There are a few achievements that you will get just by doing a normal run, for this I'd recommend following this guide by Smileyz ( https://pastebin.com/ydYZZb9q ). The guide is for the 'Kind' difficulty, but the answers are the same on 'Mean' . Go through the prologue, getting you the achievement From 'Zero to Hero'. At some time in the first chapter, you'll likely get 'Skilling 'Em Softly', although it and the other SP based achievements likely don't need to be routed around and will simply be gotten throughout the run. Go through the first chapter, make sure to be careful to not mess up so you can get 'What's a Mistrial?' and 'You Must Acquit', there are rumors that these achievements are bugged and you may need to start a new file in order to get them if you mess them up on the first trial, I've seen conflicting reports on if that's true but it's a good idea to not take the risk. In addition, the trial should be played on 'Mean' difficulty in order to get the maximum amount of monocoins, and to give more white noise to shoot down to gradually earn 'The Color of Television' and 'Tuned to a Dead Channel' . After doing this you will get 'One is The Loneliest Number'.

Here is where the run really differs. At the first free time event go to the school store and spend all the monocoins that you earned from the last trial. I'd recommend buying presents for 1 monocoin each until you get the Man's Fantasy, then save your monocoins for the postgame. From there you can start to work on getting the report cards. Later in the guide, I will include a section for what every student likes. While you can do it in any order, it's optimal to do Celeste's first as after the third FTE you will get the skill 'Raise' which passively boosts all monocoin gains. Once you get Raise, you can continue with FTE's throughout the runs or wait until the postgame. Postgame is more optimal, but not by much. Complete chapter 2 and get 'Two of a Kind'.

From here, the guide is mostly the same. If possible, try and do the Man's Fantasy scene in chapter 3, if you cannot get the Man's Fantasy beforehand then you can do it by replaying the chapter at a slight time loss. From there you can beat chapter 3 and earn 'Three's a crowd'. Chapter 4 is the same as the guide, complete it and earn 'Four by Gore'. Chapter 5 is the same, just make sure to choose 'Pursue the Lie' during the trial to get the bad ending, then complete the trial normally and earn 'Five Alive'. The final chapter is the same, complete it and earn 'All's well that ends...Umm...'. During any of the trials, do not ever use concentration and earn 'Not From Concentrate'.

When you complete the game I'd recommend buying 100 or so presents. This will get you 'Hey, Big Spender', potentially get you 'Ooh, For Me?', make progress on 'Seriously, You Shouldn't Have', plus a bunch of presents for bulk FTE gifts. Then, I'd recommend grinding out the rest of the Report card achievements in school mode. This is also useful because it helps grind your characters up to be high level for the future attempts in which getting trip tickets actually matter. For the grinding, start off with four cleaners and the rest as gatherers, and gradually wean off of the cleaners as they level up until you're left with just two. If at any time during grinding you need more presents go to the machine and purchase some, just try to avoid wasting all of your monocoins as there's an achievement for getting 999.

Here is a guide for the presents to give for the FTE's in order to get all the report card achievements. Celeste: Rose Hip Tea, Love Status Ring, Zoles Diamond, Rose Whip, Antique Doll. Taka: Mac's Gloves, Red Scarf, Adorable Reactions Collection, Chin Drill. Byakuya: Civet Coffee, Scarab Brooch, Golden Gun, Old Timey Radio, Crystal Skull, Golden Airplane, Prince Shotoku's Globe, Millennium Prize Problems. Mondo: Sonic Cup-a-Noodle, Roller Slippers, Fresh Bindings, Quality Chinchilla Cover. Leon: Everlasting Bracelet, Blueberry Perfume, Jimmy Decay T-shirt, Project Zombie. Hifumi: Cola Cola, Potato Chips, Demon Angel Princess Figure, Unending Dandelion, Tips & Tips. Yasuhiro: Crystal Skull, Golden Airplane, Prince Shotoku's Globe, Sacred Tree Sprig, Meteorite Arrowhead. Sayaka: Kitten Hairclip, Everlasting Bracelet, Love Status Ring, Rose in Vitro, Cherry Blossom Bouquet. Kyoko: Civet Coffee, Blueberry Perfume, Rose in Vitro, Cherry Blossom Bouquet, Bojobo Dolls. Hina: Flotation Donut, Kitten Hairclip, G-Sick, Waterlover, Astral Boy Doll. Toko: Everlasting Bracelet, Glasses, Rose in Vitro, Cherry Blossom Bouquet, Antique Doll, Maiden's Handbag, Novelist's Fountain Pen. Genocide Jack: Everlasting Bracelet, Maiden's Handbag, Kokeshi Dynamo Sakura: God of War Charm, Fresh Bindings, Rose in Vitro, Asura's Tears, Secrets of the Omoplata. Junko: Ration, Kitten Hairclip, Rose in Vitro, Golden Airplane. Chihiro: Blueberry Perfume, Kirlian Camera, Unending Dandelion, Tips & Tips. This will get you the following achievements: 'The French Disconnection', 'The Devil Wears a High School Uniform', 'The Game Hungers', 'Rebel Without a High School Degree', 'Almost Almost Famous', 'Lost in Scanslation', 'The Sixth Nonsense', 'Psychic', 'Hope's Peak Confidential', 'Mystic Donut', 'Strangers in a Brain', 'Lovesport', 'Memoirs of a Fashionista', 'GoodFellows', and 'Mr. Know-It-All'

From here, and possibly while grinding out the FTE's, you will start to actually complete school mode. Each time you build every Monokuma that's asked of you you will get a bonus of 200 Monocoins (this bonus is unaffected by 'Raise'). The first time you complete it you will get 'School's out for Summer'. From there, you need to get every characters ending. This is done by getting 10 hearts with each character. Once you do this you will get 'School's Out Forever'. Before doing any run that will put you at 999 monocoins make sure to use enough to make it so you just hit it exactly for max efficiency, as you may need a lot of them later.

This is a guide on how to always get a heart during the School Mode Trips. Taka: Choose Garden, select "We can't eat these chickens...", "Look at those chickens!", or "Wanna walk around a bit?". Affirm first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Byakuya: You can't guarantee a heart with Byakuya. Choose Dining Hall, select "What should we talk about...?" or "Want something to drink?". Choose "What are you into these days...?" for a half heart. Affirm first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Mondo: You can't guarantee a heart with Mondo. Choose Garden. Select "I'd love to just lay down and go to sleep." or "You said you're a dog person, right?". Choose "It's kinda humid in here..." for a half heart. Negate second point in Trigger Happy Heart. Leon: You can't guarantee a heart with Leon. Choose Library, select "I'm gettin' kinda sleepy..." or "I just wanna read comics...". Choose "You think there's any cool books here?" for a half heart. Negate second point in Trigger Happy Heart. Hifumi: Choose Dining Hall. Select "Every meal is important.", "Want something to drink?", or "So what do you like to do at night?". Affirm first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Yasuhiro: Choose Dining Hall. Select "Tell me all about power spots.", "Le'ts make lunch and go eat somewhere!", or "For breakfast, Japanese style is best." Affirm second point in Trigger Happy Heart. Chihiro: Choose Library. Select "I love reading!", "Do you come to the library a lot?", or "It's so quiet here...". Negate first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Sayaka: You can't guarantee a heart with Sayaka. Choose Dining Hall. Select "Let's make lunch and go eat somewhere!" or "Want something to drink?". Choose "Do you know how to cook?" for a half heart. Negate first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Kyoko: You can't guarantee a heart with Kyoko. Choose Dining Hall. Select "Would you like some coffee?" or "Do you know how to cook?". Choose "I could go for something sweet..." for a half heart. Negate first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Hina: Choose School Store. Select "Let's dig for treasure!", "They have candy and sweets and stuff, too!", or "Do they have any new DVDs here...?" Affirm first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Toko: Choose Library. Select "I love reading!", "Do you write using a computer?" or "Do you read any fanfic stuff?" if it's Genocide Jack. Negate second point in Trigger Happy Heart. Sakura: Choose School Store. Select "Let's organise things in here a little...", "That's a pretty cute doll.", or "Would that barrel be good for training?". Affirm first point in Trigger Happy Heart. Celeste: You can't guarantee a heart with Celeste. Choose Dining Hall. Select "For breakfast, Japanese style is best." or "All the food here is really good.". Choose "So what do you like to do at night?" for a half heart. Affirm second point in Trigger Happy Heart. Junko: You can't guarantee a heart with Junko. Choose Dining Hall. Select "Is it hard being a model?" or "Let's make lunch and go eat somewhere!". Choose "When I'm starving, it's burger time!" for a half heart. Negate second point in Trigger Happy Heart.

After all of this you should get 'Nine Coins, Nine Purses, Nine Bears' for getting 999 monocoins. If you got all presents from the Monomono Machine then the final school mode ending is also when you get 'Seriously, You Shouldn't Have'. Go to the gallery and buy everything for the achievement 'Rogue's Gallery'. That will take 941 Monocoins. After that you just have to possibly grind a bit, either by going to a trial and grinding out white noise to get 'Tuned to a Dead Channel' if you didn't already. Then, if you haven't gotten every present grind out another playthrough or two of School Mode and get 'Seriously, You Shouldn't Have.'.

Finally, you should get "Despair's Last Reward" for getting all other achievements. Timing should stop once this achievement is gotten.