In The Sims 4 sim children have four "aspirations" they can choose from when going from being an infant to being a child. Each of these aspirations relies heavily one on of the four childhood skills a sim can learn. The Whiz Kid aspiration is all about the mental skill, and will require that children max the mental skill while completing other tasks related to learning and education.
This graphic guide will help players to understand and master the Whiz Kid aspiration in The Sims 4.
There are four childhood aspirations included with the base game: Whiz Kid (Mental Skill), Artistic Prodigy (Creative Skill), Rambunctious Scamp (Motor Skill), and Social Butterfly (Social Skill). Each of these aspirations require the sim child to max one of the four childhood skills (mental, creative, motor, and social) and each one of these aspirations grants the child completing it one additional trait, which they will carry with them until the day they pass into the netherworld.
For players hoping to complete more than one aspiration (either because they are highly-skilled players or because aging is off), the order in which these aspirations are completed is important.
I recommend the following order to get the best results:
Today I'll be focusing on the Mental Skill and the Whiz Kid aspiration. I recommend doing this aspiration first, as the final tier for completion requires that the child receive an A grade in school. If the child already has an A upon completing the second tier of the Whiz Kid aspiration, the child will have to reduce his or her grade to a B in order for this grade to count.
This may be a bug, but I have not seen a bug report on it, nor has it been fixed as of the most recent patch.
 Whiz Kid Aspiration and the Genius Trait |
Let's imagine for a moment that you're creating your Whiz Kid in Create-a-Sim, or that you've chosen this aspiration for a sim born in your game. (In other words, that you are not randomizing for a Legacy Challenge.) You will have the option to choose an aspiration and one trait for the child sim you're creating in CAS.
To work on the Whiz Kid aspiration, first select the Mental aspiration and then "Whiz Kid."
The best trait to choose for a Whiz Kid is "Genius." This trait will cause your sim to become occasionally "focused" without your having to work to put the sim in a focused mood. Because the focused mood helps sims to build mental skills faster, this trait works well with this aspiration.
One thing sets the Whiz Kid and Social Butterfly aspirations apart from the other two: Both require other sims in order to successfully complete them. In the case of the Whiz Kid aspiration, your child sim will need to play three games of chess -- with another sim -- and to be read to by an adult for two hours.
Both of these can be something of a hassle.
 Little Perry plays his first of three games of chess with his father. |
In my test game, I created two children with two parents who could act as "utility sims." The job of the parents is to produce food for the children, to provide a parent (so I can keep the children in the first place) and to be available for tasks such as games of chess. The image above shows my test sim, Perry Arrington, playing chess with his father.
 Perry plays a game of chess with his mother. |
On the plus side, adults will earn logic skill from playing chess with their children, and two children can both earn mental skill from playing chess together. If you have two Whiz Kids in the same family, this is ideal, as it allows them to build their skills together. This is something to think about when raising twins!
 Perry plays chess with his sister, Lorelei. She's an Artistic Prodigy. |
Sim children can earn social skill while playing chess, which allows this activity to increase both the social and the mental skill at the same time. If you're planning on following up your Whiz Kid with a Social Butterfly aspiration, be careful not to raise your bars too high with sims outside of the immediate family: They will be useful later on as friends to be earned.
Chess is one of the best ways for sim children to earn Mental Skill for their aspiration.
 Perry listens to a story with Dad. |
The next thing that your Whiz Kid will need to do is to be read to for two hours by an adult. This can be a very frustrating step to take, because you have to have an available adult, know how to get the adult to read to the child and get through two hours of reading.
To have an adult sim read to a child sim, click on the bookcase to "open" it, select a children's book, and place it in the world. Then click it and select "read to child" and select the child to be read to.
The child will come and sit near the adult while he or she reads. Bear in mind, however, that it seems to require that three books be read to the child -- or that the same book be read three times -- in order to fulfill this requirement before the Whiz Kid can move on to the next phase of completion. Two sim hours is longer than it seems at first!
 Dad helps Perry with his homework. |
Next up, you'll need for your sim child to complete homework twice while focused. This can be difficult if you reach the milestone on the weekend (as I always seem to) because you'll want to be able to move forward but you can only do homework one time.
The easiest way to accomplish this task is to select your adult sim, then click on the child who is doing his homework, and select "help with home work." This will cause the child sim to finish the homework with a focused mood and the adult to finish the task with a confident mood.
Do this twice to complete the task.
In addition to this task, your child sim must reach Mental Skill level 5 in order to progress. This can be accomplished by maintaining a focused mood and working on the Chemistry Set or the Chess Table.
If you're having trouble maintaining a focused mood, consider purchasing the emotion books through the book shelf. Two of these will help with the focused emotion.
 Perry works on the Chemistry Set. |
The final stage of the Whiz Kid aspiration requires that the child achieve a grade of A in school, to reach Mental Skill level 10 and craft three emotion potions on the Chemistry Lab.
Be careful! If you reach a grade of A in school before you reach this point (which would be difficult if you've started with this aspiration), then you will need to first drop your sim child's grade to a B by skipping school and then raise it to an A again. This is very time consuming, so be careful!
Experiment on the Chemistry Lab to raise your child sim's Mental Skill level until you can craft the emotion potions, and then send your sim off to school. If he goes to school in a good mood and has completed his homework, he should accomplish a final grade of A with ease!
On completion of any aspiration (childhood aspiration or adult aspiration), the sim will receive what is known as a "reward trait." This will be awarded in addition to the chosen traits for your sim and the bonus trait associated with the adult aspiration.
For the Whiz Kid aspiration, your child will receive a "Mentally Gifted" reward trait. This trait allows the child to learn mental skills faster in adulthood. These skills include gardening, fishing, logic, rocket science, handiness, and potentially other skills to be added later.
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