The Weeding Licence
In the original series, Chiikawa took the exam three times before getting a grade 5 Weeding Licence (we had to put this joke in, Ovo). Here, you can sign your pets up for the Weeding Licence too. This chapter covers what the licence is for, how to sign up, what happens on exam day, and how to make it easier to pass.
What the Licence Is For
The Weeding Licence goes from grade 5 to grade 1, with grade 1 the highest. Pets start out with no licence, so they take grade 5 first, and can only go up one grade at a time.
- Each grade adds 1 more emerald to every Weeding slip, so grade 1 gets 5 more than no licence.
- From grade 3, they can take Advanced Weeding slips: twice as many weeds, for 2.5 times the normal pay.
Open the Status page on your pet's screen to see its licence grade and whether it can take the exam right now.
Signing Up
Craft an Exam Desk from wooden slabs, sticks and paper. It is a school desk joined to a chair behind it, taking up two blocks, and like a bed, both halves are placed and broken together.
Right-click the Exam Desk to open the sign-up screen. Each of your pets nearby gets a row showing which grade it would sit and its pass chance; hover over the pass chance to see how much each part adds. Pick one and press "Sign up", and 1 diamond is taken from you.
There are a few rules:
- Sign-ups are only open in the daytime, from 7:00 to 15:00.
- One desk handles one pet at a time.
- Since its last exam, it has to finish at least one Weeding slip, as practice.
- Pets that are sitting, or too far away, won't go.
The diamond is taken when you sign up and is not refunded: if it hasn't sat down to write by 17:00, it has missed the exam; if the desk is broken during the exam, that attempt doesn't count either. But the bonuses it built up from practice and reading are kept.
Exam Day
A pet that has been signed up walks to the chair by itself, sits down, and writes for about 26 seconds. Each one writes in its own way: Chiikawa and Hachiware get stuck partway and break into a sweat, Usagi scribbles away and never gets stuck, Kurimanju lets out a yawn as it writes...
When it's done, it pushes the answer sheet across the desk and turns it face down, and the chat tells you it has "handed in; results tomorrow morning".
Getting the Results
The next morning, the pet goes back to the Exam Desk to look at its results sheet: a red circle for a pass, a red cross for a fail.
If it passed, it will be very happy. If not, Chiikawa cries and the others look puzzled. Each says a line of its own, and the chat tells you the result too. If it hasn't gone to look by noon, or the desk has been broken, the result is revealed wherever it is.
How to Pass More Easily
| Item | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Base | Grade 5 40%, grade 4 30%, grade 3 22%, grade 2 15%, grade 1 8% |
| Practice | +3% for each Weeding slip from a Labor Board finished since the last exam, up to +30% |
| Reading | +25% for reading the Weeding Licence Study Guide, used up by the exam |
| Bouncing back | +5% for each fail, up to +20%, reset once it passes |
| Character | Everything above added together, then multiplied by the character's own factor |
The study guide is sold at the Shop for 4 emeralds, or you can craft one from a book and any kind of seeds. Right-click your pet while holding the study guide, and it reads up for the exam. If it has already read one and hasn't taken the exam yet, it won't take another.
Each character has its own knack for exams: Usagi passes most easily (factor 1.4), Momonga has the hardest time (0.6), Chiikawa is 0.7, Hachiware 0.8, Kurimanju 0.9, Furuhonya 1.0, and Shisa and Rakko 1.1. Furuhonya has lots of books, so it gets an extra +10% when it reads. The final pass chance never goes above 95%.
For example, if Chiikawa sits grade 5 without reading, with 5 practices and 1 fail, the pass chance is (40% + 15% + 5%) × 0.7 = 42%. With more practice and more reading, it will pass in the end~
After the exam, why not unwind with a song from Hachiware? See The Music Box.