Skills

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Sims in this game don't develop skills on their own. You need to direct them to do that. Skills help you in getting promotions and a high enough skill can reduce or prevent disasters.

Let's look at each one below.

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Cooking
Study from any bookcase. The better this skills is, the higher your hunger bar will fill when eating. Meal prep using expensive items also helps improve hunger.

Get at least 3 cooking skill points to prevent stove fires!

Sims will NOT learn this skill by simply cooking. (This feature starts in Sims 2.)

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Mechanical
Study from any bookcase. The higher this skill, the faster your sim will repair broken objects. The risk of electrocution goes down as well. Note that the risk does not completely go away...

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Body
The exercise machine fills this skill 4x faster than swimming in the pool. Active sims improve this skill faster.

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Charisma
Practice Speech on a mirror or medicine cabinet. Outgoing sims improve this skill faster.

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Creativity
Paint on an easel or play an instrument. Playful sims improve this skill faster.

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Logic
Play chess. Two sims playing this together can improve logic and improve social for both sims.