Changes: How the Test Was Won

Revision as of 04:29, 6 March 2020

Episode

References

Gags

Appearances

Gallery

Quotes

Credits

◄	Take My Life, Please

How the Test Was Won

No Loan Again, Naturally

►

"How The Test Was Won" is the eleventh episode of Season 20.

Synopsis

A national achievement test has Springfield Elementary School in an uproar. Bart and the school's other underachievers are sent on a class trip to Capital City so they don't bring down the school's score, while Lisa, rattled by her score of "only" 96 percent on a practice test, has trouble with the real thing. Meanwhile, Homer forgets to send an insurance payment on time and has to prevent anyone from getting injured in the Simpson house.

Full Story

To Lisa's surprise, Bart receives a perfect score on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President's Assessment Test by writing "Slurp My Snot" across his page. This enables him to attend a special pizza party, with a helicopter as his escort. However, it turns out to be a clever plan to purge the school of all bad test takers. Bart didn't receive a perfect score and the helicopter is disguised as the school bus, with Otto at the wheel. Bart, along with Nelson, Ralph, Kearney, Dolph, and Jimbo are driven to Capital City (with Bart as the only student realizing what is really going on), along with Principal Skinner, who was pushed on board the bus by Superintendent Chalmers. Skinner realized that Chalmers used him so he can take over the school while the test was in session and he and the boys were driven off.

On route, Ralph stops for a bathroom break, and the bus is disassembled by a vandal (while Otto is still on it). The group attempts to walk the rest of the way, but they lose Ralph on a garbage barge.

Meanwhile, Homer is late making an insurance payment, and won't be insured until 3:00 PM, so he can't hurt himself until then. Images of injuries flood his mind when he gets home, envisioning Marge's book club being killed by a series of freak accidents. Helen Lovejoy's hair getting set on fire, her shoes stabbing Kookie Kwan in the eyes, and Kookie falling back into a statue holding an axe which flies across the room and strikes Agnes Skinner in the back. Marge runs around frantically exclaiming that they are liable, then begins making out with Lindsey Naegle, much to Homer's pleasure. Homer then snaps out of his imagination, exclaiming, "NOOO!" only to discover that the women are still alive. He has to keep the entire book club safe while he is still uninsured, but ends up throwing a knife in Mr. Burns' head at 3:01 as he randomly walks onto the Simpsons' property.

Skinner signals for a piano cargo ship to rescue Ralph with its crane, but he accidentally stuns the operator. Skinner rescues Ralph himself by jumping on board the crate hoisted by the crane and using the law of conservation of angular momentum. He lands on the barge and the kids and Otto follow him. As it turns out, the garbage barge they have landed on is headed towards Springfield Elementary.The boys now believe that education is impressive due to Skinner saving the day, and so Skinner reads The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the boys until they arrive, which they enjoy.

At school, Lisa is unable to focus on the test, as the thought of Bart being smarter torments her (also due to the fact that all of the test's answers have exactly the same meaning). When the test finishes, she hasn't answered a single question. However, Skinner returns just in time to stop the test. He tells Chalmers that he received an education on how children really learn, by seeing him run around on top of a shipping container. He then turns to the students and declares that this is his school and he's throwing out the tests. Everyone cheered and Lisa is a brainy outcast again. Finally, Skinner lifts the school's ban on dancing, where they dance until the end of the episode.

Behind the Laughter

Reception

The A.V. Club wrote: "I'm sorry, but 'How The Test Was Won' was about as low as things get these days—the worst of the season by far, and quite possibly one of the worst episodes I've watched in this brave 'new' era of yellow people."

Citations

◄ Season 19	Season 20 Episodes	Season 21 ►
Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes • Lost Verizon • Double, Double, Boy in Trouble • Treehouse of Horror XIX • Dangerous Curves • Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words • Mypods and Boomsticks • The Burns and the Bees • Lisa the Drama Queen • Take My Life, Please • How the Test Was Won • No Loan Again, Naturally • Gone Maggie Gone • In the Name of the Grandfather • Wedding for Disaster • Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe • The Good, the Sad and the Drugly • Father Knows Worst • Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh • Four Great Women and a Manicure • Coming to Homerica

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Tab|Eps}}
-{{Tab|Eps}} {{PrevNext|Eps|Take My Life, Please|No Loan Again, Naturally}} {{episode
+{{PrevNext|Eps|Take My Life, Please|No Loan Again, Naturally}}
+{{episode
 |image= HowtheTestwasWon.jpg
 |productionCode= LABF02
 |originalAirdate= March 1, 2009
 |blackboardText= "March Madness" is not an excuse for missing school.
+|couchGag= [[Sitcom Parodies couch gag]]
-|couchGag= A montage of old sitcom parodies, before the family finally sits on the couch.
-|titlescreen=
-|billboard = [[Milhouse]] Lost Child No Reward
 |titlescreen= A three-eyed crow flies by
+|billboard = [[Milhouse]] Lost Child No Reward
 |specialGuestVoices=
 |Show Runner=[[Al Jean]]
@@ Line 16: / Line 17: @@
 | number   = 11
 | previous = [[Take My Life, Please]]
-| next     = [[No Loan Again, Naturally]]
+| next     = [[No Loan Again, Naturally]]}}
-}}
 "'''How The Test Was Won'''" is the eleventh episode of [[Season 20]].
 ==Synopsis==
-A national achievement test has [[Springfield Elementary School]] in an uproar. [[Bart]] and the school's other underachievers are sent on a class trip to [[Capital City]] so they don't bring down the school's score, while Lisa, rattled by her score of "only" 96 percent on a practice test, has trouble with the real thing. Meanwhile, [[Homer]] forgets to send an insurance payment on time and has to prevent anyone from getting injured in the Simpson house.
+A national achievement test has [[Springfield Elementary School]] in an uproar. Bart and the school's other underachievers are sent on a class trip to [[Capital City]] so they don't bring down the school's score, while Lisa, rattled by her score of "only" 96 percent on a practice test, has trouble with the real thing. Meanwhile, [[Homer]] forgets to send an insurance payment on time and has to prevent anyone from getting injured in the Simpson house.
 == Full Story ==
-[[File:On the bus.jpg|left|193x193px|on the bus in this episode]]To Lisa's surprise, [[Bart]] receives a perfect score on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President's Assessment Test by writing "Slurp My Snot" across his page. This enables him to attend a special pizza party, with a helicopter as his escort. However, it turns out to be a clever plan to purge the school of all bad test takers. Bart didn't receive a perfect score and the helicopter is disguised as the school bus, with [[Otto Mann|Otto]] at the wheel. Bart, along with [[Nelson]], [[Ralph]], [[Kearney]], [[Dolph]], and [[Jimbo]] are driven to [[Capital City]] (with Bart as the only student realizing what is really going on), along with [[Principal Skinner]], who was pushed on board the bus by [[Superintendent Chalmers]].
+[[File:On the bus.jpg|left|193x193px|on the bus in this episode]]To Lisa's surprise, [[Bart]] receives a perfect score on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President's Assessment Test by writing "Slurp My Snot" across his page. This enables him to attend a special pizza party, with a helicopter as his escort. However, it turns out to be a clever plan to purge the school of all bad test takers. Bart didn't receive a perfect score and the helicopter is disguised as the school bus, with [[Otto Mann|Otto]] at the wheel. Bart, along with [[Nelson]], [[Ralph]], [[Kearney]], [[Dolph]], and [[Jimbo]] are driven to [[Capital City]] (with Bart as the only student realizing what is really going on), along with [[Principal Skinner]], who was pushed on board the bus by [[Superintendent Chalmers]]. Skinner realized that Chalmers used him so he can take over the school while the test was in session and he and the boys were driven off.
-On the way, Ralph stops for a bathroom break, and the bus is disassembled by a vandal (while Otto is still sitting in it). The group attempts to walk the rest of the way, but they lose Ralph on a garbage barge. Skinner signals for a piano cargo ship to rescue Ralph with its crane, but he accidentally stuns the driver. Skinner rescues Ralph himself by jumping on board the crate hoisted by the crane and using the law of conservation of angular momentum. He lands on the barge and the kids and Otto follow him. As it turns out, the garbage barge they have all landed on is headed towards [[Springfield Elementary]].
+On route, Ralph stops for a bathroom break, and the bus is disassembled by a vandal (while Otto is still on it). The group attempts to walk the rest of the way, but they lose Ralph on a garbage barge.
-The boys now believe that education is impressive due to Skinner saving the day, and so Skinner reads ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' to the boys until they arrive, which they enjoy.[[File:Ssi 5.PNG|thumb|left]]Meanwhile, Homer is late making an insurance payment, and won't be insured until 3:00 PM, so he can't hurt himself until then. Images of injuries flood his mind when he gets home, envisioning Marge's book club being killed by a series of freak accidents. Helen Lovejoy's hair getting set on fire, her shoes stabbing Kookie Kwan in the eyes, and her falling back into a statue holding an axe which flies across the room and hits Agnes Skinner in the back. Marge runs around frantically exclaiming that they are liable, then begins making out with Lindsey Naegle, much to Homer's pleasure. Homer then snaps out of his imagination, exclaiming, "''NOOO!!!''" only to discover they are all still alive. He has to keep the entire book club safe while he is still uninsured, but ends up throwing a knife in [[Mr. Burns]]' head at 3:01 as he randomly walks onto the Simpsons' property.
+ [[File:Ssi 5.PNG|thumb|left]]Meanwhile, Homer is late making an insurance payment, and won't be insured until 3:00 PM, so he can't hurt himself until then. Images of injuries flood his mind when he gets home, envisioning Marge's book club being killed by a series of freak accidents. Helen Lovejoy's hair getting set on fire, her shoes stabbing Kookie Kwan in the eyes, and Kookie falling back into a statue holding an axe which flies across the room and strikes Agnes Skinner in the back. Marge runs around frantically exclaiming that they are liable, then begins making out with Lindsey Naegle, much to Homer's pleasure. Homer then snaps out of his imagination, exclaiming, "''NOOO!''" only to discover that the women are still alive. He has to keep the entire book club safe while he is still uninsured, but ends up throwing a knife in [[Mr. Burns]]' head at 3:01 as he randomly walks onto the Simpsons' property.
+Skinner signals for a piano cargo ship to rescue Ralph with its crane, but he accidentally stuns the operator. Skinner rescues Ralph himself by jumping on board the crate hoisted by the crane and using the law of conservation of angular momentum. He lands on the barge and the kids and Otto follow him. As it turns out, the garbage barge they have landed on is headed towards [[Springfield Elementary]].The boys now believe that education is impressive due to Skinner saving the day, and so Skinner reads ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' to the boys until they arrive, which they enjoy.
-[[File:Taking test.jpg|thumb]]At school, [[Lisa]] is unable to focus on the test, as the thought of Bart being smarter torments her (also due to the fact that all of the test's answers have exactly the same meaning). When the test finishes, she hasn't answered a single question. However, Skinner returns just in time to cancel the test and lift the school's ban on dancing, where they dance until the end of the episode.
+[[File:Taking test.jpg|thumb]]At school, [[Lisa]] is unable to focus on the test, as the thought of Bart being smarter torments her (also due to the fact that all of the test's answers have exactly the same meaning). When the test finishes, she hasn't answered a single question. However, Skinner returns just in time to stop the test. He tells Chalmers that he received an education on how children really learn, by seeing him run around on top of a shipping container. He then turns to the students and declares that this is his school and he's throwing out the tests. Everyone cheered and Lisa is a brainy outcast again. Finally, Skinner lifts the school's ban on dancing, where they dance until the end of the episode.
 ==Behind the Laughter==
 ===Reception===
 The A.V. Club wrote: "I'm sorry, but 'How The Test Was Won' was about as low as things get these days—the worst of the season by far, and quite possibly one of the worst episodes I've watched in this brave 'new' era of yellow people."
-==Videos==
-[[File:The Simpsons Season 20 (2010) - Clip How the test was won|thumb|right|335 px]]
 == Citations ==
 {{Reflist}}
-{{Season|20|Eps}} [[pt:How The Test Was Won]]
+{{Season|20|Eps}}
+[[fi:Voittajan on helppo hymyillä]]
+[[fr:La Conquête du test]]
+[[pl:How the Test Was Won]]
+[[pt:Como o Teste Foi Vencido]]
 [[Category:Episodes]]
 [[Category:Education-themed episodes]]
@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 [[Category:Otto episodes]]
 [[Category:Kids episodes]]
+[[Category:Episodes named after a film or TV Show]]
+[[Category:Episodes on DVD]]
+[[Category:First day of school episodes]]
+[[Category:Poorly-received episodes]]
+[[Category:Episodes with mixed reviews]]
+[[Category:Highly Rated Episodes]]
+[[Category:Groundskeeper Willie Episodes]]