Bully: Scholarship Edition: Complete Guide

A guide to Rockstar's Bullworth Academy game for new and returning players: the daily routine, classes and their rewards, cliques and chapters, fighting, money, side activities, 100% completion tips, and getting the aging PC port running smoothly.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final Steam PC release (no recent official updates). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status note: The Windows port of Scholarship Edition came out on 21 October 2008 (the Steam listing dates from December 2010), following the March 2008 Xbox 360 and Wii remaster. It works on modern Windows, but players have long reported crashes and quirks. Wikipedia notes that when Windows 10 launched in July 2015, "many users reported constant crashes and errors", and that many of these were addressed by an unofficial fan patch. It's a finished, single-player game with no online features. The two-player class competition mode from the console Scholarship Edition is not in the PC version (it later appeared in the 2016 mobile Anniversary Edition). The Steam version includes the 26-track soundtrack in the game folder.

Quick Start

Go to class. Classes are the main way to unlock abilities, and skipping them makes you truant, which gets prefects and police after you.
Learn the schedule. There's a morning class and an afternoon class on school days. Free time is in between and in the evenings. Curfew starts at night, and if you stay up far too late Jimmy passes out wherever he is, so head back to bed before then.
Keep your Trouble meter low. Fighting in front of prefects, hitting girls or adults, and trespassing raise it. When it's high, authority figures chase you down.
English unlocks the apology. Once you've progressed in English, you can apologize to authority figures to get out of minor trouble.
Chemistry unlocks crafting. Firecrackers, stink bombs and other thrown weapons come from chemistry sets.
Gym unlocks combat moves. It's the most important class for fighting.
Do errands for money. Paper routes, lawn mowing, deliveries and helping students earn money you'll need for bikes, clothes and upgrades.
Save at your dorm bed. There's no autosave during missions, so sleep or save often.

Daily Routine and Trouble

Time	What happens
Morning	First class. Attend it to progress that subject
Midday	Free time
Afternoon	Second class
Evening	Free roam, missions and side activities
Curfew	Prefects and police chase students who are out
Very late night	If you're still up, Jimmy passes out and the day ends

The Trouble meter

It rises when you break rules in front of authority figures (prefects, teachers, police): fighting, vandalism, trespassing, skipping class, hitting the wrong people.
Prefects, police and asylum orderlies will chase and try to bust you. Per Wikipedia, the higher the meter, the harder it is to escape; at the maximum you are busted instantly, respawn at the police station or principal's office, and your weapons are confiscated. Getting caught at school can also land you in detention mini-games.
Hide in a dumpster or locker or leave the area to reduce it.
Once English is unlocked, apologize to calm authority down.

Classes and Rewards

Classes are mini-games. Each has five levels of increasing difficulty, and each level unlocks something.

Class	Mini-game	Rewards (overview)
English	Make words from letters	Unlocks the apology, which gets you out of trouble with authority
Chemistry	Rhythm button presses	Crafts thrown weapons such as firecrackers and stink bombs
Art	Trace and colour	Improves kissing, restoring more health when you kiss
Gym	Various athletic tasks	New fighting moves
Photography	Take specific photos	Camera upgrades
Shop	Bike and mechanical tasks	Bikes and bike upgrades
Math	Quick math questions	Smaller rewards than the core classes
Biology	Dissections (Scholarship Edition)	Smaller rewards than the core classes
Geography	Map puzzles (Scholarship Edition)	Shows collectibles on the minimap
Music	Rhythm (Scholarship Edition)	Smaller rewards than the core classes

The four classes Wikipedia singles out for their gameplay rewards are English (apologize), Chemistry (craft throwables), Geography (collectibles on the minimap) and Gym (fighting moves). Prioritize those; the rest mainly matter for 100% completion.

Geography is one of the most useful classes for 100% because it marks collectibles on your minimap.

Cliques and Chapters

Bullworth is divided into cliques: Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, Jocks and the Townies outside school. Your standing with each changes as you do missions and pick fights. Jimmy's job is to take on each clique and unite the school.

Chapter	Focus
Chapter 1	Settling in, dealing with the Bullies
Chapter 2	The Preppies (includes Halloween)
Chapter 3	The Greasers (includes the Christmas period)
Chapter 4	The Nerds and the Jocks
Chapter 5	The school collapses into chaos, including the Townies. Final confrontation with Gary Smith
Chapter 6 (Endless Summer)	Free roam after the ending, to finish side content

Gary is the main antagonist. He first befriends Jimmy, then turns the cliques against him.

Clique leaders you'll face

Per Wikipedia's plot summary, each clique arc ends with Jimmy dealing with its leader:

Clique	Leader	How the arc resolves
Bullies	Russell Northrop	Jimmy beats Russell and talks him into stopping the bullying
Preppies	Derby Harrington	Jimmy defeats the Preppies and Derby
Greasers	Johnny Vincent	Jimmy helps Johnny expose an affair between Lola Lombardi and Preppy Gord Vendome, then wins the Greasers over
Nerds	Earnest Jones	Jimmy earns their respect by promising they'll never be picked on again
Jocks	Ted Thompson	Jimmy sabotages the big football game and beats Ted in front of the whole school
Townies	Edgar Munsen	Gary recruits the Townies (former Bullworth students) to prank the cliques; Jimmy later confronts Edgar

After Gary gets Jimmy expelled, Jimmy returns with his allies' support, restores order, and beats Gary in a rooftop fight. The principal readmits Jimmy and makes Pete Kowalski head boy.

Getting around Bullworth

The map opens up as the story advances. You start confined to the Academy grounds, then gain access to Bullworth Town, Old Bullworth Vale (Preppy territory), New Coventry (Greaser territory) and Blue Skies Industrial Park (Townie territory) over the following chapters. Each area has its own shops, errands, collectibles and hangouts, so when a new district opens:

Walk it once and note the barber, clothing store, bike shop and any save points.
Pick up errands from the people standing around with a mission marker. They are the quickest early money.
Watch whose turf you're on. Walking through a clique's area while they dislike you draws fights. Clique standing improves as you complete missions for them, which makes cleanup runs much less painful.

Clique standing in practice

Each clique's attitude toward Jimmy is tracked separately. Missions against a clique make it hostile; missions for it make it friendlier. Late in the game the whole school turns on you, and after the ending things calm down again. If a clique is making free roam miserable, avoid its turf for a while and push on with the story missions that involve it.

Fighting

Lock on to a target and use punches, grabs and moves learned in Gym.
Humiliations and finishers work on weakened or grabbed opponents.
Weapons: The slingshot (later upgraded), spud gun, bottle rocket launcher, eggs, marbles, firecrackers, stink bombs and more. Some come from missions, others from Chemistry or shops.
Don't fight girls or adults in front of authority. It raises Trouble much faster.
Health: Recover it with sodas from vending machines, kissing (improved by Art), or sleeping.

Getting Around

Wikipedia lists Jimmy's rides as the skateboard, scooters, bicycles and go-karts. You can't drive cars, but you can skitch: grab onto the back of a moving car while on a bike or board to hitch a fast ride.

Ride	Best for
Skateboard	Quick trips around campus and town
Bicycles	The main way to cross town; Shop class unlocks better bikes
Scooters	Another small ride for getting around
Go-karts	Go-kart races, which count toward 100%

Tip: authority figures still chase you on a bike, but a fast bike makes shaking a low Trouble meter much easier.

Money and Side Activities

Activity	Why do it
Paper route	Steady early cash
Lawn mowing	Money from Bullworth residents
Errands	Many NPCs ask for small favours for money or rewards
Races (bike, go-kart)	Rewards, and part of 100%
Arcade games	Consumo, Nut Shots and Future Street Race, and part of 100%
Boxing	Fights for rewards
Carnival	Mini-games and prizes

Spend money on bikes (from Shop), clothes (some needed for specific looks or missions), and consumables.

Collectibles and 100% Completion

For 100%, you need to finish all missions, classes, errands, races and minigames, collect every collectible type, and meet various other checks. Tips:

Take Geography early. It marks collectibles on the minimap.
Collectibles include rubber bands, transistors, trading cards, and seasonal items (such as pumpkins at Halloween and seasonal events), plus others. Some are only available during specific chapters, so do them while you can.
Endless Summer after the ending lets you clean up almost everything. Some seasonal items can only be collected in their season.
Keep a checklist. Completion gives outfits and other rewards along the way.

PC Tips (2026)

Crashes and stutter: The port has a reputation for instability, especially since Windows 10. SilentPatch for Bully: Scholarship Edition (by Silent / CookiePLMonster, source on GitHub) is the usual first fix. Per its README it:
- improves collision loading, fixing occasional crashes on first load
- fixes object-pool usage, memory corruption on exit, a use-after-free in the sound code, and audio and memory leaks that caused out-of-memory crashes
- makes the 30 FPS frame limiter more precise and adds a config option to change the FPS cap
- cuts CPU usage while the game is minimized
Running in compatibility mode or lowering settings can also help if you still see crashes.
Frame rate: the game is built around 30 FPS. If you raise the cap with SilentPatch's option, test a few missions first and drop it back if physics or scripted scenes misbehave.
Widescreen and resolution: Community fixes (for example ThirteenAG's widescreen fixes pack) are often recommended for better aspect ratio and FOV. Check the documentation for your setup.
Controllers: The Steam page lists keyboard, mouse and the Xbox 360 controller as supported. Many players prefer a pad for fights and the class mini-games.
Saves: Keep manual backups of your save files, especially before long sessions.
Requirements: very light by modern standards. The Steam page minimum is a 3 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon 3000+, 1 GB of RAM, a DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3.0 card (GeForce 6800/7300 or Radeon X1300 class) and 4.7 GB of disk space.
Languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, with full audio and interface.
Soundtrack: the Steam version bundles the 26-track original soundtrack in a Bully Original Soundtrack folder inside the game's Steam directory.

Mods and fixes are community-made and not supported by Rockstar. Back up your game files first.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Skipping classes early. You'll miss abilities (especially the English apology and Gym moves) that make everything easier.
Staying out past curfew all the time. You'll get busted, waste time, and can lose your weapons.
Ignoring errands. They're the main source of money.
Fighting in front of prefects. It's the fastest way to get your Trouble meter maxed.
Missing seasonal collectibles. Some can only be found during their chapter or season.
Not saving. Sleeping in your dorm saves the game, and missions don't autosave.

Advanced Tips

Upgrade your slingshot early. It's one of the best tools for dealing with enemies and props.
Use your bike. It makes the map much smaller, and Shop class bikes are faster.
Use humiliations when you get the chance. They're fun and wear down opponents quickly.
Clear side content during free time so you're not doing it all at the end.
Plan classes around missions so you don't end up truant.

FAQ

Is Bully: Scholarship Edition on PC worth it? Yes, if you're willing to deal with an old port. The game itself holds up, and community fixes help with most technical problems.

What's the difference between Bully and Scholarship Edition? Scholarship Edition adds new classes (including Biology, Geography and Music), missions and items. The console versions also added a two-player mode for competing in classes, but that mode isn't in the PC release.

How do I get out of trouble quickly? Hide or leave the area, and apologize once you've unlocked it through English.

Can I still do things after the story? Yes. Endless Summer lets you finish side content after the ending.

What happens when I get busted? Per Wikipedia, you respawn at the police station or the principal's office and your weapons are confiscated. Buy or craft replacements before the next risky mission.

Can I drive cars? No. Your rides are skateboards, scooters, bikes and go-karts, though you can skitch on the back of moving cars.

Is there a Bully 2? Rockstar has never officially released a sequel. Bully: Anniversary Edition (December 8, 2016, Android and iOS, by War Drum Studios) is a mobile port with added features, including the multiplayer class mode.