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Lousy scores...what am I doing wrong? and thoughts!


musical74

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Hello again! Remember me? *crickets*

 

Um, anyway, when I went to take the exams in the game, I got mid 20s, thinking *GEEZ it should be a lot higher than that! I'm not missing classes, I'm making sure to hit the library, they are all 3 or 4 by the time the first exams are rolling around, so...why the lousy scores? I want to at LEAST be better than the bullies! :( * Do I need to study in addition to hitting the library? (Given that the library gives me a free research upgrade going there, I do that instead of just *study*). Do I need to train too? Do I need to bribe the professors? :ph34r: Why the lousy score?

 

One other thing, I am flat out amazed at how many different random events there are! There seems to be a few *you are going to see this* (the wizards VS magicians one comes to mind) but so many different things, it's fun starting from (almost) the beginning - I have a save that starts on day two - that there are some that are *never seen that one before!* Phillipe apparently hypnotized and I played along with it...never mind Joana disliked me for flirting with her man (b****), Louise beating up the bullies? (I've seen both of those...once) The crash-bangs of a professor VS plant battle? (I see that off and on, think it's because botany is one of my classes) I just love playing this game because every time it's played there are so many random events each time is very unique!

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Your exam result is ((Study Level...10)×Parent Skill Level) + Extra Credit +/- other modifiers. Most notably, if you're sick/injured on the day of the exam your score is going to plummet.

 

Also keep in mind that, even with high starting attributes (3+), some classes will not teach you enough skill steps to comfortably pass their mid-terms even if you never skip a class, so you're best off putting in some manual effort. You'll want a minimum of 5 in both your study level and parent skill level before a subject's midterm hits, below that you might be at risk of academic reprimands (or at least academic embarrassment if Joana manages to beat you at Arithmetic). For finals you'll want both at 10, though if you're looking to dominate the exams...well, that'll take a little bit more effort.

 

As for REs...you have no idea...

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Also, know that the midterms are honestly not that important for your final grade, save for avoiding hall sessions you can almost entirely write them off.

 

I have a score of ten in study for the classes by mid terms and I still only get around 35-50 on most of them. That's more than high enough. A skill of 5 with a study level of 5 will only net you exam scores of about 25 or so. If you want better, you're going to have to put more effort into one or the other. It just so happens that you get a lot of points in the class skills over the course of the year so long as you're not at the level cap, so it's better to focus your effort on study, if you're worried about low grades. You'll need them at ten anyway for the finals, so you're not really losing any effort doing this that way.

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Since I start out with low attributes, I have to play cautiously. So my first few weeks I pump up the main level of the class skills, normally to 10 unless there is a quest that will increase it. Music and Astronomy have their own special study-ish actions that also increase other skills in their category, which is nice. By midterms my character is typically in the top 1 to 4th spot in all her classes, sometimes by huge margins. Astronomy especially, like at midterms she has her skills in the 160s. Take that Malacresta.

 

Anyway, I was under the impression that midterms weren't super important anyway? I thought I read they probably wouldn't even be mentioned in year 2.

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Metis is not complete correct on his formula unless you have Study 10 there is a certain randomness in your exam result

 

your minimum is (Study Level × Parent Skill Level) + Extra Credit

your maximum is always (10 × Parent Skill Level) + Extra Credit

 

if a student somehow missing the exam they still write it but at a far lower result.

 

Unless you skip class its difficult to catch up with the other student till midterm because they start the year with a big bonus but in opposite to the player have no easy way to raise the attributes, can't skip class and use suboptimal ways to spend their time.

 

Midterm exam count up to 20% for your total result for this year but in some class only 1% bit it still can make the difference between be first at the end of the year or just second.

 

if you want to have more info including how much the midterm is counting for in each class have a look here: http://academagia.wikia.com/wiki/Exams:_A_Guide

 

If you want to increase your exam result for year 1 the different ways to raise your skills temporary like using magic or items count not as cheating. (this might not be true when you import the game to year 2 as the Legate mentioned that some scores will be adjusted via the import tool)

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Well, I think there are differences in cultural areas too.

 

I and I think most people from North America would probably write one million as "1,000,000"

 

I've seen on some European (and Asian) sources the same number written as "1.000.000"

 

Humorously, the symbol for decimal places is also reversed in this so "3.14159265359" becomes "3,14159265359"

 

So really I'd say it depends on where you grew up. :)

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You probably wouldn't like to drive my car, then. Absolutely 100% no metric anywhere in it. Made even before they started putting those dual standard/metric speedometers in them. :)

 

Anyway, about grades, if you want extra help, you might get some use out my my gradebook thread.

 

totally shameless plug there, but what can I say? :)

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GASP! Shameless plug, how dare you?! *goes to check it out* :)

 

(I've played games that would occasionally have QUITE shameless plugs for other games...ever played the free VGA version of King's Quest 2?) ;)

 

The other thing I noticed related to test-taking is this little thing called *outright cheating*...would that help if I do it right before the exams? I'd rather not cheat at all, but it's discouraging to see that I'm barely beating the bullies in classes... I would think that Philip and Joana were skipping classes to do bully-type things (Joana failed to cast Nervi on you)

 

The other issue I have run into is getting punished for trespassing, but I wasn't going somewhere that I shouldn't have been...since my character is a Hedi gal, does that mean if I'm snooping around some area in the grounds that is in Vermin area will I get punished? I guess I'm not sure what classifies as *trespassing*.

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Exams go off of your modified Study Level and Parent Skill Level, so anything that buffs/debuffs them will be taken into account if they're still active the turn you take the exam. Passive/active abilities, items, spells, emotions, name it - they're all accounted for. All those things that temporarily raise something or 'nother that's useless in 99% of every situation? Exams might be the 1%, depending on what you have.

 

Incidentally, if you want to outright cheat I'd recommend Negative Alteration of Organic Matter, at least for classes that only teach 3 or 4 relevant subskills. It might be overkill since it's kind of a one-person tactical nuke in terms of exams, but if you really don't want to look bad next to one person in particular...

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I prefer to boost my self over using hostile actions against other students. But with Athletics you might have no better choice because there is no good Pheme to boost it if I remember right. Also I suggest to use magic to influence exam scores only for the final exam as it is then worth at last 4 times as much compared to the midterm exam.

I personal used From Nothing Knowledge and only add Pheme for the exam to lose not that much skill training. But Pheme alone is most of the time only good for 2-3 level (mean 20-30 for the final exam)

 

About outright cheating I personal think its better to use 2 timeslot for Judge the Instructors Taste then one for outright cheating because the later is just temporary and if you have your study not at 10 by the final exam then something did go wrong. The reason I say this is because you only can get the rewards for study level during year 1 in the next year even if you take the same class again it will be different one as far I understand the Legate.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I routinely flunk mid terms with my characters, since I tend to raise study level to 10 in one class to get the boost before training the next, I still cruise the end of year exams - if you want to smash the opposition without spells, ability bumps, items or cheating at the final exam you'd want to do well at mid terms, but... I have better things to do with my time in the early game ;)

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