This paper explored the critical reading strategies and reading performance of junior high school (JHS) students enrolled in both public and private schools. 628 JHS answered the adapted survey questionnaire developed by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) and a researcher-made reading test. The results revealed that JHS students had a high level of awareness of their use of critical reading strategies. However, the results of reading test said otherwise. There is a disconnect with what the students thought they could apply critical reading strategies and their score in the reading test. This paper recommends explicit teaching of critical reading strategies so that JHS students can better prepare themselves for the cognitive and non-cognitive demands in the tertiary level. Furthermore, this paper strongly recommends noncognitive assessments such as reading attitudes and motivations to have a more holistic approach in assessing the critical reading strategies of JHS students.