How to graduate from high school in The Sims 4
The graduation ceremony in The Sims 4's High School Years Expansion Pack takes place when a Sim ages up to a Young Adult.
They might not qualify for graduation initially though depending on their High School grade - so for a rundown of the full process and how to get the ceremony started in the game, read on.
How graduation works
As mentioned, The Sims 4 doesn’t tell you how to trigger the graduation event, so you may very well have completed countless semesters until you discover that it actually unlocks after ageing up.
When this happens, you'll receive a pop-up that tells you if your Sim has graduated, whether it's with honours, or if they become a high school dropout. Their High School diploma will arrive in the mail, but make sure to check the household inventory if you still haven’t received it.
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All Graduation types
The grade your Sim ages up with will determine how they graduate, with an A-grade opening up more career possibilities to them as a Young Adult:
| Grade | Result |
| A | Graduate with honours (Sims will start some careers at higher positions, usually level three, with a boost to work performance) |
| B | Standard graduation |
| C | Standard graduation |
| D | Standard graduation |
| F | Sims become a High School dropout upon ageing up, with certain careers being unobtainable unless they earn a diploma by selecting the 'Career' tab on a PC and paying 250 Simoleons to start work on it |
Sims must have a High School diploma to apply for jobs in the Detective, Doctor, Scientist, Tech Guru, Astronaut, and Business careers.
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The Sims 4's graduation ceremony explained
The graduation ceremony for High School Years doesn't have goals or challenges to complete, and Sims will arrive at the Auditorium already dressed in a graduation gown (which you can change the colour of by clicking on your Sims and going through the 'High School Graduation' menu) and cap, with an option to sit and listen to the speakers.
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The event itself isn’t that interactive and amounts to Sims listening to a speech before they collect their diploma.
Of course, what would graduation be without throwing a cap in the air? This can be done following the ceremony itself by clicking on your Sim, selecting the previously mentioned pie menu, and then 'Throw Cap'.
When does it start?
Simmers in the community have previously reported a 'bug' where graduation doesn’t trigger for them: They receive the pop-up, but their calendar doesn't update with the graduation ceremony event. While it's a common enough issue, in reality, it's not a bug.
It should take a few in-game days for your calendar to update and the graduation ceremony to be added to it. Although it's not communicated to you, your Sims must first live through a few days of being a Young Adult before the event is then added.
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If you still can't see the graduation icon on the calendar, check the list details as the event may be obscured by others taking place on the same day.
The graduation ceremony will be marked on the calendar on the nearest Sunday at 6PM once Sims have aged up and lived a few days as a YA. You'll also receive another pop-up on graduation day itself which will instruct you to attend the event.
Now that you know how graduation works, check out our homepage for The Sims where you can find guides on Sims becoming prom royalty, a list of High School Years cheats, and the best mods to download.
