University Difficulty

Hmm... What degree were each sim getting? When (real time) did you send your sims to college? How did you get genius trait on your toddler when toddlers have different traits?

Hi :)

I've got the university pack, I've tried it out only the once on one of my sims though and I have to admit I also had the harder experience to myself which I didn't understand as my sim had the genius trait also and had a great childhood.... maybe the subject matters?? Or DNA from parents experience etc I'm not to sure or maybe every experience is different to make this more realistic in gameplay, what ever the reason Id say I like it!! It gives you more than one expectation of the game and the expansion pack and a different view and gameplay each time, but that's just me as I like to constantly try something new with my sims. I've played sims since the first one came out so around 16 years (most of my childhood)

If I'm going to send my sims to university again, I know that its literally study, eat, rest, go to class. Also I've noticed you can do the degree with up to 5 classes all at once, now I'm that advanced of a player and I tried that and damnnn was that hard haha! So I decided second time round to 2 classes at a time. I know that this takes longer and sims lifespan goes before sometimes this is possible to finish but I know I can buy the potion of youth to extend the stage of the lifespan, or I'm pretty sure in the options menu you can extend the sims full lifespan, I guess its each to their own and what each simmer prefers to do, I guess some like the challenge of not extending their sims lifespans and taking on the full 5 classes! :) :)

I'm not sure what else to add in here but I do adore this expansion pack so I could talk about this one forever! <3 <3

Hey @SarahLou372 ! I make tutorial videos about The Sims. I think maybe this (under spoilers) may interest you.


Anyway, the only thing I can recommend is email professors about progress and have a weekend about studying. If you get a notification that you're doing well, study for that class little so your sim can study more for other classes. If your sim goes to classes, always have them take notes. Yes, it may decrease their fun need faster, but it also increases their grade. It's better if you get classes that's main skill is one of the skills your sim improves often.
Also, research and debate skill is really useful. Not only it is for debating, it also makes your sim faster at completing homeworks, gain grades faster, learn skills from books faster etc. So if you have chance, focus on that skill before enrolling in university. If your sim has already done that, it's not too late.

my sim almost had no time to socialize and to do things my sims wants to do if want him to get a good grades, most days were spent catching up his assignments and doing homework, if I want to have a little bit of spare time I need to either cheat his need of sleep or turn him to vampire. but maybe I was just really trying to get him a good grade thats why he didnt have much time to do anything other than doing uni stuff.

"izecson;c-17566390" wrote:
my sim almost had no time to socialize and to do things my sims wants to do if want him to get a good grades, most days were spent catching up his assignments and doing homework, if I want to have a little bit of spare time I need to either cheat his need of sleep or turn him to vampire. but maybe I was just really trying to get him a good grade thats why he didnt have much time to do anything other than doing uni stuff.

If you want your sim to graduate with honors, they need their GPA to be A+. If otherwise is OK, just focus on the passing grade. Good news is that if you focus on a career that branches out later, whether your sim graduates with honors or not doesn't matter (only whether your sim's degree is distinguished or not).

@EgonVM Thank you so much for sharing your tutorial link! :) It will be definitely helpful for me. Also thank you for the tips on skills and studying, my sim took the biology degree and failed first time then I found out I could email professors about progress and that helped me grade get a lot higher. But I've not heard of how they can take notes during classes? Also where and I find and gain research and debating skills I never even knew that existed so thank you! <3

@izecson My experience was the same. Still I love the expansion pack! <3 I think like was motioned above really helped me to email professors so you can focus on the research and homework your sims needs to more.


Also can anyone tell me how to buy university study books as I can find any at all in the bookcase to buy :s :s

@EgonVM & @SarahLou372 well the mom, before she passed, came straight out of CAS. And I didn’t give her the genius trait, she had no skills either and she even got denied an acceptance letter into UNi. But then she had her daughter, Tania, and I have her the genius trait when she aged to toddler. But now that she’s in UNi she is a straight A student and she still goes to games and stuff on the weekends and socialize and stuff, but then again she’s only taking 3 classes. So I’m just wondering if she’s getting good grades because of the trait? Or if it’s because when I send her to class I make her “listen carefully” or “take notes. ? ?

"SarahLou372;c-17566399" wrote:
@EgonVM Thank you so much for sharing your tutorial link! :) It will be definitely helpful for me. Also thank you for the tips on skills and studying, my sim took the biology degree and failed first time then I found out I could email professors about progress and that helped me grade get a lot higher. But I've not heard of how they can take notes during classes? Also where and I find and gain research and debating skills I never even knew that existed so thank you! <3

@izecson My experience was the same. Still I love the expansion pack! <3 I think like was motioned above really helped me to email professors so you can focus on the research and homework your sims needs to more.


Also can anyone tell me how to buy university study books as I can find any at all in the bookcase to buy :s :s

When your sim is in class, you can set their class tone like you can set their work tone. While they are in their class, you can see two icons on their picture in sim chooser: a suitcase and two sims holding hands. Click on two sims holding hands picture and you can have them take notes.
Research and debate skill can be learned by either using a mirror to practise debating or using research machine to research topics (that improve skills related to the topic. Research Research Methodologies to improve research and debate skill even faster). Research machine can be found in both student commons and in the library in Gibbs Hill. It looks like a old computer and it can be only used to research and study.

You can buy textbooks from bookcases and computers (they even have their own category) and from university kiosks. Get the book related to your sim's degree. Though I do recommend using computers as books don't have course materials for optional elective classes.

"simlicious2015;c-17566406" wrote:
@EgonVM & @SarahLou372 well the mom, before she passed, came straight out of CAS. And I didn’t give her the genius trait, she had no skills either and she even got denied an acceptance letter into UNi. But then she had her daughter, Tania, and I have her the genius trait when she aged to toddler. But now that she’s in UNi she is a straight A student and she still goes to games and stuff on the weekends and socialize and stuff, but then again she’s only taking 3 classes. So I’m just wondering if she’s getting good grades because of the trait? Or if it’s because when I send her to class I make her “listen carefully” or “take notes. ? ?

Traits shouldn't affect how your sim learns. Though the fact that you had her take notes does affect it (and learning skill related to the class which listen carefully speeds).
Toddlers cannot have genius trait. Perhaps you mean Inquisitive trait and gave genius trait once she became a child?

@EgonVM Thank you so much that has been a great help to me! <3

@simlicious2015 Like @EgonVM mentioned above you can choose for them to take notes etc like at work you can make them slack or work harder maybe that helps, but also the genius trait does help because my sim was a genius and they have the focus mood more and tend to learn faster than other sims in my experience. Also it might be because you chosen to take less lessons at one time. I know you can take up to 5 maximum at one time but that's pretty hard work on you and your sims.