How come my sims keep failing university classes

> @Isharell said:
> Mood matters? Oh, heck, that might be the reason I've had several sims fail or barely scrape by. I will have to remember that! I've found it's easier to send them to Uni if they don't live in a dorm. They get to class on time and don't wander off and miss their finals that way. :D But it is more satisfying to have them live in a dorm.

Whenever my sims live in a dorm they always arrive late at lesson and miss their finals.
Even though I lose part of the experience offered by the expansion, I prefer keeping my sims at home. This way, they are able to be nearly always on time, they get perfect scores and they even manage to have part-time jobs and build a family while studying.

After pushing a huge numer of Sims thru Uni there is one major thing I recommend.
Even if you play on short lifespan, or feel it's "cheating" in general to turn off aging... do it.
Just stop aging until you get thru Uni.

The main reason for this? It is simply much much easier to do a maximum of 3 classes a "year". Also, never do more than 4 total "activities" (including classes) per "year".
With that I mean that the maximum workload that is doable, really consistently, is 3 classes and one student organization OR extra activity such as soccer, e-sports, babysitting, what have you. Also keep in mind that grinding thru 4 sets of homework is much much worse than 3 sets. And not doing your homework will always make your grades suffer badly.

Also when picking your student organization: to maximize grades and make life easier I strongly recommend the Braniacs or the Debate Team depending on what school you go to. Third choice is the Robotics people. The rest are Flavor Only so to speak and I would not pick them unless you go down to two classes per "year", meaning you can join both the debate team AND the spirit squad.

Personally I tend to spend 5 years at Uni, something not unheard of IRL anyway ;). My preference is a 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3 plan, class wise since especially Scholarly Ambition is very grindy in the middle if you want to pick that one (I always do). To fulfill the 3rd step that involves tutoring 5 classes, usually takes 2 "years" to complete while the 1st and last steps in the Ambition are very easy to fulfill so 3 classes is easy.

Also, keep in mind that Elective classes can screw up your schedule by being on the other end of campus right after or before a regular class. This will mean your grades will suffer since you will be late for those classes every time unless you can teleport thru Yoga or is a vampire or Wizard.
Regular classes are never scheduled that way, even if they are directly after each other they are always in the same building then.

Two final tips:
1. Never ever ever push thru more than one Sim thru Uni at the same time unless both live in the same household and it is off campus.
2. The last bit above is important. It is much easier to study off campus since the Sim is never late for classes then, since they teleport away to class like any other job. On the other hand you miss 50% of the experience with going to Uni, not living in a dorm. Up to you.

Since we are talking about it, I put a seven Sims household through uni in the dorms. So I have experienced these issues, which I solved by going into super micromanage mode. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to pause.

I had two in soccer. A few in the brainiacs, but couldn't bother to keep up with those activities. Majority were mermaids so they were constantly trying to swim at the very end of the campus. Originally I had them all at different credit loads, but I quickly burnt out and made them all take the highest class loads to graduate quickly.

I was successful, and they all did well, so it is definitely possible if you are willing to put the effort in. However, I wouldn't exactly call it that fun of an experience.

"Calico45;c-17985537" wrote:
Since we are talking about it, I put a seven Sims household through uni in the dorms. So I have experienced these issues, which I solved by going into super micromanage mode. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to pause.

I had two in soccer. A few in the brainiacs, but couldn't bother to keep up with those activities. Majority were mermaids so they were constantly trying to swim at the very end of the campus. Originally I had them all at different credit loads, but I quickly burnt out and made them all take the highest class loads to graduate quickly.

I was successful, and they all did well, so it is definitely possible if you are willing to put the effort in. However, I wouldn't exactly call it that fun of an experience.

The key with the Braniacs is that they require zero effort except to study in the library instead of in your dorm. Every weekday between 3pm and 7pm they meet and do homework at the library. That is all they do. And as soon as you get to the second level as a member you get extra credit in all classes you take. Just for sitting at the library doing your homework instead of doing it at the dorm.

@Minai are you editing all papers and presentations until they are Excellent or Outstanding quality? For the presentations, are you remembering to actually go and give the presentation? (outside of class time)

It’s still not working so well even if my sim is in a great mood.
Could zerbu go to school mod effecting or conflicting with the game?

Are you willing and able to use mods? I have found a mod that allows me to check my sims grades during the semester. The grades always start at zero at the beginning of the semester and it acts like a meter which you slowly fill by going to classes, do homework and make papers/presentations. It does not change how they earn grades but let's you know if they are doing bad. In those cases I get them a study book to study for their course. My sims would have done way worse in uni without this mod.

https://modthesims.info/d/637945/quickly-check-uni-performance.html

A lot has already been said, but one other aspect (and I could be wrong) is I think your sims skill level in the "subject" might also have an impact. Like, I've had sims who seem to do "everything right" (attend class on time and in a good mood, submit excellent papers, do all their homework, yadda yadda) and still not get great grades (tho I've never had a sim actually FAIL a class), and then other sims making pretty minimal effort (hardly ever doing homework, being late or even missing a class or 2, one sim straight up slept through her final lol) and still get an A or A+, and the difference seems to be that the latter group, despite their class participation, still HAD very high skill levels in the classes they were taking (like, 8, 9, 10 levels I mean) while the first group, despite all their class work, were still fairly low (usually around level 4 or 5). So, it might be the case that if a sim is just "good" at something, they can kinda breeze by, while a another sim who is fairly low level has to put a LOT more effort in.

"FanPhoria;c-17993779" wrote:
A lot has already been said, but one other aspect (and I could be wrong) is I think your sims skill level in the "subject" might also have an impact.

If you choose "Study for (class)" on the computer all you do is build that skill needed for that class slowly. That said you should not be able to fail university classes ("fail" is not the same as getting an A- or a B. The only way you fail a class is being you not getting any credit from it) unless you deliberately do not do your homework or assigned projects.

Did the OP deliberately choose a Major in something the Sim has 0 skill points in I wonder? Because then it might take to year 3 or so before they get consistent A grades on everything since the skills build up just by going to class.

"Beardedgeek;c-17993863" wrote:

"FanPhoria;c-17993779" wrote:
A lot has already been said, but one other aspect (and I could be wrong) is I think your sims skill level in the "subject" might also have an impact.

If you choose "Study for (class)" on the computer all you do is build that skill needed for that class slowly. That said you should not be able to fail university classes ("fail" is not the same as getting an A- or a B. The only way you fail a class is being you not getting any credit from it) unless you deliberately do not do your homework or assigned projects.

Did the OP deliberately choose a Major in something the Sim has 0 skill points in I wonder? Because then it might take to year 3 or so before they get consistent A grades on everything since the skills build up just by going to class.

I'm not exactly sure how to explain this since I'm not great with words but it happens right after my sim attends class. I get a notification that they put in the minimum amount of effort even when I chose "take notes" during their class