A Test Before Trying/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Changing of the Guardian

A Test Before Trying

Hardly Kirk-ing ►

Cultural References

• The episode's title is a reference to A Kiss Before Dying, a novel by Ernest Gaines.
• Lunch Lady Doris baking her husband's body into a pie is a possible reference to the way of disposing of bodies in the musical Sweeney Todd.
• The SoundTrack heard when the Kids are taking their test is Michael Myers Halloween SoundTrack from the horror movie franchise Halloween which started in 1978 and ended in 2009.
• The school that Nelson was being sent to was called the Arkham Elementary School for the Criminally Insane. A reference to Arkham Asylum. Owing to the parody, the bus driver bore a resemblance to the Joker, albeit without makeup.
•  In Bart's nightmare of what would happen if the school would close down, Popeye is seen farming the spinach farm that used to be the school.
  
•  The music heard while the clowns are getting out of the clown car is the David Bowie song Changes.
• The scene where Agnes Skinner looks at Seymour from a house references Norman Bates' Mother from Psycho. This was referenced in "Brother from the Same Planet" and a deleted scene from "Homer's Barbershop Quartet". 
• We can see The Great Raymondo  from "The Great Simpsina".
• The episode is dedicated to Huell Howser

Trivia

• When Sherri and Terri find out they are being put in different buses for different schools, they change from the way they are to resemble old people.
• At the end of the episode, a questionnaire says: Operating using a stolen parking meter is: A)A felony, B) A misdemeanor, C) A really stupid way to make money and D) How the FOX network got started.

• When Homer drops the rest of his parking meter change into the wishing well, he breaks the fourth wall by telling Marge "now lets get back on topic" meaning he is aware of the two topics of the episode and the scene changes to Springfield Elementary School where Bart's test is taking place. This could also be coincidental because Homer Simpson could have found out what is happening with Bart Simpson off-screen and when he said lets get back on topic that could have just meant that Homer was just going to talk to Marge Simpson about what's going on with Bart and after he said that the writers change the scene because it was an appropriate time to change the scene.  

Goofs

• In the beginning scene, Chief Wiggum is seen with Sarah and Ralph, but he has black hair and is dark-skinned instead of yellow.
• While writing the test, Milhouse fainted. The Buck-toothed boy was sitting on his place when Groundskeeper Willie took Milhouse's body away. However, when Willie laid Milhouse to other fainted students, the boy was already lying there, too.
  • The Buck-toothed boy was also seen in Miss. Hoover's second grade class with two other fourth graders.
• Sophie and the Long-haired girl are both seen in Miss. Hoover's second grade class as they were taking a test. Yet, they are seen back in Mrs. Krabappel's class.
• Pulling the fire alarm would not activate a building's sprinkler system; it would instead simply sound the alarms. However, a sprinkler activating can set off the fire alarm system, but not the other way around.