Teens help

[letimotiv]

I think most people don't probably play teen Sims anymore as young adults can start right off the bat on interesting things.

But I do need help because I am not understanding what can be done to make teens do better at school and things like that...

[ClayMask]

Make sure your Sim is focused, or very focused if you ca manage,  when you send them to school.  Auras won't help while at school, so the focus needs to come from something else.   Your Sim needs to do homework every day.  I'm not sure if doing extra credit helps progress the bar faster, but it might, so I have my Sim also do the extra credit once they have a B.  While at school, the best thing for your Sim to do is probably study hard, or socialize with friends if the performance bar is full.  Socializing with friends can lower the performance on the bar, so make sure the bar is still full near the end of the day, and if not work hard to get it there.  The only other thing I can think of to succeed at school is to make sure your Sim has the skill requirement to go up to the next grade met. 

[Joria]

Get your teen to bed early so they can be up two to three hours before school starts to give you enough to time to make sure ALL the needs are full.  Have a focus aura light by either a chess table or computer and have the teen "Ponder Moves" or "Research Simpedia" on the computer.  These should make the tiny Very Focused.  Definitely do the extra credit work.  The hardest part for me was having my teens social needs met so chatting with family at breakfast was important, or chatting on the computer, (not as good).
Study hard at school also helps raise the grades but could lead to a tense mood which can slow things down.  My routine was send him off with everything high level and very focused and when he came home immediately took care of bladder, shower, food and then homework.  Before bed played games to make sure Fun was high or had him eat in front of the tv watching comedy or the cooking channel.  My teens didn't have any other kind of life but they always got their A.

[Playalot]

I agree with Joria, eating in front of the TV is a daily routine for my sims. It levels cooking, fun and of course hunger all at once. If you can afford it the best bath is so handy as I pop my stressed sims in it as soon as they come home, watch their stress counter go down and cancel the bath as soon as they are totally clean and stress free. It's really quick, next they eat in front of the TV, then go to their job or w/e. I do homework every morning but it's easily done at night too. I always do the extra credit as it speeds up their rate of 'performance increase'. Being focused is totally the key to successful teens. Once you have a focused sim, they can paint/draw focused art on an easel without having any painting skill. Make a few of these and enabled their aura and hang them in the room where your teen will do his/her homework. Cheap easy way to making a 'focused room'. Drawing these pictures levels logic too.

I keep their social up by trying to keep it at about 80% all the time. It's easier and quicker to have a few short chats rather than one great big long one if the social is really low.

Of course having the best beds in the game helps tremendously as well.