick Craig Academy. My oldest went to Patrick back in 2013 and now my youngest (sophomore) has been going to Patrick Craig for about 5 weeks. What is so amazing about Patrick? Just in 5 short weeks (attending once-a-week sessions), he has helped my daughter tremendously. She was going to go into her first ACT test blind, but we decided to sign her up for just a few sessions. All I can say is that my daughter said to me after taking the test for the very first time, ‘That was the best investment that you ever made for me!’ Kudos to PCA!!!”

    — Lori Murphy, Parent

  • “PCA helped my daughter go from a 27 to a 31 ACT score and my son from a 31 to a 34. We tried other tutors but PCA were by far my kids' favourite and the results speak for themselves. Invest in this on the front end and it'll save tens of thousands in tuition.”

    — Neil Thompson, Parent

  • “I absolutely loved boot camp! Patrick made it exciting to go to and so fun but also made sure I stayed focused! After doing boot camp my score went up 7 points! I was so proud of myself and thankful that Patrick and the rest of the ‘team’ pushed me to my highest potential and it really paid off. I seriously would do it again if I could, everyone makes you feel so welcome and there’s so many ways to learn. Plus, it’s super effective and so much fun. I know it sounds crazy to say I enjoyed studying for the ACT, but I’m not lying, it was a blast!”

    — Alex Jaeger, Class of 2018

  • “What a difference two weeks can make! My daughter’s ACT composite score jumped five points to a 33, her math score went from a 27 to a 34, and her English held steady at a 33 — all thanks to Patrick Craig Boot Camp! Along with his team of whip-smart college students, Patrick focuses on drilling and refining subject-specific skills and techniques with the students, giving them the edge they need to perform their best on test day. Patrick and his team are all gifted instructors, but — just as important — they relate well with the kids, building their confidence in a relaxed, low-pressure environment. My daughter is starting her senior year excited about the college application process thanks to her ACT score — the investment in Boot Camp was worth every penny!”

    — Amy Dawson, Parent

  • “My daughter attended the 2020 summer boot camp. While she did some self study prior to attending, the boot camp motivated and taught her so much more content and techniques than she could learn/discover on her own. Patrick and the student tutors are smart, patient and kind and will try different ways of teaching until something clicks! The classes are a combination of mini-lessons based on what the students in the session request, and self paced learning with tutors ready to answer questions and provide help. There are targeted practice materials and many practice tests available to work through. Scheduling is very flexible - just let them know in advance so they have the right number of tutors available. PCA has expertise in both ACT and SAT which was so important as my daughter's tests kept getting canceled (due to Covid restrictions) and she had to pivot between the ACT and SAT. She managed in the end to take both tests and her scores went up significantly and opened up more opportunities for honors applications and scholarships.”

    — Dianne Holmquist, Parent

  • "I don't know how you did it but to get my boys engaged the way you have done is a tremendous accomplishment. They are great boys but they absolutely hate school so it has been a struggle for a long time to get them to put forth the effort. Thanks so much for not letting them fall through the cracks as schools tend to do. Your texts always came at the perfect time and your personality resonated with my boys and I'm thankful we met you. God bless you and your very important work!"

    Mike, Parent

  • "My daughter had an AMAZING experience with Patrick Craig and the staff. She was anxious to go and learn and improve her ACT scores! Thanks for everything." "My daughter had an AMAZING experience with Patrick Craig and the staff. She was anxious to go and learn and improve her ACT scores! Thanks for everything."

    — Patty Dachs, Parent

  • “Patrick Craig Academy and, especially, their Summer Boot Camp has made me feel extremely comfortable with taking and preparing for the ACT. Boot Camp allows for specialized time where students can focus on exactly what needs improvement. Over the course of Boot Camp, students prove that they have either mastered the material or have a clear plan to improve. The knowledge I gained from Boot Camp is insurmountable compared to the prep I could’ve done at home or in school, and my scores prove that even more!”

    — Caroline Aase, Class of 2020

  • We have now had two daughters go to Patrick Craig Academy for ACT tutoring since 2019, both with tremendous success! Our second daughter attended group sessions and took numerous (16 in total) MOCK ACT tests at PCA throughout her junior year of high school. She participated in Patrick’s June 2022 Bootcamp and raised her June ACT composite from a 29 to a 31 and all sub-section scores went up, including a 4-point jump in Math. Because her top out of state college choices require a minimum 32 ACT Superscore to earn equivalent in-state tuition, she took the July 2022 ACT to see if she could make additional improvements in her scores based upon all the tips and tricks she learned at PCA. Prior to this last ACT, she took 4 MOCK tests at PCA over two weeks to refresh herself after bootcamp and was scoring very high. She felt extremely confident with timing and content going into her last ACT and left that July test saying it was “Easy”. She just received her July scores, and we were ecstatic: her Superscore and Composite is now a 34. Each subsection score went up several points between the June and July ACT as well! Her incredible success (she event beat her sister’s ACT scores) was a direct result of time spent at PCA over the last year learning the strategies and techniques Patrick and his staff teach in group sessions. As parents, we chose to invest money once again in ACT tutoring for our youngest daughter at Patrick Craig because we saw firsthand how this expense translated into significant scholarship awards for our oldest daughter. With the high ACT scores our youngest daughter just earned, she is going into the college application process with hope and excitement that her hard work will get her accepted with scholarship money at her top colleges and now her senior year has become a lot less stressful!

    — Jennifer Aase, Parent