The Sims 4 High School Years lets you follow your teenage Sims to school and influence their transition into adulthood.
If you’re planning to send your Sim to university, you’d better make sure they get good grades in high school.
However, the High School Years expansion pack is not all about the grades your teenage Sim gets. This pack focuses more on social interactions and the way teenage Sims transition into adulthood.
Grades do play an important role, but the main focus of this pack is social interactions.
Main takeaways:
- Grades are important, but the main focus is on social skills and the transition to adulthood.
- Getting good grades in high school is crucial if you plan to send your Sim to university.
- There is an option to follow your Sims to high school or let them go alone.
- The pack revolves around teenage dramas, social interactions, friendships, proms, and discovering oneself, alongside attending classes and learning new skills.
- Graduation is not guaranteed, and skipping classes or failing tests can lead to different outcomes for your Sim’s future.
Follow your teenage Sims to high school
When the hour comes for your teenage Sims to go to school, the game will ask you if you want to follow them or send them alone. You can send multiple Sims to high school at once.
You can either follow your Sims to class or let them go alone.
If you don’t follow them, they’ll disappear for a few hours and return by the end of the day. That’s the same kind of experience that you normally get in the base game.
If you do follow them to school, this is where things get really interesting and a plethora of gameplay options open up to you.
But before you go to school, make sure to prep accordingly.
Get your teenage Sim ready for high school
If you want your teenage Sim to have a great day at school, you need to do some preparation. Make sure they brush their teeth, psych up and freshen up before they leave for school.
Additionally, have them work on their social awkwardness to help them succeed in their social interactions.
Don’t forget to apply some facial cleaner to prevent acne bursts. You don’t want acne to invade your Sim’s face when they’re at school. That would be a very socially awkward moment.
You can also design uniform-style outfits for your Sims. Alternatively, you can simply send your Sims to school wearing colorful clothes and layers.
What can my Sim do at Copperdale High?
While going to classes is an important part of high school life, The Sims 4 High-School Years doesn’t focus on that aspect.
Teenage dramas, social interactions, the stories that happen in hallways, making friends, pulling pranks, getting into fights, joining social media challenges, figuring yourself out, and transitioning into adulthood play a much more important role than attending classes and getting good grades.
You’ll spend a lot of time interacting in the hallway, meeting other Sims, getting ready for proms, and so on.
You need to find the right balance between classes and social interactions.
Go to class and learn new skills
A few minutes before class, the bell will ring. This indicates your Sims need to stop doing whatever they are doing in the hallway and get to class.
You’ve got two classes per day. The subjects change and you will learn skills in all of the classes you attend.
You can only pick three subjects to study in The Sims 4 High School Years:
- Math
- Science
- Social Studies
- Simlish
- Foreign Language
- Business
- Art
- Computer Science
Having the Overachiever trait can help your Sim level up their skills faster and learn new things easily.
Class is not the major focus in The Sims 4 High School Years. It’s still an experience your Sim will go through, but it’s not the main focus.
Of course, teenage Sims will be able to gain various abilities depending on the classes they choose to attend. How well you do in class influences your graduation success.
Graduation is not guaranteed in Sims 4 High School Years
Graduation is not guaranteed in The Sims 4. If your teenage Sim skips too many classes and fails to learn for their weekly tests, they may not graduate.
The game lets you tell the story of a Sim that dropped out of high school or doesn’t quite meet the grades. Each of these outcomes has different consequences.
What happens if my Sim doesn’t graduate high school?
If your Sim fails to graduate, this will lock them out of a few specific careers. They won’t be able to go to University and get a degree.
They won’t be able to level up certain skills.
However, that shouldn’t be a problem if you’re not planning to send your Sim to the university.
After all, some of the most successful people in real life never went to university or dropped out to pursue their dreams.
⇒Fun Fact:
- The Sims 4 High School Years doesn’t support yearbooks.
Join after-school activities
To join an after-school activity in The Sims: High School Years, click on the Phone icon and select Join After-School Activity. Then select the activity you’re interested in. For example, you can join the Cheer, Chess, Football or Computer club.
Classes are over at around 2 PM every day. You can still hang out in the hallways after class or attend various events that are taking place at school, such as sports events.
You have different things that will happen throughout the day at Copperdale High apart from classes. Always check the calendar to make sure you’re not missing out on your favorite events.
NPC students will often interact with you advocating for the clubs they’re a member of.
It’s worth mentioning that sports and cheerleading play a key role at Copperdale High. You’ll see a lot of students wearing sports outfits and engaging in sports activities.
By the way, if you follow your Sims to class, you’ll notice the chairs at the back of the class are always empty. If you want to add more students, install the “More Students at High School” mod.
There’s always someone that won’t like you
Once you join a team, you’ll also become friends with the other team members. However, there will always be someone that just won’t like you. You’ll just have to deal with that.
That’s another way The Sims 4 creates drama in the life of your teenage Sim.
Go to Prom
The prom and graduation ceremony will take place at the Copperdale Auditorium.
Make sure to level up your friendship bar with at least a few students if you want to have a prom date.
You can also ask other Sims to come to the prom with you. Your colleagues can autonomously ask you to be their prom date as well.
If your Sim has the Party Animal trait, they’ll have a blast at the prom.
By the way, if your parents set a curfew, you can use a special ladder to sneak out.
Your teenage Sims can party every weekend. The prom is held every Saturday from 7 PM to 11 PM.
Design a new high school building
If you don’t like the way the high school building looks, you can build it from the ground up yourself. Just make sure school is not in session.
The option to bulldoze the high school building is not available when class is in session.
By the way, the computer lab looks so much like a computer lab from the 90s. Those computers definitely need a revamp.
Just sayin’.
Design your dream classroom
You can customize the classroom to your liking. There are various desk and chair options that you can choose from. You can use new desks or add old desks full or writing on them for a more grunge look.
Conclusion
Grades are important in The Sims 4 High School Years pack. But they’re not THE most important thing. The major focus is helping your teenage Sim develop their social skills and successfully transition into adulthood.
High-school graduation is not guaranteed in The Sims 4.
What type of gameplay are you planning to focus on? Is your teenage Sim a troublemaker, social butterfly, or over-achiever? Let me know in the comments below.
This guide was updated in June 2023.