<![CDATA[The low critical thinking ability of Grade X students at MA Ma'arif NU Kota Blitar in the Pancasila Education subject motivated this quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group design. The study aimed to test the effectiveness of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) model using samples from class X.F (25 students, experimental group) and class X.B (25 students, control group) selected through purposive sampling. The novelty of this research lies in the localization of the subjects in a private Islamic senior high school (Madrasah Aliyah) with a distinctive religious culture. Data were collected through HOTS essay tests and analyzed using the t-test and Normalized Gain (N-Gain). The results showed that the implementation of the PBL model fell into the very good category (92.86%). Although the t-test proved there was no statistically significant comparative difference in critical thinking between the groups (p = 0.113 > 0.05) due to the limited adaptation period, the internal analysis of the experimental class recorded an average N-Gain score of 0.58 (moderate improvement category). The theoretical implication of this research confirms that the effectiveness of PBL is not absolute but strongly depends on students' initial cognitive readiness. Practically, this research guides teachers to integrate strong structured guidance (scaffolding) at the beginning of the PBL syntax to trigger independent thinking within the Kurikulum Merdeka (Independent Curriculum).]]>
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