I would call it critical reading rather than critical thinking. Terms like critical thinking and intelligence are often too pretentious to be useful. Critical

I would call it critical reading rather than critical thinking. Terms like critical thinking and intelligence are often too pretentious to be useful. Critical reading is a skill you can practice. The specifics depend on the field, but there are many common features such as analyzing and comparing texts, interpreting them from various points of view, and putting things in context. In order to practice critical reading, you must learn something deep enough that you start understanding the nuances of the arguments the experts in the field make. Fresh STEM graduates tend to have worse critical reading skills than arts/humanities graduates, because they never had the chance to practice it. On the other hand, advancing to true senior positions often requires similar skills, and many learn them later in the life.