To do homework in The Sims 4, open your child or teen Sim’s inventory, click the homework book and choose Do Homework; the Sim sits down at the nearest desk or table (or the floor) and finishes in roughly an hour of game time. If the book is missing, buy a replacement from any bookcase or computer. This guide covers where homework comes from, how to speed it up, what Extra Credit and a parent’s help add, how university homework differs, and the school-related fixes that landed in the 2026 patches.
Where the Homework Book Comes From
A Sim who ages into a child or teen while in your household, or who gets home from their first school day, automatically receives a homework book in their personal inventory: the yellow book for children and the blue book for teens. Open the inventory from the box icon at the bottom-right of the screen (on PlayStation and Xbox the same panel opens from the Live Mode HUD), and the book sits alongside anything else the Sim is carrying.
If it goes missing, which happens when a Sim leaves it on a community lot or another household member tidies it into a bookshelf, do not wait for school to issue another. Click any bookcase or computer, choose the option to buy books, and purchase the right homework for the Sim’s age. Keeping a spare on the home bookshelf is cheap insurance. The November 4, 2025 patch also made Sims put books into bookshelves rather than random storage objects, so a “lost” book in an older save is likelier to be in the shelf than in a chest.
Doing Homework and Doing It Faster
Click the book in the inventory and pick Do Homework. The Sim works through it on their own; you can queue other actions behind it. A few things shorten the job:
- Get Focused first. Homework goes faster while the Sim is Focused. Our guide to getting Inspired in The Sims 4 explains how emotions are triggered; for Focused, a chess game, a research session on the computer or a Focused décor object all work.
- Do it at a desk. Sims can do homework on the floor, but a desk or dining table keeps them from being interrupted and keeps their Comfort need from draining.
- Ask for help. An adult or teen can click a child who is doing homework and choose Help with Homework. Community guides report the Growing Together expansion adds a Focused boost for the child and a Confident moodlet for the helper; in the base game it simply speeds things up and nudges the relationship.
Verified against the September 18, 2025 patch notes, interaction progress for long tasks no longer restarts from the beginning after loading a save, so a half-finished homework session survives a quit and reload.
Extra Credit and Grades
Homework is the single biggest lever on a child’s or teen’s grade. Skipping it drops the grade over a few school days; finishing it every day maintains or raises it. Once the daily homework is done and the Sim’s grade is a B or better, clicking the book again offers Do Extra Credit, a second, longer session that pushes the grade up faster. Community guides agree the option only shows on a B or higher, so a struggling student has to climb to B through ordinary homework before extra credit becomes available.
Going to school in a good mood matters too, and school chance cards can add or subtract performance. With High School Years installed, teens attend an active school where the daily Do Homework task appears in the school panel like a career task, and the grade feeds into graduation. Per the March 17, 2026 patch notes, Prom once again appears on calendars and its goals can be completed, which had been broken for some saves.
If you would rather skip the grind, the Sims 4 skill cheats guide covers the console commands that also set school performance.
University Homework and Recent School Fixes
With Discover University, young adult and older students get homework per enrolled class, plus term papers and presentations, all of which appear in the inventory and count toward the final grade. Completing every assignment before the exam day is what separates an A from a scrape-through. Two patch items apply here. Verified against the September 22, 2026 update (PC 1.128.90.1030, console version 2.39), Sims from inactive households now attend classes and are less likely to fail term exams, a fix aimed at rotational play that does not apply retroactively to old saves; Maxis also notes it is still investigating a separate bug where the active household receives a failing grade while attending. And per the July 1, 2025 patch, ghost and vampire parents now call to complain when a student is caught cheating on university homework, day or night.
Two more fixes are worth knowing. The August 6, 2026 patch fixed the countdown timer for careers, school and after-school activities that had been stuck showing 0 minutes, so a school day now counts down properly. And in the September 22, 2026 update, children can once again use playground equipment without napping or meditating mid-play with Adventure Awaits installed, which removes one distraction from the after-school routine.
The Sims guide hub has the rest of our Sims 4 coverage, including how to age Sims up once the school years are done.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does homework take in The Sims 4? Roughly one game hour for a child or teen in a neutral mood, less while Focused, and longer if the Sim is repeatedly interrupted. Extra Credit is a separate, longer session.
My Sim’s homework disappeared. Where is it? Check the home bookshelf first, since Sims tidy books there. If it is gone, buy a replacement from any bookcase or computer’s book-buying menu.
Why do I not see Do Extra Credit? It only appears after the daily homework is finished and only when the Sim’s grade is a B or higher. Raise the grade with regular homework first.
Can a parent do the homework for the child? No, but an older Sim can click the child while they are working and choose Help with Homework, which speeds it up and boosts the relationship.
Do I need to do homework on the day it is assigned? Grades update at the end of each school day, so homework done the same evening counts toward the next day’s grade. Missing a day is not fatal, but consecutive misses drag the grade down.