The Sims 3 Skill Guides:
Athletic | Charisma | Collecting | Cooking | Fishing | Gardening
Guitar | Handiness | Logic | Martial Arts | Nectar Making | Painting | Parenting | Photography | Writing
Carl's The Sims 3 Skills Guide
A Guide to Every Skill in the Game
In this Guide to All Skills in the Sims 3, you'll learn about the skills your Sims can learn in the game. I'll provide answers to questions players frequently ask, such as how to learn each skill and improve them effectively. I'll also provide links to get detailed information about each skill, so that you can learn more about the abilities that interest you.
Helpful Skill FAQs
What Skills Does World Adventures Add to the Sims 3?
The World Adventures expansion brought three new skills to the game. Nectar Making can be learned in France, Martial Arts in China and Photography in Egypt. Each has a home of sorts, but the Photography skill's roots are based in Egypt only because it's the place to buy the best camera.
How many skills can you learn in the Sims 3?
There are ten skills that feature progress bars: Athletic, Charisma, Cooking, Fishing, Gardening, Guitar, Handiness, Logic, Painting, and Writing. The 'eleventh' skill, Collecting, has a skill journal entry, and has challenges associated with it, but is not a 'learnable' skill. Parenting is included in this guide but is neither learnable nor accessible. It is a skill on the player side.
The skills list is blank. How do I make my Sim learn a skill?
Skills in the Sims 3 start at "level 0", an unlearned state. When the first level has not yet been gained, the skill will not appear on the list. This keeps the list tidy so you can see only the skills your Sims use.
Sims can learn skills by performing associated actions. Some are very straightforward, such as preparing meals improving the cooking skill. All skills have multiple ways they can be raised. One method of learning common to all skills is to take a class at the appropriate building.
Some actions require the skill to be already learned before they'll start adding progress toward skill levels. For example, watching cookin' cable won't teach your Sim anything unless they already know the cooking skill. There is a similar effect for picking wild fruits and vegetables and the gardening skill.
Take a Class?
Taking a class in a skill will give it a boost. Learning a skill initially, that is, going from level 0 to level 1 takes much longer than all the other early levels. If you take a class, you can avoid this problem because the class will add the skill to your learned skills list within a couple of hours. Taking classes later offers less benefit, especially once past level five. It makes sense, at some point your Sim should be teaching a class.
Where do I take a class in X Skill?
As a quick reference, I'll provide a list of the locations where your Sims can learn skills by taking a class. Classes usually cost $400 but this can be discounted occasionally. Look for discount classes in the newspaper each day if you're a penny pincher.
To find classes, go to the map view and look to the red icons. Not all of them offer classes. I'll be very general about the type of building, as it is the same for Riverview and Sunset Valley. This should also keep the list future proof for future expansions:
How can my Sim Learn Skills Faster?
There are several ways for Sims to learn skills faster. Each skill has one or more traits associated with it that will boost the rate it is learned. The Sims whose traits are built around a particular skill and specialize in it will be the most successful. So, long after learning the skill they'll still be seeing benefits. For example, virtuosos (guitar) will get better tips and green thumbs (gardening) will harvest higher quality produce.
Mood will also increase the rate your Sims learn skills. Being in a good mood lets your Sim focus on the task at hand with a postive attitude. They'll get better at skills a good deal faster, especially in combination with having the right traits.
Studying at the library will also help your Sim to learn. Cooking, Gardening, Handiness, Logic, and Charisma can all be learned at the library. The quiet environment increases the rate your Sim will learn there. The athletic skill will increase fastest when using the equipment at the gym, because of the "fit atmosphere" moodlet your Sim receives while visiting the lot.
For 15,000 lifetime happiness points, Sims can purchase the Fast Learner reward. This boosts the learning rate for all skills. It's a great reward for multi-talented Sims.
What Trait Makes a Sim Learn X Skill Faster?
This is information that is provided in the skill guides, but I'm providing it here to help as a quick reference for your Create-a-Sim needs. Read my Sims 3 Traits guide for detailed info on each trait.
Are There Any Cheats to Raise Skills Faster?
In a word, No. There is a workaround, however. There is a cheat to lock needs in place. You can use this to allow your Sim to train constantly. They could stand in one spot and fish for hours, or chat with themselves in front of a mirror.
To access the Sims 3 cheats console, press Control + Shift + C at the same time on your keyboard. If you're using Windows Vista and for some reason the console won't come up, press Control, Windows and the Shift button along with 'C'.
Type testingcheatsenabled true to enable the testing cheats. Hold shift and left-click your Sim's mailbox. From there, you can click make needs static to lock all needs at 100%. Head out and train. Even athletic Sims benefit, as with the needs bars locked in place they can run all day long. To turn the cheat off, shift-click the mailbox once more and select make needs dynamic. Click here for a full list of cheats in the Sims 3.
In-Depth Sims 3 Skill Guides
This is a listing of all skill guides I've authored for the Sims 3. They are the single most popular section of my Sims 3 Guide, and for good reason. There is a guide for each and every skill, featuring loads of information on raising the skills, traits that go well with them, useful lists and help with most every aspect of them.
Athletics
Athletics allows Sims to achieve greater fitness levels. Includes information on the types of wishes and opportunities your Sims will get from this skill, along with tips to raising it. Provides tips to completing each athletics challenge, as well.
Charisma
Charisma will help your Sim to make friends. With the right challenges completed, it can even help them to keep friends forever. Teach your Sims the charisma skill if you want them to be better at jobs that require on the boss and co-worker relationships. It's also vital to politicians. This guide contains tips to completing all charisma challenges, as well as information to help players get past the friend requirements of each charisma level.
Collecting
Collecting in the Sims 3 gives your Sims an easy way to make money without ever taking a job or buying a single item. Sims can collect butterflies, beetles, metal ore, gems and space rocks. This is a perfectly viable way to make money in the Sims 3, and shouldn't be overlooked by players who want to diverge from the norm.
Cooking
A guide to Perfect Cooking in the Sims 3. Includes tips for getting started and info on how to get recipes like Ambrosia without paying for them at the book store. This guide provides tips and lists the upgrades, types of items for the home, and traits you can select for your Sims to help them excel at cooking.
Fishing
This guide focuses on fishing in the game and includes information on where, and how, to catch some of the most rare fish in the Sims 3. This is a new feature to the game, and I'm really glad they added it. It's an excellent way to make money, and a good excuse to frequently look at the Sims 3's excellent water graphics! Fishing is a highly valuable skill to gardeners, scientists and Sims who want to make a profession of the trade.
Gardening
I wrote this guide to teach people how to get started gardening. I had seen this question asked so many times in forums and on yahoo answers that I had to sink my teeth in and give my own take on the skill. Gardening is a crucial skill for many character types. High quality fruits and vegetables can be used to catch better fish, which in turn help gardening itself (fertilizer), and cooking.
Guitar
I love this character! The guitar playing Sim can lead a very nice life playing for tips and making friends. It's almost too easy! Unfortunately, although an entertaining Sim to play, the guitarist makes fairly chaotic money compared to other Sims.
Handiness
The Handiness skill is so very useful to every Sim. I really enjoyed making this guide, which lists all the upgrades in the Sims 3, along with info on how to raise the skill quickly. Almost everything my ultra-rich Sim does is somehow augmented by the handiness skill.
Logic
Logic can be used to teach other Sims known skills, help you make money by discovering celestial bodies, and even earn cash with your mind by solving the unsolvable. Your Sims can make enough money to live and have nice things using only a telescope with this skill! It's a very useful skill for Parents and Friends, who want to help those around them become better.
Martial Arts
Martial Arts is my favorite new skill introduced by World Adventures. Sims can really learn to kick serious butt. Be it beating down other Sims, burglars or mummies while tomb raiding, this skill will make your Sim a fighting machine. Look to this guide for tips on raising the skill, winning tournaments and mastering zeneport and tranquil transference you gain from meditation. You'll be able to zip here and there in the blink of an eye once you've completed the martial arts skill's challenges.
Nectar Making
Nectar Making is another new skill added to the game by the World Adventures expansion pack. This is one of the most involved skills in the Sims 3, and requires experience in gardening to really flourish. This is a great addition to any household as nectar provides a powerful boost to mood that lasts a very long time. Take up this skill and learn some amazing and good recipe combos on this page.
Painting
Help your Sim become a legendary artist. The Painting skill will help your Sim to later become a master artist. There's a lot of money to be made this way by painting volumes of masterpieces, for those who choose to follow this path. Provides tips you can use to help your Sims paint more masterpieces and complete the challenges associated with painting.
Photography
The Photography Skill is one that every Sim can pursue. It requires the World Adventures expansion to learn to take photos. As you get better, this skill becomes an excellent way to make money while you pursue other things. Wait for great photographic moments and snap a great shot to earn some spare cash in the blink of an eye. Learn the dynamics of this skill and how you can best utilize it to keep from losing money.
Parenting
Is Parenting a skill in the Sims 3? No. But this is the most appropriate category for a page of this magnitude. You see, there is no skill bar for parenting, and no skill journal, but parenting can have a major impact on the game. There is a right way to raise a child in the Sims 3 who is successful, smart, and able to tackle adulthood. In this guide, I'll tell you how to mold them!
Writing
You can make a ton of money as a writer in the Sims 3. It's certainly one of the more interesting self-employment careers your Sims can pursue. In this guide, I list the best traits for a writer, what to do to write more effectively and how to best achieve the specialist challenge. Gives hints to pushing your royalty checks through the roof.