Make the Grade premiered on Nickelodeon on October 2, 1989, with three seasons worth of first-run episodes airing weekdays.

The first two seasons were hosted by Lew Schneider and taped in a small New York studio with no live audience and pre-recorded crowd noise.

Three contestants – each seated at either a red, green, or blue desk – competed to answer trivia questions and acquire squares on a 7x7 split-flap game board.

If a contestant answered correctly, they won that square and control of the board, and the category and grade level lit up on their desk.

Like other Nickelodeon game shows, Make the Grade allowed contestants to participate in (sometimes messy) challenge stunts called "Fire Drills."

Three categories were offered, each containing questions from all subjects used in the main game, and the champion selected one at the beginning of the round.

The first six correct answers were still worth $100 each, but the prize for the seventh was a trip to Universal Studios Florida rather than a cash bonus.

In the first season, where the game finished early and there was additional time to fill in the program, it was filled with clips of host Schneider going to malls and asking questions, and during the third season, studio audience members were asked questions to win T-shirts and other small prizes.