S.W.E.A.T.

Summary
It's time for the kids at Lakewood Elementary to take the Stoddard-Wilkins Elementary Aptitude Test, or "S.W.E.A.T." But with anxiety running high, it becomes clear that the kids need to learn some relaxation techniques.

Plot
Arthur is walking onto the school's stage, and explaining to the third grade about what stress is. As he is telling them, Arthur gets sweaty and Buster tries to help him by cooling him off with a huge fan. Arthur scolds him while Buster apologizes, and claims he was trying to help because Arthur looked sweaty. Arthur continues his speech by saying that we can all get stressed out sometimes. Before he can finsh his next sentence, Buster finishes it for him, much to Arthur's annoyance, since he was going to say "test", but his sentence was finished by "bear". Arthur tells Buster that he is not being very helpful. But suddenly, a bear appears and chases a screaming Arthur off the stage and out of the school, therefore finishing the assembly. D.W. saves him by lowering a ladder from a helicopter she is piloting. Shocked, Arthur asks D.W. when she learned to fly a helicopter, which makes D.W. irritated, due to her thinking it was a ride. She punches the quarter slot to try to get her quarter back, but ends up killing the rotor blades instead. Then, the helicopter slowly falls to the ground.

S.W.E.A.T.

After Mr. Ratburn explains to his students about what the S.W.E.A.T. (Stoddard Wilkins Elementary Aptitude Test) was, he had them take some practice tests to help them prepare at home.

Later, Arthur and Buster are at the Sugar Bowl doing some math problems together. Sue Ellen appears and comments about of the vocabulary tests. After noticing some extra marks, scribbles, and doodles made by a different type of pencil, Arthur tells Sue Ellen she didn't follow the directions on the test; they were to not make any extra marks and to use a #2 pencil and not any other one. Sue Ellen took a dislike to the pencil when Arthur offered her one, and asks what would happen if she used a different pencil than that one. Suddenly, Binky appears behind them and says that she'd either have to retake it or they'd just fail her, and that he'd third graders cry like preschoolers when they face the S.W.E.A.T., due to them folding under pressure. He spoke in a phony pirate accent, leaving them bewildered.

Back at home, Arthur tries to take a practice test, but is distracted by many annoying things: Mr. Read using his leaf blower, D.W. watching Mary Moo Cow, Mrs. Read grinding apples, and a drippy faucet in the basement.

One morning at Sue Ellen's house, Sue Ellen is sleeping and her alarm clock beeps, causing her to wake up and remember it's S.W.E.A.T. day. Her pet pencil leaps on her bed excitedly. Sue Ellen regretfully tells it to stay home. Disappointed, the pencil writes her a note that says "Why not?". Sue Ellen replies that that's because it's not a #2 pencil. Sue Ellen looks for the one Arthur gave her, and goes into a panic when she can't find it. She runs out of the house in her pajamas, and then runs into an army of giant #2 pencils that erase everything in sight. Sue Ellen wakes up and realizes it was just a nightmare.

At the tree house, Buster is acting out a math problem with dolls while Arthur can't concentrate on his practice test. Sue Ellen comes in and offers the boys #2 pencils. Then, Brain comes in. Panicked, Sue Ellen offers him pencils, too. Arthur loses his temper over all the noise, to which Brain told him to relax about the S.W.E.A.T. Arthur and his friends quote some stuff Binky said about the S.W.E.A.T, at which Brain scoffed.

At the school cafeteria, Mrs. MacGrady noticed that the students were acting more nervous than usual, and knew it must about the S.W.E.A.T.

She then offers a relaxation class to everyone, which made them feel better, but Brain was bothered by any of this, so he napped through the whole thing, then left, reading his book.

The morning of the S.W.E.A.T., Brain is doing situps, and then does a practice test. When he's checking the answers in the back, he goes into a panic when he realizes he had skipped a question.

When his test arrives at school on his desk, Brain gasps. Then, his next panic was that he didn't have a pencil. Sue Ellen gave him a spare, and Brain chewed on it nervously. Buster took a moment to get the pencil out of Brain's mouth, and then give a relaxation tutorial. Mr. Ratburn cut in impatiently, but Brain felt better anyway, and said that he couldn't have asked for better relaxation tutors. Mr. Ratburn starts the tests, and the episode finishes.

Major

 * Buster Baxter
 * Arthur Read
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * The Brain
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Leah MacGrady

Minor

 * D.W. Read
 * Binky Barnes

Cameo

 * Fern Walters
 * Maria Pappas
 * Francine Frensky
 * George Lundgren
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * Alex
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Brian
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * David Read
 * Jane Read

Trivia

 * In the background, Mary Moo Cow can be heard saying: "5, 5, 5 is sweet, it's when I get off work!"

Cultural references

 * International Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19.
 * The SWEAT is a stand-in for real life tests like the SAT, PSAT, and ACT.

Home Video
DVD
 * Arthur Goes Back to School