Persona 3 Portable Social Stats: How to raise Academics, Charm, and Courage quickly

by Alex Donaldson on 18 January, 2023

In Persona 3 Portable Social Stats are just as important as in the other recent Persona games - even if there’s less of them this time around. In Persona 3, there are three key social stats to manage: Academics, Courage, and Charm.

Each of the social stats has an impact on the adventure you’ll have - though the impact and utility of Academics, Courage, and Charm is more muted in Persona 3 Portable than it is in this game’s successors. In fact, there's much less to manage here than the five social stats in Persona 4 and Persona 5, but they're still very important to your journey. This page explains how to raise each of the Persona 3 Portable social stats in a quick and efficient manner - and what each is useful for:

Academics Social Stat
Courage Social Stat
Charm Social Stat
The best way to raise your Social Stats in P3P

Persona 3 Portable Academics Stat Raising & Uses

Academics, Charm, and Courage form the three Persona 3 Portable Social Stats - and raising them efficiently is vital.

The Academics stat, which comes to be known as Knowledge in later Persona games, has two primary uses in Persona 3 Portable.

It has six ranks - Slacker (1), Average (2), Above Average (3), Smart (4) Intelligent (5), and Genius (6/Max).

First of all, the Academics stat determines part of your performance in Midterm and Finals exams at school - along with answering some questions yourself. We can help you with the Persona 3 Portable School Test Answers - but that last speech check in each exam is specifically handled by the Academics rank.

Second, you’ll require specific Academics stat ranks in order to initiate certain Social Links:

For Bebe you’ll need Rank 2 (Average) Academics
For Akinari you must have Rank 4 (Smart) Academics
For Mitsuru you require Rank 6 (Genius) Academics

How to raise Academics in Persona 3

There’s many methods by which you can raise your Academics, some of them more potent than others. Here are methods to increase Academics:

No Sleep ‘til Genius: when offered, choose to Not Sleep in class.
Study Like a Scholar: You can Study in the Library, or your Room during School Semesters for bonus points. If you’re tired or cold, you won’t get as much of a bump.
Holiday Swot: If you study at Home or go to the Film Festival during school’s summer break, you’ll get a buffed academics bonus for studying while school’s out. The gain is reduced if you’re tired or have a cold.
Feed the Brain: If you head to Iwatodai Station, eating sushi at the Wakatsu Restaurant there will increase your Academics. You can also take Social Links here for two birds with one stone.
Become a Quiz Master: At the Game Panic arcade in Paulownia Mall you can play a QUiz Game, which raises your Academics. The Quiz game is available Wednesday and Saturday, and costs 1500 Yen.
Get to Work: In Paulownia Mall, you can take on one of the Persona 3 Portable part time jobs at Be blue V on all weekdays. You get paid 4500 Yen for the job, and it raises your Academics and your Charm. Likewise, at Port Island Station you can work at the Screen Shot cinema for 5000 Yen and bumps to Academics and Courage.

Persona 3 Portable Courage Raising & Uses

The Wild Duck Burger isn't just a good meal - it's a great way to boost your Courage in Persona 3 Portable.

Courage is a stat that basically references how gutsy you are. You’ll need to be courageous to select certain dialogue options and enter into certain relationships.

There’s six ranks of Courage - Timid (1), Ordinary (2), Determined (3), Tough (4), Fearless (5) and Badass (6/Max).

The Persona 3 Portable Courage stat gates a couple of different social links, depending on if you’re playing as the Male or Female protagonist:

For the Male Protagonist:

For Mutatusu you’ll need Rank 2 (Ordinary) Courage
For Mamoru you’ll need Rank 4 (Tough) Courage
For Fuuka you’ll need Rank 6 (Badass) Courage

For the Female Lead:

For Fuuka you’ll need Rank 2 (Ordinary) Courage
For Mutatsu you’ll need Rank 4 (Tough) Courage
For Ken you’ll need Rank 6 (Badass) Courage

How to raise Courage in Persona 3

As with the other two social stats, you can boost Courage fast in a variety of ways - though arguably the best method is through work. Here’s our suggestions for raising Courage:

Arcade Frights: Build up your Courage at the Paulownia Mall’s Game Panic arcade by using the Horror House. For 3000 Yen, it can make you a little braver.
Brave as Duck: Raise your Courage stat by eating at the Wild-Duck Burger joint in Iwatodai Station; eat the Mystery Burger. You can take social links here, too.
The Waiting Game: Paulownia Mall’s Chagall Cafe is one of the best places to raise Courage efficiently. You can take a part-time job there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. You’ll be paid 3500 Yen, but the job also raises Courage and Charm.
Sing for the Moment: There’s Mandragora, a Karaoke Bar, in Paulownia Mall. Singing there raises Courage. Kiryu would be proud.
The Film Buff: Watching the Film Festival during the Summer Vacation will give you a courage boost, as will going to the Screen Shot cinema at Port Island Station. Look out for Heroic or Horror movies to boost Courage. You can also take a part-time job at Screen Shot, and each shift raises Academics and Courage.
Mystery Drinks: If you’re tired or have a cold, you can chug a mysterious medicinal drink in the School Infirmary for a few courage points.

Persona 3 Portable Charm Raising & Uses

Taking the right part-time job is one easy way to raise your charm stat.

Charm is a stat that acts as a gateway to a couple of confidant relationships for both the male and female protagonists, but also crucially some random dialogue choices in both story scenes and social links sometimes require you to have a certain amount of charm.

There’s six ranks of Charm - Plain (1), Unpolished/Ingenue (2), Confident (3), Smooth/Queen Bee (4), Popular (5) and Charismatic (6/Max). The names differ slightly depending on if you're playing as the male or female protagonist.

The following Social Links require you to have a specific rank in your Charm stat in order to keep going with them:

For the Male Protagonist:

For Nozomi you’ll need Rank 2 (Unpolished) Charm
For Tanaka you’ll need Rank 4 (Smooth) Charm
For Yukari you’ll need Rank 6 (Charismatic) Charm

For the Female Lead:

For Tanaka you’ll need Rank 2 (Ingenue) Charm
For Akihiko you’ll need Rank 4 (Queen Bee) Charm

How to raise Charm in Persona 3

If you’ve been reading this guide bit by bit, you’ll already know the score here - there’s a small range of ways that you can grind out an increase to your Charm stat. Here’s our recommendations for boosting it:

Coffee Connoisseur: If you go to Chagall Cafe at Paulownia Mall you can buy Pheromone Coffee for 500 Yen; this raises your Charm stat.
Charming Eats: Head to the Iwatodai Station and go to Hagakure - this restaurant’s Tuna Ramen will increase your Charm when used. You can hang out with your friends here, too.
The Silver Screen: Several films that you can watch at Screen Shot cinema (French & Love Films) give big Charm gains for just 1500 Yen. Attending the Summer Vacation Film Festival also offers a stat boost.
Part-Time Charmer: Working at either Be blue V and Chagall Cafe as a part-time job will increase your charm, as well as one other social stat.
Top of the Class: This requires a high Academics Stat, but if you place at the top of your class during exams at school, you’ll gain Charm. The same is true of answering questions correctly in class - use our Persona 3 Portable School Answers guide to never get one wrong.
Smile for the Camera: In the Game Panic arcade over in Paulownia Mall, you can play a Print Club game - basically, one of those cute photo booths. Going in here and playing around will cost some Yen, but it’s a very efficient charm booster.

The Best Ways to Raise your Social Stats in Persona 3 Portable

The Academics Social Stat is largely raised at school, but studying outside of school hours is hugely helpful.

So, I hear you ask - that list above is all well and good, and sure is a list of ways you can raise your social stats - but what are the best ways to boost those stats?

Well, as is often the case in a game like Persona, the answer isn’t quite simple or straightforward. It’s all about time management, what social links you’re targeting, and what other elements of the game you’re prioritizing. However, let us offer some base advice.

The two most efficient ways to raise your social stats of Academics, Charm, and Knowledge in Persona 3 Portable in general are part-time jobs and the Game Panic arcade.

Both of these elements have methods to level up each of the three social stats. The arcade is expensive, as you have to pay each time - especially early on. However, the strength of the gains makes it worth it if you can still then hop into Tartarus soon after to grind for more cash.

The part-time jobs are useful because they give you cash, of course, but also because they allow you to boost two different social stats at once.

One final piece of advice: save the stat boosting for nighttime. There’s so many Persona 3 Portable Social Links, to advance them all you’ll want to be constantly working to rank them up in the daytime. There’s a little less going on and competing for your time at night, so this is the best time to focus on grinding out those social stat increases.