98thPercentile Academy

What it is

98thPercentile Academy is a live online academy for children in grades 1 to 8, teaching math, English language arts (ELA), coding and public speaking in small groups. It is a learner product for parents: a family books a free trial week, the child takes a placement test, and then joins a class of four students with a live instructor. The site describes itself as a "GRADE 1–8 LEADERSHIP & ACCELERATION ACADEMY", and its headline pitch is about the long game: "Most kids start preparing for college in Grade 11. We make sure your child started in Grade 1."

The four programs start at different ages. Math and ELA run from Grade 1, while public speaking and coding run from Grade 3, and the home page says "The system tells us when each one is ready." The tone is ambitious throughout, built around the idea that eight years of steady work beats a last-minute sprint, summed up on the page as "8 years of compounding > 24 months of preparation."

What each program covers

Each program gets a one-line description on the home page. Math promises "Olympiad-grade reasoning", running from times tables to Olympiad problems. ELA covers reading, writing and structured argument, from paragraphs to publish-ready argument. Public speaking is described as "A muscle, not a workshop", taking a child from a first speech to competition-ready. Coding goes from Scratch blocks to Python and AI builds, with real apps and AI models as the stated output.

The academy frames the academic side around three pillars it says colleges look for: academic acceleration (reading and reasoning two grades ahead by Grade 8), leadership (responsibility for a club, a project or a younger student), and original work (something written, built, shipped or performed). On top of that sit four skills it says it teaches in every class: communicate with clarity, think critically, lead under pressure, and build things that work. The site is explicit that these are not a separate course: "We don't teach these skills as a separate class", and instead every math, ELA, coding and speaking session builds them into the work.

How the week works

The FAQ gives the schedule plainly. A student has two live classes each week, 50 minutes each, except public speaking, which meets once a week. Self-paced practice on the NATE platform comes on top, for a total of 4–6 hours per week depending on the grade band. Classes are live online with 4 students per class, "taught by a real instructor, not pre-recorded", and the academy says it chose online delivery because it can place each child with the right cohort by skill level, regardless of city. Placement is by test: "Our placement test calibrates the program to your child."

NATE is the practice layer, and the site stresses it is built in-house, "not licensed or outsourced". The idea is that live class is where new ideas land and the days between are where they become mastery, with just 15 minutes of daily practice. NATE has two main views. The Homepage shows today's classes, this week's benchmark and the next mastery milestone on one screen. The Library holds every lesson recorded and every problem set, searchable by topic and by grade, as the child's full learning archive. Every trial includes a full NATE account, and the site says families keep it either way.

The 98P app moves the parent side to the phone. It lets parents browse events for kids and parents, reschedule classes in two taps and manage up to 3 kids from one login, with the promise "Zero parental laptop required." The app preview lists student events such as Math Kangaroo, IKCC and TED-Ed, and a "Plan the Year" event for parents. The app is offered on the App Store and Google Play.

The pathway and the results it claims

The home page sets out a year-by-year pathway, labeled US system-aligned, under the heading "8 years with us. 4 years on it." For grades 1–3 it promises a child who reads independently, is 1 grade ahead in math and enters intermediate school already accelerated. Grades 4–5 bring a first Olympiad attempt, a first published speaking showcase, and 2 grades ahead in math by Grade 6. Grades 6–8 cover real apps and AI models shipped, STAAR prep and publish-ready essays. The page then describes what it expects after the academy: a student who walks into Precalculus ready in grades 9–10 with the honors track locked, and by grades 11–12 an SAT score in target band and an application that "writes itself". These are the company's stated goals for its students, not guarantees.

Competition results are a large part of the pitch. A scoreboard section names Math Kangaroo USA national rankings for 2022–2025, IKCC global top 50 placings in 2023 and a National BETA state convention for 2022–23, and says every student on it started with the same placement test and the same 1:4 ratio. For parents worried about labels, the FAQ says the academy is "built for capable children, not prodigies", and cites Grade 3 children working at grade level who reached 2 grades ahead with a leadership artifact by Grade 6.

Trial, pricing and reviews

The free trial is one week of any program: "One free week of any 98thPercentile program", live online with 4 students per class, with "No card needed". The trial form asks for a phone number with a US or Canada code and a US time zone (CST, EST, MST, PST or Arizona), and includes consent to be contacted by an AI agent for follow-up. Parents can also book a free Roadmap Session or talk to an academic counselor. The menu has a Pricing page, but none of the pages show a price.

Reviews are summarized as 1,518+ across Google, Facebook and Trustpilot. One parent, R. Kasireddy, writes that her daughter has "been learning Math and ELA for 3 years, starting when she was in 2nd grade" and that the academy "helped her develop a strong foundation in math concepts and excel beyond her grade level." A student, Varchas N, writes that "they teach us things that are way above our level." The company blog publishes articles across math, ELA, coding, public speaking and SAT topics.

Who it suits

98thPercentile suits parents who want structured, live acceleration for a child in elementary or middle school, with a small class, a set weekly schedule and a practice platform that keeps work going between sessions. It fits families who care about competitions, public speaking and building a record over years, and whose children respond well to being pushed above grade level. The 4–6 hours a week the FAQ describes make it a substantial commitment rather than a light extra.

It suits less well a family that wants self-paced recorded lessons, a one-off tutor for a single test, or classes for a teenager beyond Grade 8. The trial form is set up for US and Canadian families on US time zones, and the cost only becomes clear after contact, since none of the pages show a price.