How the Test Was Won/References

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a pun on the and  How the West Was Won.
 * The couch gag parodies the sets of various sitcoms: ', ', ' and '.
 * When Bart, Nelson, Jimbo, Kearney, Dolph, and Ralph go to the "helicopter", "", the theme song from Rocky, plays.
 * There is also a  episode called "How the Test Was Won".
 * Homer's premonition of the massive accident in his house is similar to the premonitions seen in the  franchise.
 * At the end, when Principal Skinner says dancing is allowed again, everyone starts dancing to the song "" from the 1984 film .
 * When Ralph plays with the rat, he thinks that the rat is Elmo from Sesame Street.

Trivia

 * When Bart skateboards over Barney during the opening sequence, Barney says "Hey!" instead of belching.

Continuity

 * According to Homer the entire series of scenes showing him getting hurt took place over a week. This is odd, considering that one of the flashbacks was from "Treehouse of Horror XIII". This could, however, be a sign that Homer is not good at keeping track of time—or reality, since the THOH flashback is non-canon. Most of the flashbacks are clips from previous episodes:
 * "Homer at the Bat"
 * "Bart's Friend Falls in Love"
 * "Homer's Triple Bypass"
 * "Marge in Chains"
 * "Deep Space Homer"
 * "Bart Gets an Elephant"
 * "Homer Badman"
 * "King-Size Homer"
 * "Two Bad Neighbors"
 * "Homerpalooza"
 * "A Milhouse Divided"
 * "The Homer They Fall"
 * "Homer to the Max"
 * "Faith Off"
 * "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"
 * "Tennis the Menace"
 * "Bye, Bye, Nerdie"
 * "Simpson Safari"
 * "Weekend at Burnsie's"
 * "I Am Furious (Yellow)"
 * "Helter Shelter"
 * "Pray Anything"
 * "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
 * "Brake My Wife, Please"
 * "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays"
 * "Blame It on Lisa"
 * "Lost Our Lisa"
 * "Lard of the Dance"
 * "Trilogy of Error"
 * "Million-Dollar Abie"
 * "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs"
 * "Dumbbell Indemnity"
 * "Treehouse of Horror XIII"

Goofs

 * People were already staring at Lisa before she screamed.
 * In one scene, Lisa is shown sitting next to Milhouse, however in an earlier scene, she is shown sitting at the edge of the table.
 * In Marge's meeting scene, when it is just seconds to 3 o'clock, Homer doesn't have anything around his hands. When he confronts Mr Burns, when he says "Oh, Mr Burns!", he has a watch. Then, he doesn't.