Pokémon Scarlet and Violet take a bold direction for the handheld series. You will as always go on an adventure with your beloved party Pokémon, but you’ll also have the choice of tackling a different adventure; education.
Whether you’re going to Naranja Academy or Uva Academy, you’ll have the option to take classes that are full of additional information for series newcomers and veterans alike. If you’re rusty or have no idea where to begin, these classes will give you the needed knowledge and a few additional treats for your Pokémon.
Taking A Class
In the entrance hall of the Academy, you walk right up to the front desk and interact with the A button. You’ll be asked if you’d like to take a class from a list of subjects:
- Biology
- Math
- History
- Languages
- Battle Studies
- Art
- Home Economics (the game will usually shorten it to Home Ec)
This option is available from the start of the game, but you may not see the full list if you beeline over.
Defeating gym challenges will sometimes give you a notification that “a new class is now available,” so it’s up to you if you’d like to just do what’s available from the start and come back later or go tackle story beats first.
The names of the classes are accurate, but a vast majority will tie themselves to game mechanics, so sometimes the theme may feel a little loose. In Biology, you’ll sometimes discuss concepts like shiny Pokémon and evolving. With Math, you will get subjects such as how much of an item you can buy with Pokédollars but also cover topics such as how much damage super effective moves do. History reveals the lore of the Paldea region. Languages is, in fact, a languages course; the first half will revolve around real-world languages and ask you to figure out what the teacher is saying, while the second half involves figuring out how his Pikachu is feeling through its Pokéspeak instead.
Battle Studies will discuss different types of battling such as Tera Raids and even multiplayer modes. Art will sometimes just be fun moments between the class and the Elite Four member discussing the subjective nature of art, but it can also reveal what some Tera Forms will look like if you take these classes before ever seeing them in battle. Still, this class is mostly characterization for the teacher as a means to make him more familiar if you do these before facing the final Victory Road story. Home Economics will almost entirely revolve around explaining the picnic mechanic, but sometimes this class will also teach and remind you about how to customize your outfit.
These aren’t one-sided discussions. During each class, you will be prompted to respond to the teacher. Sometimes this is just a simple hello or a subjective question with no wrong response, but other times this is a direct question with only one correct response. An example of this that’s rather sneaky is in Math, where the teacher Ms. Ryme will as you how many Pokeballs you can buy with 2,000 Pokédollars if a Pokéball costs 200 Pokédollars each. The answer is 11, because you get a Premier Ball whenever you buy 10 Pokeballs from a Pokemart in a single purchase.
If you get a question wrong, you’ll be told why it was wrong, and if you get a question right, you’ll be congratulated for knowing it. The knowledge of the answer is the only reward. There’s no penalty for getting a question wrong during a class.
Every class has the option to retake whenever you’d like. Just use the prompt “I’d like to revisit a class,” and you’ll be allowed to redo any class as if it never happened the first time. This can be used well as a means to study for the midterms.
Prepare For Midterms
Take the first 3 levels of a class, and you will move on to the midterms. There are five questions in a midterm, and if you get three out of five correct, you pass. If you fail, you must take it again until you pass. While the questions are the same ones you were prompted with during the classes, you may already notice the difference in number. The other two questions will either be something that was mentioned during one of the classes, or sometimes it’s a left-field question with not much to worry about. A notable example of the latter will be in Languages where Mr. Salvatore’s final question is “what is the name of your beloved teacher?”
Passing a midterm lets you continue with the course and earns you 5 pieces of Exp. Candy S.
Passing Your Finals
The next three classes for each subject will be labeled 4, 5, and 6. Counting the Midterms and Finals means 8 courses in total. The classes following the midterms will tend to be a bit heavier than the classes before the midterms, with no complex gameplay mechanics discussed. Ultimately, that will be subjective depending on what you find an easier or harder topic to comprehend. Again, failure means nothing during a class as you can retake it without penalty. Go ahead and prepare as much as you need before jumping into the finals. Finals require 4 out of 5 correct questions.
If you manage to pass, the class will now be over, and it will be removed from the list at the desk (though you can still retake the base course).
Passing each of your Finals nets you 5 Exp. Candies M, and passing every Final earns you 5 Exp. Candies L.
