Maxing All Social Links Tips (NG+)

This guide provides additional tips (based on my own experience and observations) to the wide variety of guides already available for maxing every social link in Persona 4 Golden.

Introduction

In this guide, I will provide some tips for maxing out all social links in Persona 4 Golden. While there are more than plenty of similar guides online, the aim of this guide is to complement the more "complicated" guides that covers things, such as what choices to make, when to talk to certain characters, and what schedules to follow with some "general" tips that may be easier to follow.

A lot of what I have to say is based on my experiences throughout 3 full playthroughs, 2 of them consisting of me attempting to max every social link, so I have a fairly decent understanding of how social links in this game work. Some of the information presented may not be entirely correct, however, and may need further verification.

This guide is mostly intended for players who are playing on New Game+ (NG+), but newcomers to the game are more than welcome to read these tips.

Before We Begin

Assumptions

Before we begin, however, this guide makes a few assumptions that would only really work if all are met:

1) This guide assumes that you are playing a New Game+ playthrough with all personality traits maxed out right off the start.

In all honesty, trying to get max social links for every single character on a first/non-NG+ playthrough is near-impossible unless you're a god at management or are familiar with the other Persona games (Persona 3 (Reload), Persona 4, Persona 5 (Royals)) and know how to prioritize and manage between your links.

If you're a new player who seeks to max out all social links on your first playthrough, I highly recommend AGAINST that. Enjoy the game how you see fit and explore all that you can. Learn about the masterfully crafted characters and all the minor details of Inaba. Enjoy the spectacular story. Playing in your own pace could provide itself beneficial for when you actually attempt an all max social link run, since by then you should know what to expect and can plan accordingly.

However, in your first playthrough, I highly encourage you work on your social stats (Knowledge, Courage, Diligence, Understanding, Expression) and ensure that they are all maxed out by the time you attempt an all max social link run, so keep reading books and answer school questions correctly. In a NG+ save, those traits get carried over, making things a lot easier.

Another big reason why you also want all your traits maxed out is because some characters' social links are gated behind a specific level of a trait, meaning that you cannot make progress unless you meet the requirement. For example, the later interactions with Nanako and Dojima require a Expression trait of Level 3 or higher. Another example includes Shu (tutoring job), where you need a Level 5 Understanding trait in order to even start his social link. Not having all your traits maxed out can lead to delays, and it's best to minimize these delays.

2) This guide assumes that you are ONLY seeking to get all social links maxed.

This guide is not a 100% completion guide. I will only talk about social linking and will not consider anything else (e.g. NPC quests, book reading, etc.).

3) This guide assumes you have at least one persona of each arcana.

This shouldn't be a problem if you've already played and beaten the game once, but this guide will not discuss how or where to get personas nor will it go over any fusions of any sort if you happen to not have any personas for a certain arcana. Consult other guides for such information.

4) This guide assumes that you know the story.

Assuming you've read assumption 1, then this should go without saying, but for the new players to game here: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

5) This guide assumes that you are going for the True Ending.

It is, in fact, impossible to max social link every character if you're going for any other ending.
*cough cough Teddie*
*cough cough Adachi*

What this guide WON'T cover

• A schedule for each character's availability (can be easily found online)
  
• The best dialogue options for each social link event (again, found easily online)
  
• Exact dates as to when a new link can be obtained (online again)
  
• Any information about personas (e.g. farming locations)

With these disclaimers out of the way, we can finally start the guide.

Tip 0 - Important Notes Before We Begin

Throughout this guide, I will be using certain terms to describe something social links related. These terms are as follows:

Event

An event a unique interaction between you and a character that raises a social links, which requires points in order to be done. Events are characterized by unique dialogues with occasional dialogue choices that can impact the conversation.

Example of an event:

(Notice the dialogue options)

Non-event

A non-event is an interaction between you and a character that does not raise a social link, rather it gives you points that are needed to trigger an event.

Most non-events are characterized by there having absolutely no dialogue between you and a character, rather just narration. Narration typically begins with a ">".

Example of a non-event:

Points

A good way to see points are those yellow music notes that pop out of the character's heads when a choice was made. They come out as either 1 note, 2 notes, or 3 notes, corresponding to 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points respectively.


In this example image, 2 yellow notes means 2 points.

Quick Note about Points

From my experience, you cannot "farm" or "stack" points, although I require further verification. The following is an example taken from the Persona 4 Golden Google Site[sites.google.com] that helps visualize my point:



This screenshot showcases the point requirements for raising social links for Yukiko. Here, Yukiko needs a total of 42 points in order for her social link to be fully maxed. However, if you go with my advice (as will be explained later) and try to attempt to max out Yukiko last, you are not able to farm up all 42 points for her while she's at Rank 1.

Say for example you are at Rank 4. Rank 5 requires 4 points and Rank 6 requires 5 points. You cannot get 9 points at Rank 4 so that you can use 4 points for Rank 5 and then 5 points more for Rank 6. To put it simply, once you get the required points needed to raise a rank, any points you get will NOT be counted until you raise the rank first.

Again, this section needs tons of verification, as I am speaking from experience. So any corrections to this section would be greatly appreciated.

Tip 1 - Focus On Side Characters More

Based on what I've seen, a lot of players like to focus mostly on raising social links of the main character cast (Investigation Team) first, and for good reason: they gain abilities that directly provides benefits to the team. Side characters, on the other hand, do not. They only make persona fusions more efficient. Thus, people (myself included) tend to brush off these side characters and focus a lot more on the main characters first.

However, I believe these side characters should be more of a priority, main reason being is because some of the side characters become unavailable temporarily. For example, your "school friends", consisting of Kou/Daisuke, Yumi/Ayane, Naoki, and Ai, become unavailable during your summer break (the month of August). Another example is Nanako and Dojima, who become unavailable due to their hospitalization in November until mid-January (that's 2 months of no links). If you get these characters out of the way first, your life will be a lot easier and you will not encounter any "dead" days, where your only option are the members of your team, but you already maxed them all out, and none of these side characters are available.

On the other hand, the members of your team will almost always be available, thus I see them as "last resorts" should the side characters be unavailable or interacting with them may be inefficient (as will be explained later). If you're worried that not prioritizing your Investigation Team might make your whole squad weak when you tackle dungeons, keep in mind that you (most likely) have the personas necessary to essentially plow through these dungeons thanks to the cool feature of NG+ that keeps the personas you unlocked in your compendium from your previous run. Of course, your team should not be ignored, but they also should not take top priority.

There are many ways you can go about organizing your priorities for each character. Below was my general approach.

Tip 1a - My Preferred Priority List

1) Marie and Adachi

Marie and Adachi are perhaps the most important social links you can max out. For those that need a refresher:

• Marie provides the means towards obtaining the extra content and True Ending, giving you additional days to finish up your social links.
  
• Adachi is important because his schedule for social links is so inconsistent that you could easily forget he's available.

Of all the days Marie is available (Wed, Sat, Sun), I used Sundays to work on her social links. For Adachi, I took note of what dates to look out for and hope that his rank gets raised when I hang out with him.

What makes these two characters extremely important though is that their links expire the earliest.
⚠️Remember, you have until 11/6 for Adachi (only need Rank 6) and 12/31 for Marie (Maxed) before they become PERMANENTLY unavailable.⚠️

2) School Friends (Kou/Daisuke, Yumi/Ayane, Naoki, Ai)

This one will be very detailed, so bear with me here. Very early on in the game you will unlock the sports team. IMMEDIATELY shift your focus towards them and get their social link to 4 as soon as possible. Doing so will make you able to establish a social link with Ai early. In a non-NG+ playthrough, you would need a rank 3 in Courage. However, your maxed out traits would allow you to start her link much sooner. By the time you start working on Ai, the culture club should also be available, which you should also immediately join. (Do yourself a favor and link with Ayane; we don't talk about Yumi).

Naoki is introduced in June. By this point, you should have made some steady progress with the other characters. You should switch your focus onto obtaining his social link once he's available. Remember, you have to talk to him 3 times before you're able to start a link. After Naoki, just keep focusing on your school friends and probably ONLY them because they won't be available by the time you reach summer break, which lasts from August to September, meaning a whole month of no events with them.

My general schedule for tackling events for these characters in my run was (assuming no rain throughout the week):
Mon: Culture club
Tues: Sports team
Wed: Naoki/Ai
Thurs: Naoki/Ai
Fri: Culture club
Sat: Sports team
Sun: N/A

Keep in mind that the sports team and the culture club become unavailable the week before any exams and during the exam period, which in that case you may work on any other social links.

If you find yourself not being able to raise their links because you don't have enough points or when it is summer break, then you could work on your Investigation Team friends or Eri, who is next on my priority list.

3) Eri Minami (Daycare Job)

Personally, I find myself forgetting that I have a social link with this character because the game doesn't remind me that I have a daycare job. I also find her links to be a bit more point demanding, and her events don't really provide a lot of points (even with a Temperance persona AND right responses), thus I have to abuse a feature that I'll go more into detail later in the guide (spoilers: the fortune box). Furthermore, she's ONLY available during after school and ONLY in certain days (Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays). These reasons are why I place her so high up in the priority list.

Eri is available on the same days that coincide with the sports team (Saturdays) and culture club (Mondays and Fridays), which adds more complication. My recommendation is to juggle between sports team, culture club, and Eri and try to get their links all maxed out quickly.

4) The Fox Quests

You should finish each Fox Quest ASAP. Keep in mind that some quests take several days to complete and you can only progress through these quests when it's not raining (besides a notable exception).

Something to note is that you CAN actually report a completed quest to the Fox during the rain, which raises the link. Doing so consumes also a day slot, so I highly encourage you to turn in at that time. After all, there's not much to do in the rain.

Keep in mind that there are certain Fox quests that can only be done in school, namely:

• Quest 07: I Wish For Love/Fox Quest 1
  
• Quest 12: I Wish I Was Better at Speaking/Fox Quest 6

You cannot progress through these quests during the summer break, so try to plan accordingly. My suggestion is to try to get the 6th quest done by August.

Also try working on getting a fishing rod and a bug net ASAP to prepare yourself for that last Fox quest.

5) Nanako and Dojima

Regarding night links, Nanako and Dojima are perhaps the most important characters to max out first for the reason I stated previously: they become temporarily unavailable from early November to mid-January (meaning 2 months of no links). Nanako and Dojima are also very easy targets to max out quickly. In a non-NG+ run, their later interactions require a decently leveled Expression. But with your maxed out Expression trait in NG+, getting their links maxed out could be done much sooner than expected.

6) Tutoring and janitor jobs

These links should be raised once you've gotten Nanako and Dojima maxed out or close to max. If Nanako and Dojima are both unavailable and you're able to work at one of these jobs, you can go ahead and work. Typically, these jobs are handled a bit later in the game, once you have the proper rankings in the Understanding (tutoring) and Courage (janitor) personality traits. But with your maxed out traits, these jobs can be tackled as early as they are unlocked.

Between these two jobs, I would focus more on the hospital janitor job first, because Sayoko provides the means of starting Hisano's social link, who requires a social link rank of 4 from Sayoko. You can work with Shu once you've maxed out Sayoko, Nanako, and Dojima.

7) Everyone else (Investigation Team members, Hisano, Margaret, etc.)

Your team members (Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto) should be a last resort if all your other characters are unavailable or do not trigger an event. Their biggest advantage is that they will almost ALWAYS be available, meaning you can interact with them any time throughout the year, especially during the summer break (which I highly recommend). The only time they ARE NOT available is when you have to unlock a dungeon, but that's not a big deal, as it takes a day or two to unlock them (assuming you follow a guide and do everything correctly). You can just do any other social link during those days they're unavailable.

One good schedule you could follow for when you handle events is (assuming no rain throughout the week):
Mon - Yosuke
Tues - Chie
Wed - Yukiko
Thurs - Kanji
Fri - Rise
Sat - Naoto
Sun - Anyone
(Fun fact: this schedule is just the order of when each character joins your team, excluding Teddie)

Hisano is available on Sundays and holidays, and each of her interactions are a guaranteed raise, so it's really up to you when you want to work on her. I'd work on her when Marie is unavailable/maxed out.

As for Margaret, you can literally max her in one day so you don't need to worry too much about her. Even if you don't have the persona she requires, you can easily just fuse one using the personas registered in your compendium and some guides online.

I don't think I need to go over the story related social links.

Tip 2 - Minimize "Non-event" Interactions

If maintaining a priority list from the previous tip is too difficult, then this tip is probably more important to keep in mind, regardless of how you manage your priorities.

Hoping that the disclaimer was enough, you should have a general idea of what an event and a non-event is (as well as points). To summarize: Events raise social links, but each event requires a certain amount points. Non-events give you those points, but do not raise social lnks.

You can tell if you will encounter an event or a non-event when you talk to the character before the event/non-event interaction.
- If the game says something along the lines of "Your relationship will deepen" or "Your relationship could become stronger", meaning that an event is ready and can take place.
- A non-event consists of something along the lines of "Your relationship won't become stronger" or "Your relationship isn't ready to advance".

Example of being able to trigger an event:


Example of being able to trigger a non-event:


Simply put, never accept a non-event interaction, unless you absolutely have to, because you could use your precious day slot for raising another social link.

Now you might be wondering how you could possibly accumulate points if told not to accept non-event interactions, which is the means of getting points. This brings me to my next section.

Tip 3 - Accumulate Points Through Other Means

Non-events are not the only way to get points, as there are multiple ways. Below are several ways you can accumulate points without needing to trigger a non-event.

Tip 3a - Go Out At Night

Simply put, the BEST way to accumulate more points is actually at night time.

The following ways provide detail on what makes point accumulation at night so effective:

Fortunes

You cannot raise social links at night for most characters, with certain exceptions. You also have VERY limited options for gathering points during this time, with your options being talking to a character outside or drawing fortunes. Talking to characters outside is an option, but their schedules are very inconsistent and who you encounter might not be who you want. The fortune system, on the other hand, is what I consider the better, if not the BEST way to gather points, as you could draw a fortune for MOST characters. This feature is unlocked after May 6th (so pretty early on in the game) and allows you to select any character you wish to gather points for. You can draw fortunes either during the day or the night, however, you should be drawing fortunes at night since you'll be using your day time to work on a link. To put it simply, fortunes provide a safe way to accumulate points for just about anyone regardless of their availability. The only problem is that how many points you get from drawing a fortune is entirely based on RNG and you might need to take more than one night trip to the shrine to ensure you have enough points to trigger an event. You can have a better idea of if an event is ready if you get a "Small", "Mild", or "Great" blessing, as well as the comment that follows what blessing you have received.

From my experience, Eri was the character I drew the most fortunes out of because she is not out at night and the only other way to accumulate points for her is through the daycare job (mostly consisting of non-events). Furthermore, a lot of her social links require a good amount of points to trigger an event, especially the later ones. Other characters to consider drawing fortunes for include Marie and Adachi, Adachi especially because you want to minimize non-events for him, considering his limited schedule.

You DO NOT need to give Fortunes to the following characters:

• Hisano
  
• Any character that you have maxed out

Recall that Hisano is a guaranteed raise each time you talk to her. It should be self-explanatory as for any characters already maxed out. Either way, don't waste a fortune on these characters.

Talking to your friends at night

As mentioned earlier, you could also talk to your school friends/team members at night, which also provides an effective way to accumulate more points. Assuming you have the persona that matches their arcana, you are guaranteed 3 more points, which may be enough to trigger an event the following day(s). Furthermore, you can get more points by answering correctly any dialogue options they throw at you (triggers based on where you're at in the story).

As stated earlier, the biggest problem is that this feature is only limited to characters who attend your school and their schedules are very inconsistent.

I rarely ever used this method, as I favor abusing the fortunes more. One thing to note is that you get an item when you talk to the character, but I found myself rarely ever using them.

Tip 3b - Good/Correct Responses Only

Another way to effectively get points is to give good/correct responses when given the opportunity.

Choose the Correct Dialogue Options in EVENTS

During events, you are given dialogue options that can potentially net you more points, and thus lessens how many points you need towards the next event. Ideally you want to choose the correct dialogue option that gives you the most points. Therefore, during a social link event, look up the best responses online.


This is an example pulled from Dojima's Social Link event from Rank 7 to 8. Based on guides online, the best response is "Because you're a coward", as it rewards you with 3 points. Meanwhile, choosing the other two options will give you 2 more points (1 if you don't have a Hiero. persona). In this particular example, this is the only dialogue option available to the player. But imagine other events, which may have more dialogue options, meaning more opportunities for points. I think you see where I'm going with this.

⚠️Ai is a character you especially want to look out for and choose your answers real carefully, refer to APPENDIX C for more information.⚠️

Choose the Correct Answer for School Questions

During school, the teacher would occasionally ask random trivia questions to your teammates, who would then rely on you to answer for them. Choosing the correct response would give the respective character 2 points. So it would also be in your best interest to answer these questions correctly.

Choosing "Two" will result in 2 more points for Yosuke, in this case.

Choose the Best Possible Answer for Story Related Dialogue

There are other times throughout the story where you have dialogue options, which can also generate points within your team members. I personally did not take advantage of this, as I find alt-tabbing and navigating other guides ruining my gameplay flow, but the opportunity for more points is there.


For example, in the image above, choosing any of these options will give you points for the corresponding character. Choose your favorite or whoever is in dire need of points. However, the correct answer is to choose the last one because Yukiko is best girl.

Tip 3c - Other (Less Effective) Ways to Get Points

The methods stated above are probably the best alternatives for accumulating points that do not involve spending a day slot for a non-event. The remaining methods listed below are just some other ways you could get points but are not as effective, as they either rely too heavily on RNG, are too infrequent to effectively farm, or are generally just as effective (if not less effective) as non-events.

Sleeping

When you sleep, you have the chance of having a dream with a random character, which as a result generates more points for said character. I don't recommend doing this unless it's raining at night and you have no night job nor Nanako/Dojima to worry about . After all, trying to have a dream itself, alongside the character you want points for, is all determined by RNG.

Movies

Rain during the day is your biggest enemy when it comes to maxing social links, as most characters are unavailable. Luckily, there are a few options you can do if you want to gather more points during the rain.

One of your options is to watch movies with your friends. With this method, you are rewarded with 3 points for that character you choose. This method has its share of limitations, however:

• Watching a movie takes time, meaning it will be night once you finish the movie
  
• There's only one movie per month and only one character "really" enjoys that movie while the others don't as much, and as a result won't generate any points.
  
• Movies are only limited to the Investigation Team, so no side characters.
  
• You could watch a movie ONLY with a character to get points per month. Any other attempt afterwards won't give any.

Studying with your friends

Much like watching movies, studying with your friends is only limited to the Investigation Team and is only available the week before an exam. Unlike movies however, you can study with anyone you want as long as they want to study. Furthermore, studying with a friend yields 2 points for that friend (possible 3, but needs verification) and can increase social stats (should you still need to raise them). Limitations, however, include:

• Studying takes time, meaning it will be night once you finish studying
  
• Exams are very infrequent
  
• Only one member of your team can be selected

Doing well on exams

Getting a high/the highest score on exams can also get you some points for your Investigation Team and school friends, so definitely answer every question correctly AND have a high (ideally highest) Knowledge rank. Two big problems are that these exams are very infrequent to be considered a good way to get points and the point generation only happens ONCE when you look at the board to see who placed highest on the exam rankings.

Tip 4 - Rain

As briefly mentioned in the previous section, rain is your biggest enemy because it severely limits what you can do during the day. No one wants to hang out, you can't progress through the Fox Quests, and you can't draw any fortunes. However, there are still some ways you can work efficiently.

Culture Club

You are still able to interact with the culture club in the rain, granted they're available.

Adachi

You can also interact with Adachi during the rain, but only in the daytime. I don't think he's available at night when it rains.

The Fox

As I said before, the best time to turn in a completed ema quest is at days when it rains because the Fox is still available. You can also accept a quest in the rain, but you cannot attempt to finish them since you can only progress through them when it isn't raining.

Fox Quest 9/Quest 15: I Wish to See the Samegawa's Guardian is interesting in that you actually NEED the rain in order to progress, as catching the Guardian fish in the beach can only be accomplished in the rain. You are also able to finish the quest any day in December but it's a lot better to get this quest done sooner than later.

Scooter Rides

Once you unlock the scooter, you are given the option to ride it around town (to unlock Okina City) or to take a long trip (to unlock Shichiri Beach). While the game encourages you to ride the scooter to unlock these new places as soon as possible, I would actually recommend you to only ride the scooter when it is raining, as it is possible to do so. Unlocking these new places isn't as urgent, as you would only require Shichiri Beach for the last Fox Quest, so you might as well take a ride while no one's out. Furthermore, you only need to ride the scooter around 3 times before the new place is unlocked.

An interesting note about unlocking new places is that once a new place is unlocked, it will still be daytime, meaning you have a chance to kill 2 birds with 1 stone: unlock the new place AND do a social link (if available). This can only happen twice though.

Watching Movies

Refer to the previous section.

Studying with Friends

Refer to the previous section.

Do not enter the TV

If nothing above is available, then there really isn't much left. Do what you want in this case. Whatever you do, however, DO NOT GO INTO THE TV. Sometimes it stops raining at night, which gives you the opportunity to raise a link/go to the fortune box. Should you go into the TV, your stamina will be drained by the time you get out and thus you can't do anything but sleep.

Tip 5 - Complete Dungeons in One Day

I think it is seen as a general rule of thumb that dungeons should be completed in one day, particularly being done the day you unlock them, but in an all max social link playthrough, I think doing so is even more important than ever.

Simply put, the more days you spend completing a dungeon, the less days you get for accomplishing social links. After all, dungeons can only be completed during the day, much like social link events.

It honestly doesn't really matter WHEN you complete a dungeon, more so as long as you complete it in one day.

Also, consult a guide for unlocking dungeons. Some dungeon take a few days in order to become unlocked and offer VERY little room for making mistakes, which may result in waiting a few days or so just to fix them. We want to minimize these errors, as your Investigation Team friends become unavailable for any interaction since they are so busy helping you out in unlocking the dungeons.

Another thing to point out is to only go into the TV for the sake of completing dungeons. After you beat a dungeon, don't bother going back in there for whatever reason (grinding, item fetch quests, persona farming, etc.) until the next time the story requires you to. Unnecessarily going into the TV, again, only wastes a precious day slot that could've been used for social links. Do all these grindings and farmings or whatever WHILE you're tackling a dungeon due to needing to rescue someone.

There is an important exception to this tip. Refer to Appendix A: IMPORTANT Notes about Adachi.

Tip 6 - Establish Social Links as Soon as You Can

This may seem like a no-brainer but it's often easy to forget that you have a new social link to establish once a new key character is introduced. Even more forgettable is that some of these characters require extra steps in order for you to be able to link with them. Here, we want new social links to be created as early as possible, but some characters just love to delay it. Characters that you should be on the look out for when you're trying to establish a new link include the following:

Kanji and Naoto

Once they become available for social linking (look up their dates online), these two characters both require that you talk to a certain NPC before you can start social links with them, so be sure to talk to those NPCs the day Kanji and Naoto become available.

Naoki

Once Naoki is introduced (around June), he must be talked to 3 times before you can start linking with him. The first interaction does not use a day slot, but the other two do, so be aware of that.

Ai

Ai simply requires a social link rank of 4 from the Sports Team and a Courage rank of 3 (that part shouldn't be a problem).

Sayoko

Once you've started working as a hospital janitor, you do not immediately start linking with Sayoko. She requires another visit to the hospital after your very first one before you can start her link.

Hisano

Similar to Ai, Hisano requires a social link rank of 4 from Sayoko.

Eri

Similar to Sayoko, once you've started working as a daycare worker, you do not immediately start linking with Eri. Eri requires another visit to the daycare job before you can start her link.

Tip 7 - Decline Hangouts

Occasionally on Sundays or holidays, when the day starts, you are called by one of your teammates/school friends who ask you to hang out.

Decline these.

They are the same as non-events, except they generate points for multiple characters instead of one. Thus, it consumes a precious day slot. You could instead use that time to actually raise a link, especially for Marie or Hisano.


(Visual example of what I'm talking about) Always select "I'll pass."

Tip 8 - Use Your Time Wisely

The game gives you so much to do given the year you're available, but most (if not all) of your time should be spent only for social inks.

Besides non-events, try not to spend a day/night slot doing stuff that doesn't raise a social link. This includes:

• Doing NPC Quests
  
• Coffee Cafe
  
• Fishing (unless it's for the Fox Quest)
  
• Eating at Aiya
  
• Going into the TV (unless you have to)
  
• Studying at the library (unnecessarily)
  
• Reading books
  
• Studying
  
• Doing home jobs
  
• Doing nothing
  
• etc.

The only non-event activity I would see as important is riding your scooter (to unlock Okina City and Shinchiri Beach), and the best time to do this is when it's raining.

Avoid all these and focus ONLY on social linking. A year may seem like a lot of time, but it really isn't, especially with the story getting in your way.

Other Tips

Some smaller tips that I can provide that aren't as big/important compared to my previous tips include:

Make a spreadsheet that tracks your social link progress

If you are able to create an easy-to-understand spreadsheet that can provide you additional information other than simply your current rank for each link (i.e. whether a character is ready or not or how much points you have for each link) as the game provides, then it could be easier for you to manage your priorities and can help ensure that no one is being neglected or left behind. I made one that I referenced on the side, and if people want this spreadsheet, I can provide it.

Make "save states"

Pretty sure most people do this anyways, but it's a good idea to utilize a good majority of your save slots in case you mess up or realize you could walk a better, more efficient path. For me, I made separate save slots each time a new character got rescued in the story (save slot for Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, etc.) as well as a save slot that gets overwritten each month.

Have the right arcanas for the people you link with

I believe that most of you reading this already know to have a persona with an arcana that matches the arcana of the character you wanna link with, so this should be a no-brainer and I don't really consider this a "big" tip that requires a whole section. But for the small minority of people who either (somehow) don't know or care, have a persona whose arcana matches the arcana of the character you wanna link with because it maximizes your point accumulation. It doesn't matter what persona you choose, just have the right arcanas. (Though you might wanna consider using cheap personas since you'll be almost constantly switching out, releasing, and buying different personas from the compendium based on your current needs)

Decline helping Nanko with her homework

This is a small story bit, but one thing to consider declining is helping Nanako do her homework, which becomes an option during the summer break and at the end of January. You do generate points for her, Dojima, and maybe some of your Investigation Team crew, but it consumes a night slot, which could be better used for your jobs or spamming the fortune box. The only consequence of this decision is that she'll just do her homework on her own and nothing is really affected.

Don't do your summer homework

Another small story bit like above, but during the summer break, you have your own share of homework. The game implies that you should spend the last few nights of your summer break completing it by working at your desk, thus sacrificing your night social links. But if you don't, at the very last day of summer break, you spend the whole day doing all your homework. Even more convenient is that it rains that day (needs verification), so that's a perfect opportunity to get that finished since no one would be out anyways.

Don't visit Nanako in the hospital

Yet again another story bit, but starting on November 22, you will be given the opportunity to visit Nanako at the hospital with the Investigation Team. Don't do this unless you are in DIRE need of points for a majority of your teammates. If anything, this guide is really telling you to be an awful big brother. Can't help it when we have social links on the line.

Conclusion

If reading this mouthful of a guide was too much and you just want the main points, the key takeaways here are to
1) Focus on your side characters first
2) Choose the best/right responses always
3) Spam the fortune box at night
4) Minimize non-events
The last takeaway is perhaps the most important, if anything.

In my playthrough where I followed my own advice and attempted to max out all social links and ONLY attempt that (no going for 100%), I ended up getting all applicable links maxed by January 15, 2012 (Adachi is technically the last link to max out, which occurs at your last day in Inaba), so this guide does not guarantee you get all social links by the end of 2011. By the end of 2011, however, I was able to max out every side character and 4 out of the 6 Investigation Team members (Teddie excluded from this count since he's story-related). The remaining two were high enough (around Rank 8) to where getting the remaining links just took 4 days.

(As proof that I maxed everyone)

In any case, I hope this guide gives you a better insight on how to approach maxing all social links. This is my first ever written guide and I feel that there is much more to discuss when it comes to general guides like this. Try not to over-rely on this guide alone. Seek out others as you attempt maxing all social links. They might provide better insight that this guide missed or did not explain well. Regardless, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and good luck on your run!

Appendix A - IMPORTANT Notes about Adachi

Adachi provides interesting and noteworthy exceptions that have the potential to screw up your run. Below are special notes about his social links that I could not provide above due to running out of space.

Confront Adachi alone

As pointed out by Tonhão in the comments: On December 7th, after learning that Adachi is the culprit, you are given the option to confront him alone or confront him the next day with your team. CHOOSE TO CONFRONT HIM ALONE. Choosing otherwise will prevent you from maxing his social link. Many guides online will tell you that his social link will progress naturally by playing the story, but they fail to emphasize confronting Adachi alone. Keep in mind these guides were posted years ago and faced little to no updates, thus it causes misleads and misinformation to be spread out.


Choose "Go see him alone"


If you choose to see him alone, you will see this image above after you beat his dungeon, meaning you have made the correct choice and you're guaranteed for a full max link with Adachi. If you see an 8, then you did not choose to confront him alone, and if you see any lower than 8, then you did not get Adachi's link to 6 before 11/6.

Complete Adachi's Dungeon on 12/22

Special thanks to Jokerr in the comments for pointing out a crucial detail I missed before, but Adachi's dungeon provides a special exception to the pattern of completing dungeons in one day AND on the day you unlock it. For Adachi, complete his dungeon on 12/22 (the last day to complete his dungeon). Completing his dungeon before that date will automatically skip to 12/23, and will disable you from doing anything during those days since you completed the dungeon - meaning no social links. For example, if you complete his dungeon on 12/12, you will lose 11 days worth of social linking. Ultimately, in this case, it is better to work on your social links while his dungeon is active, but before 12/22.

Appendix B - IMPORTANT Notes about Marie

Much like Adachi, there are also some important notes about Marie and her social links that I did not have enough room to provide in Tip 1.

Marie's Social LInks progress as you progress through the story

Unlike most Social Links, where you can max them out very quickly (e.g. Nanako, Dojima, Investigation Team, etc.), some of Marie's links cannot be attained until you've progressed a bit further in the story. This is because her links involve the investigation Team, so if you do not have the member needed for her link, the link simply won't be available until you get the character. If this happens, simply work on other links and occasionally check on Marie after you beat each dungeon to see if she's finally available. There should be some sources online that tell you exactly when Marie should be next available, so definitely seek those. Once you have all members of the Investigation Team however, Marie's links should not provide anymore stalls, so you can breeze through them.

Appendix C - IMPORTANT Note about Ai

Here's another character worth talking about more that needs a whole section because I ran out of space on Tip 1.

Be Very Careful With Ai

Be on the look out for for Ai's Social Link especially, as her events have choices that could potentially lower the rank number or even BREAK the link entirely and prevent you from progressing any further. I strongly suggest that you look up other guides for the best responses to prevent these from happening. Most, if not all these guides will classify two possible routes to take: "normal route" and "temporary lovers route". To put it simply, do not take the temporary lovers route. In fact, don't even be in a relationship with her.

I will not go over tips on how to fix the broken link, as I took the safe way and simped for Yukiko instead made choices that allowed me to remain friends with her throughout. It is up to you to figure out how to fix it, whether it means looking up other guides or simply reverting to a past save.

[Pudge]

Extremely helpful guide, I was able to max practically everyone by 12/22.
I just have one rank left for Yukiko & Yosuke, then the rest of the story related ranks (which are only Adachi & Seekers of Truth at this point) as I finish the NG+ true ending.
Thank you so much for this. :)

[Saetia]

these tips were extremely helpful, i was only able to platinum the game because of this guide, thanks!

[<#00FFC8>S O U P]

My first NG+ ended with only 7 rank ups away from this achievement. After following the advice here, I got everything besides story related links maxed before Christmas. Great guide dude!

[miku simp]

Good guide. I'd like to point out that for the scooter rides, only the first two will pass time. The third/sixth rides will land you at the new location and it will still be daytime.

[Phoenix]

@Jarko
You were super right. I managed to get most of them maxed out minus Kanji and Chie, who are rank 8 and 9 respectively. Thanks to your guide, I'll be able to get the achievement! Thanks so much for this! I never realized how much the fortunes and how focusing school and non-school links were. I even balanced this with getting most of the quests done as well. The tip about riding the scooter and visiting the fox only during rainy days helped too since I never knew what to do those days besides fish.

[RATH]

@Phoenix Assuming you're still on his dungeon, the links for the Investigation Team should still be obtainable while his dungeon is active. If my memory serves correct, I was able to raise a link for Yosuke, Kanji, and Naoto during that time. Assuming the links of rest of your teammates are decently leveled (like around 6 or greater maybe), you still might be able to max everything, as you have until February 5 to work on your links.

[Phoenix]

So I referred to this guide when working on my first NG+, and have all non-teammate social links (minus Adachi) up at max. I think I hit a snag because I thought I could hang out with my teammates after THAT dungeon opens up on 12/08.
None of my teammates want to complete social link events, and I only have Yosuke maxed out fully. Does this only happen on 12/08 and I can complete my Social links for them the rest of December/January/February, or did I mess up my Hero of Inaba run entirely?

[RATH]

@Jokerr oh shit I totally forgot about that. Lemme add that to my guide because that is definitely important. Thanks

[Jokerr ≋]

As someone who beat every dungeon the first day available, one thing that I didn't learn until later is to save beating Adachi's dungeon until DEC23, as finishing it anytime before that will skip to Christmas, making you lose precious days .

[RATH]

@Tonhão In all of my runs, I've always chose to talk to him alone, so I didn't know that you can actually fail maxing his link if you choose otherwise. I also verified with a friend and it looks like you're correct. I'll update the guide to make sure that this info is more known to readers. Thanks for the heads up!