In JRPG titles, it’s hardly a surprise to find skill trees as a gameplay mechanic, and Persona 4 Golden delivered on it well. Throughout the course of the game, you’ll be tasked with, among other things, raising five unique social skills: Courage, Diligence, Expression, Knowledge, and Understanding.
It should come as no surprise that, as a high school student, you’ll be rewarded handsomely for boosting your Knowledge stat. It’s possibly the most straightforward of the social skills, but its influence is felt throughout the game. For help raising your Knowledge stat in P4G, read on ahead in our guide.
What Does Knowledge Impact?
Unsurprisingly, you’ll find your Knowledge is the most helpful in matters related to school.
Like the other stats, there are five ranks to your Knowledge skill. They are:
- Aware
- Informed
- Expert
- Professor
- Sage
During your exam periods at school, you’ll be manually entering test answers for most of the days. However, the exams also feature a final day that requires no input from you.
Instead, you’ll be assigned a score for that day that’s based on your Knowledge stat at the time of taking the test. The better your stat, the better your score.
You can’t get a perfect exam score until you max your Knowledge.
There will be the occasional skill check in dialogue that’s tied to your Knowledge, too. You won’t be able to choose the smarter answers unless you’ve got the appropriate smarts to back them up.
Finally, there are two social links tethered to your Knowledge skill.
- To begin your social link with Margaret, you must have Rank 3 Knowledge.
- To begin your social link with Naoto, in addition to courage, you must have Rank 5 Knowledge
You can’t actually begin your social link with Naoto until 10/21, so you have some time to raise your Knowledge.
How To Raise Your Knowledge
Studying
You won’t be surprised to learn that the most effective way to raise your Knowledge skill is by studying. This can be done both afternoon and evening at your bedroom desk, or you can also stick around after school to study in the library at Yasogami High.
You can permanently increase the amount of Knowledge gained from studying by finishing the book Expert Study Methods.
While you’ll gain points every time you study, no matter what, studying yields more points on rainy days.
Answering Questions At School
There are occasional days at school when your teachers will call on you to ask you a question in class. While the correct answer can boost a few different skills, it’s most often your Knowledge that receives the boost.
We have guides in our Persona 4 Golden directory with all your classroom and exam answers, if you’d like to guarantee those gains.
Eating At Chinese Diner Aiya (Random)
While it’s far from the most reliable way to gain points toward your P4G Knowledge stat, spending a rainy day attempting the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge at Chinese Diner Aiya can help.
You can’t actually complete the challenge until you’ve maxed out all five social stats, but you’ll be rewarded with a boost to three random skills just for trying.
Books That Increase Knowledge
You’ll spend a lot of time studying to increase your Knowledge, but there are also specific books that you can choose to read that offer the boost as well.
Each chapter of any book will consume one time slot to read.
|
Title |
Chapters |
|---|---|
|
The Divine Way |
4 |
|
The Gentle Way |
4 |
|
The O-Cha Way |
4 |
|
The Punk'sWay |
4 |
|
The Ramen Way |
4 |
|
Guide to Pests |
4 |
|
Poly-land |
4 |
|
Who Am I? |
4 |
|
Expert Study Methods * |
3 |
By finishing Hyperspeed Reader, you can increase your reading capabilities.
You'll then be able to read two chapters in the time it would’ve taken you to read just one.