What is going on with failing classes?

I just got the university pack, and immediately made one of my sims apply for university and all that. she maxed out her painting skill when she was a teen (so its been and is at level 10 for a while now) and I made her do the art history distinguished degree. The only issue is, because she physically cannot increase her painting skill any more, and many of the classes are on the painting skill, she failed her 4th or 5th class ( I can't remember) and is probably going to fail the two she is currently taking. It's so frustrating because she's at level 10 for painting, so failing her painting classes makes no sense whatsoever.

"Karababy52;c-17352528" wrote:
Anyway, it's my belief that grades are extremely skewed toward skill levels at the base, but also factors in being on time for class, taking notes and turning in outstanding term papers and presentations. I wouldn't bother buying those expensive study guides or studying at all. My Sim didn't. *shrugs*

I can second that. My first university household consists of two sims that I pushed through a pre-university "skillcamp" and the premade Julia Wright. My own sims aced all their four courses (three classes, one elective) with A+ across the board. In contrast Julia started with Charisma and Logic, but no Handyness, Research or Robotics that she needed for her physics major. Despite her putting the same attention to her tasks as my own sims, Julia got put on academic probation with one F, one D- and one A. I knew beforehand that skills matter, but underestimated how much exactly.

Update! I'm happy to report my Sim was graduated at Foxbury with a Distinguished degree in Computer Science with honors and an A+ GPA! It seems perhaps my plan worked! Paula had maxed the programming skill before she applied. She did that through hacking and side jobs only. One of her last three classes required the programming skill and I was worried as stated above she would fail that class as others have for not being able to improve the skill. I had Paula do more hacking and take a side job so at least she was actually doing some kind of programming and it worked! At least for her. Maybe others could try that method and see if it works for them too? I hope it helps... *crosses fingers*

Oh, and she was actually late once for her first elective class this time because I was wrong about all of them being in the same building. I should've checked instead of assuming. D'oh! All three of her classes were in the same building this time. Being 30 minutes late didn't seem to matter though, thankfully! She also got some Freelancer wall award ribbon thingie too that has a computer on it. I'm assuming she got that for graduating with honors since she's never had any jobs.

Happy Simming! <3

Just finished Term 1 with a brand new sim out of CAS. Had very little skills to start. She was accepted into a distinguished Drama program. Enrolled her in 3 classes + 1 elective. A few hours before taking the exam, make an offering (food, flowers, etc.) at the university statue, and then you get focused. For the final hours, I did take her to the Commons where she studied for both exams. Maybe this helped because she got an A+ on both exams. For her presentation, she did one in her dorm, and then asked for feedback and refined it. Then she submitted that. The term paper, again, she wrote it and then edited it and submitted it before the end of term. She kept up with homework. She belongs to the Spirit Club, the Secret Society and is on the soccer team. She's been a busy bee and as far as the aspiration, has not got past level 1. I did have her e-mail the professors a few time after class and once went to office hours, so maybe that helped, too. Swtiched up between take notes and listen attentively while in class. She did enter a debate and got some simoleons for that, which was kind of cool.

Also, I tried to take her to the library with some of her roomies to do homework together.

She has now moved to a different dorm and is about to start Term 2. Her elective is advanced shower singing. So funny. Will keep you posted to see if anything changes in Term 2.

https://i.postimg.cc/L6fPgcGj/term-1-discover-university.png

The lack of consistency is confusing and discouraging. Player X does their program a particular way and gets A+, player Z takes the same approach and gets an F. The lack of progress info is the same. In 2 it is clear what skills need working on and to what level at any given time, there is no penalty for already being there or higher, and there is a progress bar so it is immediately obvious where one stands in class progress. Transparancy works wonders.

I had a sim who didn't even go to her final exam and yet she still passed with an A. I thought it would drop lower than that.

"imogenlau;c-17353079" wrote:
I just got the university pack, and immediately made one of my sims apply for university and all that. she maxed out her painting skill when she was a teen (so its been and is at level 10 for a while now) and I made her do the art history distinguished degree. The only issue is, because she physically cannot increase her painting skill any more, and many of the classes are on the painting skill, she failed her 4th or 5th class ( I can't remember) and is probably going to fail the two she is currently taking. It's so frustrating because she's at level 10 for painting, so failing her painting classes makes no sense whatsoever.

This. If your skill level is high enough to tutor other sims in a subject, then you should certainly not be failing for not having a high enough skill level. :|

I actually came here to find this thread because I was so annoyed about one of my sims. He was a pre-existing sim self-employed as an archaeologist. I wanted to take it easy to test out the pack, so I started him with only one history major course and one archaeology elective. He went on-time to every class, with homework fully complete and all bars full, completed and submitted an outstanding term paper for the history course, and took the final exam for the elective. I had him study for both courses daily; he raised his research and debate skill from zero to level 4, raised charisma and logic skills, and raised archaeology from level 5 to level 6. He also chatted up the professors and had a good relationship level with them, and went to office hours.

And yet he ended up failing the history course and only getting a B in the archaeology elective. I could _maybe_ understand the B in the elective, but in what world would you ever get an F after attending every class, doing all homework, and turning in an outstanding term paper?

If you have the get famous pack I notice fame helps. tried one sim who had none and one who had 5 star .both all skills maxed did assignments but unfamous made an f and was put on academic probation they took same exact classes..

They really need to make the study progress visible to players, otherwise we won't ever know whether the unexplained Fs are a bug or if we all misunderstand how Sims 4 college works. These posts strongly suggest that it's a bug imo:

"Amapola76;c-17356516" wrote:


Update: I think it's totally random. I had saved two days before the end of term, then exited without saving when I was so disgusted with the failing grade. I went back and played through the last two days of the term without doing anything different*, and ended up with a B and an A+.

"JAYSIMMS2004;c-17372880" wrote:
I'm starting experience this and I wasn't before. All skills maxed out, all homework completed, did presentations on time as well as term papers and I end up with a C in the class? What in the world is going on?

Throwing out a wild guess, might the bug somehow get triggered by calling the professors? Maybe this act clears study all progress after reporting it to the player. I'm thinking so because calling or e-mailing the professors is the only thing I never do and so far in my two uni saves the grades have always reflected the effort my students put in. I'm striving for varied grades that are in-character for my sims, so any Fs I got were perfectly justified for the sim in quesion, never out of the blue.