How 2 get 5 stars in 1 year

[Savannah__Star]

 :crash: ok, I need to get 5 stars in one year, but i've never been able to. So, i'm going to use the space hack(which i think needs to be updated because i had a 9X9 exihbit with only 6 gazelles and 2 were mad and 4 weren't) And I'm also giong to delete everything I can and make a new layout for the zoo. Is there any type of layouts (besides grid  :eggcool) that anyone has had a certain succsses with? :eggunsure

[alloy61]

ok not an easy task by any means lol!
You've got to remember the 6 factors towards star rating:

Release to the Wild - release a cheap animal to the wild as soon as you buy them (if you can afford it), peafowl's usually nice and cheap

Animal Happiness - this takes a while to build up, because as soon as you place the animals their happiness is only half full, best bet is to pause the game and build the zoo as early as possible

Number of Animals - kind of self explanatory, get as many different kinds of animals as possible, if you have AA it's quite easy to get a large mixed exhibit that can still fit into your 'Educational Exhibit' criteria

Educational Exhibits - make sure your foliage (and other animals if a mixed exhibit) come from the same area as your animal

Guest Happiness - the overall pain in the bum to get lol, one way is to make your guest area really small so they don't have far to go to get what they need to satisfy their happiness

Entertaining Animals - this one's always been difficult for me, I find primates and penguins to be the more entertaining, I place the toys near the edge of the exhibits but don't know if this makes a difference or not

Of course if you still have access to the money cheat all this requires is a lot of patience as you can build your entire zoo in January and wait out the year to iron out any problems

[Red-Panda-Freak]

one thing that really helps is to REALLY pay attention to the messages at the top of the screen.  If a message pops up saying that guests are hungry, add more food stands right away.  same if they need bathrooms (add bathrooms), desserts, etc.  If zookeepers can't reach poop or food dishes, do something about it right away.
Doing this will help your guest hapiness and animal hapiness.
also try to have really entertaining animals.  boring ones do nothing for you.