The Sims 2/School

In The Sims 2, children and teens must attend school to advance. Failure to attend school can mean the social worker for kids and teens being crippled later in life. This article reviews the mechanics of school, doing homework and how to get into private school.

The School Day
The school day is simple. Every morning at 8am from Monday to Friday, kids and teens board the school bus for the day. While at school nothing happens except for changes to their needs. All Sims get lunch and toilet breaks during school, thus their hunger and bladder meters should be completely full at the end of the day. Fun, of course, gets depleted. The rate at which this happens depends on whether the Sim is enrolled in a public or private school. Social needs get a bit of boost as well, however hygiene and comfort lower slightly.

During the day, the only thing that can happen is a school chance card. If your Sim has an A, they may receive a special benefit. Money, if they're in public school and skill bonuses if they're in private.

At 1pm, teens come home with a report card in the form of a grade. At 3pm kids come home with their report card.

Grades
Kids report cards come in the form of a grade. This following section reviews how grades are chosen.

All kids start with a C as their grade until they go to school. At the end of the school day, a plus or minus might be added to the grade. This depends on mood and counts for all letters. There are five grades the report card can express. A-D and F. Getting an A or a D can cause memories. The next thing that can alter grades is actually going to school. Like work, failing to go to school can have bad consequences. In school those consequences are the reduction of a grade. Finally, homework is what raises grades. For every day that homework is completed, the grade will be raised. If homework isn't completed, then you won't be penalized at first. However, if two lots of homework don't get completed, then you'll lose a grade for every day this occurs.

Getting bad grades can have some negative outcomes.
 * Teens under a C can't get a job.
 * Teens with an F will be fired.
 * Kids with an F will be taken by the social worker.

Homework
Every day, Sims come home with homework which must be done in order to achieve an A. When Sims do homework, they display a bar over their heads, similar to the skill bar. When this bar is full, that means the homework is complete.

This process can be increased by learning to study. To do this select the homework and click on Ask for Homework Help. For the duration of the homework, the rate of completion is now complete. It takes one full homework assignment to learn how to study. After that, homework completion is now quicker.

Private School
Lots of parents want to put their kids in private school. This section reviews how to do it.

First of all, click on the phone and select Invite Headmaster. The headmaster will now arrive at 5pm. When he arrives, greet him before 6pm or he'll leave. Greeting him activates a scenario bar that must be fulfilled in six hours. To complete it successfully you must earn 90 points. The scenario consists of three parts: The first thing is to give him a good tour. To do this select Entertain...Give Tour on the headmaster. Take him to a room and select Show Room. For maximum points, go to a window before doing this interaction. The amount of points you receive depends on the environment score so clean up before showing each room. If the headmaster likes it, he'll applaud the room. Continue the process. This continues until each room is shown or until 40 points are obtained.
 * Give tour
 * Serve good food
 * Schmooze

The next part is to cook good food. To obtain as many points, choose foods that require high cooking skill to unlock. Low cooking skill foods will score low. After that, click on the headmaster and select Entertain...Call to Dinner. The headmaster than grabs a plate. The points you earn depend on how much hunger the headmaster gains. This means that burnt foods will score pretty lowly.

Finally, you need to schmooze. If you've scored maximum points on the tour and the meal, then you'll likely not need to do this step. Schmoozing simply means socializing. Gain high daily points with the headmaster and this will be reflected in the scenario bar.

After six hours or when 90 or more points are gained, the headmaster approaches your Sim to inform them of the outcome. If they've succeeded then all children are automatically enrolled in private school. If not, the headmaster leaves. You can always try again.

Being in private school has some benefits.
 * Special uniform
 * Less need depletion
 * Chance cards give skill instead of money
 * Teens start jobs at level two.
 * Memory of being accepted into private school. Rejection also has a memory.