3 Little Sims go to University

[Metropolis Man]

This challenge ends Sunday night, so get those scores in soon. Good luck to everyone finishing up.

[Metropolis Man]

Finished up. Great challenge, Marian. A really fun and unique event. Thanks for the idea.

Moe = 84
Larry = 98
Curly = 93

No loans. Total = 275

Started W1, D3, 9:05 a.m.

[Nandarelle]

So, for the number vs letter grades...
I checked by saving at the end of each semester, temporarily switching game language to English, and seeing what grades came in.

Marian's scale is correct for the grades my Sims got, with one notable exception.
4, apparently, corresponds to F. (Surprising, because I thought F was the lowest grade. In real life, you can definitely get lower than 4 - but maybe not in the Sims.)
So, I calculated my score accordingly (and no point for the 4).

Valerie: 103
Valentijn: 111
Vera: 114
no student loans

Total: 328

I very much enjoyed this challenge. I never really gave university the attention it deserves, and story mode en having uncontrolled Sims were also new.
So, thank you, challenge team!

[LenaLJ]

A slow last minute entry.

The last of my 3 sims where enrolled on W1 Day 2 10:20 AM and took no loans.

Combined they had a score of 326 (114+106+106)

[Sruixan]

In the end, I'm afraid I couldn't quite muster the motivation to finish this - that's no fault of the challenge, I hasten to add, but, well, y'know. *gestures at basically everything*

...admittedly, I had managed to peel away a fair bit of the difficulty through... shenanigans... so it wasn't exactly the most exhilarating game I've ever played. It did however teach me a lot about just how ridiculously stupid sims are, and how ridiculously stupid The Sims 4 is, so it was by no means unenjoyable! In literally the last hour or so I've scraped my way to the end of the second term, meaning my sims can at least post a (surprisingly!) respectable score:

Ibrahim: 78
Ilene: 79
Ivy: 79

With no loans needed whatsoever, that gives me a final total of 236, and for the record I started the first term W1 D2 8:48am (i.e. the earliest I could manage) - as tempting as it is to extrapolate the above results across a third term and thus claim I could have won, there's no point in musing about what didn't happen. It is entirely possible that Ibrahim's apparent deafness would have finally driven me mad enough to purposefully drown him in one of his beloved bubble baths, for instance... but yeah, cool event, intriguing idea, and a lovely opportunity to do something I wouldn't normally, so add my thanks to the pile!

[Metropolis Man]

This challenge is now closed.

Grats to all participants and to Nikitachi for her 2nd win of the season. Everyone is now free to share their strategy.

[Nikitachi]

This challenge is now closed.

Grats to all participants and to Nikitachi for her 2nd win of the season. Everyone is now free to share their strategy.

Thank you! Although Sruixan should be the real winner, as their score is definitely higher than mine (I only had 229 points after the second semester, and my sims enrolled 12 minutes later even if we ended up with a tie). Too bad they didn't have enough time to finish the game

So, first of all, regarding the Story mode. I always tried to pick knowledge-related answers where possible, and skipped early questions if nothing in them was related to knowledge (up to 3 skips, as rules state). Also, I picked food-related answers where available, because I chose Culinary as a major for all three of my sims. Why Culinary? Because cooking is a quick skill, it's easy to keep leveling up even when sims are on their own, and also, most Culinary courses don't make you finish a presentation on the board - those type of presentations are a pain because they can only be submitted at certain days and time, which sometimes is impossible if you can't control the sim. Computer-based presentations are much easier to submit is this aspect. I ended up with 3 female sims, all with a knowledge-based aspiration (which I switched to Academic as soon as the game started). That helped them level up skills faster.

Next, onto the start of the game. Right after the game started, all sims sent their applications to the university. They got accepted 24 hours later, so I started the main game at Monday, 9 AM. Within these 24 hours, the girls were working on the Research & Debate skill (which helps finish homework and term papers faster) at the library, and also earned simoleons by taking and selling a lot of pictures. That got them enough money to furnish the house comfortably (best beds, computers for everyone, good fridge & stove, some decorations, etc.) - all that helped them always fulfill their needs as quickly as possible, which is vital for performance, especially when you don't control the sim. Oh, and also, I made them all quit their job, because it's totally unnecessary and only leads to skipping the classes, which is an instant failure of all your plans.

And finally, the main part. Actually, getting an A+ is generally very easy - you just need to attend both classes with a finished homework and a 'Take notes' mode in class, and also complete your presentation (if there is one), work on it until it's perfect quality and then submit - or, if you have an exam instead of the presentation, then even easier, just attend it! But since you mostly can't control the sim, you stumble upon difficulties - they may not do their homework on time, they may get late or even skip the class, you can't choose a better study mode in class, etc. So, your goal is to help them do everything on time even when you can't control them. How? First, make sure nothing distracts them, so don't have anything in your house that may keep them unnecessarily busy (yes, no books, lesson learned the hard way!!) Then, use your active sim to wake up the inactive ones if they sleep when their class is starting soon. And also, you can form a group of your sims and make them do homework together (it mostly fails though, but sometimes works!). On weekends, make the active sim study the subjects at the library using the Research Archive Machine (not the computer!), focusing on the subjects you know they've skipped homework of, or couldn't take notes in class. Buy Moodlet solvers or other potions to help them stay awake for longer or get into the right mood (each sim completed the first two milestones of the Academic aspiration which helped them get the required satisfaction points, and cooking-related whims helped with that too).

Doing all the abovementioned, the grades for the 2nd and 3rd semester were all A+'s. I couldn't make a perfect first semester though, neither in my final try nor in any of the trial ones - maybe I still miss something important.

[MarianT]

Congrats, Nikitachi! And thanks to everyone who participated.

[Nandarelle]

Congratulations, Nikitachi!

I forgot to post my start time, which was a rather late W1 D3 17:42.

I used the time until enrolment for skilling, money making and romance.
Skilling: everyone at least to level 3 in Research & Debate. I also made them pick up some cooking skill, to avoid them setting the kitchen on fire when they were not controlled. I also raised the skills they got from story mode to a level where they might get a scholarship.
Money making was mostly done by painting on the sketch pad (which also means they got some painting skill), as well as the jobs two of them had from story mode. Valerie, the first one to be controlled, took a vacation day, and then quit on her first day in university.
Romance: two of my Sims, Valerie and Valentijn, were husband and wife. They renewed their vows at a wedding arch. Vera quickly wooed Angela Pleasant (the first Sims she saw, except for Eleanor Elderberry) and married her.  Wedding / renewal of vows provides a powerful +3 happy moodlet that lasts for 2 days. This was very helpful for keeping my Sims happy and very focused.

During the term, they made more money from opening presents and harvesting a small garden. I wasn't able to buy the best beds right away, but after one term I was. Money turned at to be less tight than I had imagined.
I never really played much with Patchy, but he was really handy, not only for garden work and seeds, but also a nice focused moodlet.
Story mode provided me with some focused decor items, and in combination with Patchy, listening to new age music and a good amount of happy moodlets, this made my Sims focused / very focused most of the time, even when they were not being controlled.
They ususally did a pretty good job taking care of their needs and going to class when they weren't controlled.

When they were controlled, I made plenty of use of the crystal crown to take care of their needs. I gave them each a crown, and put some crystals in the living room.
There are crystals for each need except energy, so the only thing I needed to spend much time on was sleeping.
(I used seperate crystals for each need, because the fancy ones that take care of mutiple needs are not for sale on the computer.)
For hunger, they didn't rely on the crystal as much as the produce from the garden though.
That is not only quick, but it also provides nice moodlets, especially when the quality starts to improve.

My Sims majored in psychology, language and literature, and history.
They have in common that they each have courses that raise research and development.
For electives, I chose either skills that I wanted to improve (more research and development and (foolishly) painting (no time for the sketch pad once university started))
or that they already had (gardening (from Patchy), cooking and dancing).
I didn't have many distractions in the house, but I did have music on, so dancing was one of their favourite ways to waste time.
I also had two laptops, so sometimes they gamed or trolled the forums.
Other times, though, I was able to queue a task on the laptop for sim A, change control to sim B, and they could work on their essay while sim A still studied for a few hours.

As much as I could, I tried to get the homework done, write and edit the essays, make, edit and practice the presentations, and get some study time in for the exams.
Mostly that worked well. In semester 2, two Sims got perfect grades, and in semester 3, all of them.
How to get a 4 (F): go to class, do your homework (mostly),  write and edit an essay until it is excellent, and then the important part: do not hand in that essay.
(I had lost track of time - it was time to change control to the next Sims and I wouldn't control her that semester anymore.)

[Sruixan]

Many congratulations to Nikitachi for the win, which was wholly well-deserved regardless of your flattering assessment of my potential!

Though I'm not going to do a full write-up right now, I would like to draw attention to one thing I found out during my time with this challenge due to how unexpectedly relevant it's become. If you haven't seen Carl's latest video, he spends a large part of it delivering a (justified!) rant about the semi-unannounced change to the decoration system: increasing a room's environment score no longer builds up a passive moodlet, but instead increases the upper bound on the random strength of a two-hour moodlet that is randomly bestowed upon your sims... and it has a two-hour cooldown timer, naturally. Courtesy all that randomness, it's... not great! But... there have been no changes to the system for emotional auras/ambience/decor (and yep, the game uses all three of those terms in various places), so as long as you can get enough items of the same type in the room, you can still get a constant +3 moodlet for that emotion! And that's why my sims had 60+ photos of the Pleasant twins spread across the walls: photos can emit an emotional aura if their subject is in that mood, and if the picture is of Outstanding quality, it's strength is 6. I say that confidently as if I have any understanding of what that means; it's presumably equivalent to an object with Environment 6 in the old system, but I really haven't a clue! I do know that the area of effect for the photograph is less than that of a mathematical diagram or emotional lamp, hence the need for sixty of the blasted things, but since the Moschino stuff tripod guarantees top-notch snaps, setting sims' mood this way folds neatly into the use of photography for making money and friends.

(oh, and I think it's also why sims keep doing that "aha!" gesture with a finger in the air so frequently now - I think they sometimes do that to signal the start of the 2-hour moodlet... and, just to be even more annoying, this animation seems to cancel just about anything the sim might happen to be doing at the time, including but not limited to: cooking, cleaning, repairing, reading, doing homework, etc.)

[SueDenim]

• As has been mentioned - R&D is a huge help to good grades in university.  My 3 spent the time before enrolling upping their R&D skills (with a few logic and charisma thrown in- because I wanted a specific degree) so that they'd be able to do homework & presentations faster.  Also, it made them more eligible for scholarships.
• I had them go to Foxbury - so they could  join the Brainiacs (on their "day"). Once you're Braniacs lvl 2, any homework done during a Braniac meeting gives extra credit for that class. All 3 went to every Brianiac meeting.
• Foxbury is completely unnavigable (unless you're a vampire or spellcaster which were not options).  So I only went to campus on weekends (they would magically go to and come home from class, of course). They basically went from home during the day to the library  when everyone was out of class for the day, and back home once the controlled sim was either done with all homework or too tired to go on.  It did mean I got basically nowhere with the academic aspiration.
• They all had the same major - Psychology. 1st term Psychology raises R&D skills - between the pre-enrollment and psych classes, they were all fairly high at the end of the first week which made homework &tc. go much more quickly.
  They all took the in-major classes with no electives so they had identical classes. When Sims have the same class, you can use the action "Study for _________ together." if they're in a group (at the library).
  That did not always work. (sometimes the non-controlled Sims would take a step - then run down to the barbecue grill and start cooking incessantly.)  But at least it was an option.
• The controlled sim always took notes during class - no matter how miserable they were.  I also had one sim paint a mathematical diagram pre-enrollment.  When it was possible, the controlled sim would view it before heading to class.
• For T/T classes, if you do (and edit) the presentation/paper and do at least one day of homework grades are pretty high.  I had a schedule to make sure that all 3 did the presentation/paper and got that turned in.  I got all A+s on those.
• For M/W/F classes, the grades were more of a crapshoot. (doing all the homework and showing up to class on time will usually get at least an A-)With Sim #1, it was pretty easy to get good grades.  With Sim 2 & 3, it was more of a crapshoot
• I only gave them a microwave, so they were less likely to burn the house down.

[mismck]

I had a very similar strategy to SueDenim. My Sims also went to Foxbury for the Brainiacs student organization. They were all in the Psychology Distinguished Degree program. The Research & Development skill was a priority for all of them. I had some Focus items in the house for when they were doing homework, writing papers, and working on presentations.

My biggest mistake was in the first semester when I forgot to have one of them turn in their presentation board during the specific weekday hours. Once I remembered, it was the weekend and I wasn’t going to be controlling her again until after the semester was over. After that major mishap, I made sure that the presentation boards were done first, then the paper could be done later because they can be turned in anytime. Each day before giving up control of a Sim, I would queue up tasks like doing homework or starting their paper so they would continue being productive for a while.

For the house setup, I only utilized the downstairs so no one would waste time on the stairs. The kitchen area was turned into a bedroom/bathroom and the main room was the study area, mini-kitchen, and dining room.

[ratchie]

Was anyone else impressed by how well their Sims managed without them dictating their every move. I was really proud when the Sims I wasn't controlling took care of their needs did homework and went to class autonomously.
I really enjoyed how relaxing it was to just let things out of my control happen definitely one of my favorite challenges ever.
And who knows if it wasnt the first time I had ever sent any sim to university I might have scored better too lol.

Rachel

[SueDenim]

Was anyone else impressed by how well their Sims managed without them dictating their every move. I was really proud when the Sims I wasn't controlling took care of their needs did homework and went to class autonomously.

They went to class autonomously.  And they would generally feed themselves if they got too hungry.  But more than once, I'd stare at the two I wasn't controlling at 4-something - when they were already entering into red zone for energy and think "GO TO BED!!! you have class in 3 hours and you're going to be tired and miserable!"  And because they were going to class (I'd also use the controlled sim to wake someone up if necessary), they were tired and miserable.

Oh - also, my transition was in the middle of the day, which helped because I'd spend the whole night controlling a sim to set them up for the next day (and also load some activities for the following afternoon at times - depending on class schedule).  It also gave me at control of 2 sims during the school day (not at the same time, of course). And I had control of everyone for at least part of the weekend.

[Deklitch]

woops, got caught up in work and missed this one.