Frank's Tests

One Monday evening, a boy named Frank was in bed without supper. He had some big tests in two weeks called the M.O.L.T.s (Measurement of Learning Tests). He almost never passed a test since the 3rd grade! It’s not because he’s dumb,.. Wait, yes it is. He could pass the tests if he wanted to, but he didn’t study and his parents didn’t know (they were miles away fighting in a war) and he always stayed up in his room for about an hour or two playing video games silently so his guardians thought he was doing his homework. When they came up to his room to see if he was studying, he was playing so he told them he was done. Frank faked that they had no homework on Fridays even though they might have a work sheet or a test to study for. They never caught him all those three years so Frank thought he didn’t have to work at all. Boy was he wrong!

He was probably the laziest boy in the whole school. The only thing he did was carry his books from class to class. He tried to sit behind Paul; the fattest kid in school every class so he could slack off. He might hear a bit of what the teacher said, but Frank usually forgot every word.

Paul sat in the back of the class every bell so Frank felt he wasn’t even noticed! Since the teachers often handed back one less paper than they should have in his row, he knew they didn’t notice him!

It was Monday, May 8th. In exactly two weeks, the M.O.L.T.s would start. On Monday, May 22nd, they’d have the Civics and Economics M.O.L.T. On Tuesday, May 23rd, they’d review for the Science M.O.L.T. and the next day, they’d take it. Thursday and Friday, they’d review for the other two tests and the following Monday and Tuesday they’d take the Math and English M.O.L.T.s.

Frank wasn’t worried one bit until he got home that afternoon. His parents had finally come back from the war the previous day. “Hi, Frankie! How was school?” his mom greeted him. “Hello, son! How’d your math test you studied SO hard for go?” “Mrs. Harlem says I got an F.” Frank said truthfully. “Again? What have I told you about lying to us Frank? You didn‘t study last night, did you?” Frank’s dad asked him. “Um... Maybe...” “DON’T GIVE ME THAT! IF YOU DON’T PASS THE M.O.L.T.s you’ll be dropped back to 3rd grade! I’ll make sure of it so you can learn all you missed! You can’t even read well can you?” ”.....Uh........” “Didn’t think so!” his mother said angrily. “I did this homework sheet!” “Yeah, half way!” his mother said even angrier than before. “You LIED to us! How could you?” I can’t believe Mr. and Mrs. Murris didn’t make sure you did your homework!”

Mr. and Mrs. Murris were Frank’s guardians for 3 years while his mom and dad fought in a war against a few small countries who were no match for the USA.

“They did make sure I did my homework!” “Well then! Let’s see if you did yesterday’s homework! Oh look! A homework notice! Thank goodness the Murris‘ kept them in a drawer!” Frank’s dad said furiously. Maybe the Murris’ knew he wasn’t doing his homework and left it for his parents to deal with when they got home. This was very, very ridiculous of them because now, Fank was failing 6th grade. “Uh, those are from last year?” Frank tried to lie. “Nope, nope, nope! Your little lies won’t work this time! It’s gone far enough! You are grounded!” Frank’s dad said. His face was purplish red. “No allowance, no playing with or buying toys or videogames, and NO TV!” Frank froze. “Unless of course, it’s educational! You can most certainly watch those shows! But, when they’re not on, only studying and reading from now on until all these F’s improve to AT LEAST B’s! And if you don’t, you’d better hope you passed all of the M.O.L.T.s! Probably wish you’d paid attention now, huh? We‘ll it‘s too late! Upstairs to your room! NOW!” His mom yelled three times as loud as she normally did.

“WAIT!” his dad called. His dad had taken out his belt! He gave Frank the hardest 40 whoopings he’d ever get. He was sent to bed without dinner at 6:47 (he hadn‘t eaten since 11:25)!

The horrible thing about this grounding was not only did he have to learn and catch up; he had wanted the new Harvey Daveson 3000. Since his birthday had just passed on April 24th, (he can‘t play with his new things) he had saved his birthday money to get the new motorcycle and he didn’t know he would stop getting an allowance, so he had bought Skull Chuncharama III. If he hadn’t, he’d have enough to get the motorcycle even though his parents probably wouldn’t let him buy it anyway. It was the 5 weeks of the last nine weeks to go and it would be impossible for him to get even a D in all six of his subjects! He’d have to ace every test which was impossible for him to do. It wouldn‘t help him anyway. All the tests and quizzes he took whole nine weeks he failed which brought his averages all down to below the 30‘s! Some assignments he hadn’t even made up! (He faked sick every few months.) To even get close to a C in anything, he’d have to study every day after school, practice playing his viola music, work on his posture, turn in all his homework and practice sheets, actually do the warm ups, not pretend to always be slow and come out after the 2 minute jog was over, and actually play the activities, write down all of the review questions and notes in health and study for the quizzes. Then he’d have to pass the M.O.L.T.s.

All summer while he was at summer school, the Harvey Daveson people would make a new bike that is supposed come out it August. Then by the time he got the one he wants now, it would be out of style and everyone would want the new one which would cost more money. He’d have to work his butt of for a LONG time to catch up to the 6th grade. By the time he did that, the Harvey people would have made another bike, even more expensive than the last! It would take him so long that by the time he got enough, he wouldn’t want one any more, he’d want a car!

Frank was SO mad at himself for not studying. Now, there was a good 95% chance of him being sent back to 3rd grade where he had left off with his studies. He thought he might as well start studying now. He had two weeks.

Since he knew he couldn’t bring up his grades, he thought he should study for the M.O.L.T.s and his parents helped. They bought him a workbook for each subject, even music even though there was no music M.O.L.T. Then they asked the teachers to give him all the worksheets he hadn’t done and made him apologize. All the teachers just said, “That’s OK!” because their rule was that if you didn’t study or do your homework, it was your own loss, not theirs. They gave him the worksheets and each teacher would tutor him at a different at a time each day (45 minutes each and every day including weekends!)

So for the next two weeks, Frank studied by doing the worksheets and workbook pages he was assigned, practicing his viola and hour each day, and on the weekends, his nerdy friend Elliot came over and helped him study. Frank’s parents had installed cameras all over the house so they could monitor Frank to make sure he didn’t play games at night or was out of bed after 10:00 and that if he was, he was finishing his assignments or studying.

After the LONG two weeks were up and it was the Sunday before the Civics M.O.L.T. and Frank was studying as hard as he could. He had made a lot of progress, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for the M.O.L.T. yet. Even though his parents gave him some last minute help before the test and his teachers tutored him for an hour each!

One good thing was that after the M.O.L.T.s and summer school, he would probably not have to work again for a good, long, month and a half.

Every M.O.L.T. he took wasn’t as hard as he thought, but they were still pretty bad.

At the end of M.O.L.T.s, the school had a bunch of fun assemblies for everyone doing so well.

They told the kids test scores would be at their houses on July 24th. On July 23rd, Frank started packing just in case his dad didn’t like his scores.

When his scores came in the mail, his dad yelled, “SON! COME HERE! NOW!” Frank grabbed his bags and pulled them to the door. “SON! LOOK AT THESE M.O.L.T. SCORES!” Frank’s dad boomed. “Are they horrible?” Frank asked. “Come see for yourself!” Frank’s mom yelled.

English 89% 22 / 25 B

Civics 98% 39 / 40 A

Math 84% 42 / 50 C

Science 95% 38 / 40 A

Total 91.25% 141 / 155 B +

HE HAD PASSED! ALL HIS STUDYING PAYED OFF AND HE PASSED ALL OF THE M.O.L.T.s!

“Good job, son! YOU PASSED! I can’t believe it either! You only missed 14 questions total! A B+ is like a miracle!” Frank’s dad said loudly. “An A would be better, but a B+ is good enough for me!” his mom said. “Your punishment has been lifted! You may now watch any show you want, use your allowance to buy games, play games, and we will go now and buy you the Harvey Daveson 4000!” Frank gave his parents a big hug. “It hasn’t come out yet though!” “Yes it has! It came out yesterday! Can you believe your luck? And it’s only $499.99! Since we know you don’t have that money, we’ll buy it for you as a present for passing all your M.O.L.T.s! Let’s go get it now before you start nagging us about it.” “OK!” Frank said and they all got in the car, and drove to Harvey’s Autos and Motors and bought the new Harvey Daveson!

THE END