Story: 7/10
Baka and Test tells the story of Yoshii Akihisa, a dense and relatively unintelligent boy who is very lacking in the academics department. While taking his placement test, a girl near him faints, and he gets out of his seat to see if she's okay. However, that violated the rule of "no leaving your seat", and his exam was thus scored zero. This resulted in him being placed in Class F, the lowest rung of the academy's ladder, along with the other misfit toys and failures that couldn't make the cut. However, the girl who fainted, Mizuki Himeji, was also pigeonholed into Class F because she technically left her seat and was unable to finish the exam. What makes this significant is that Mizuki Himeji is easily the second-smartest student at the academy, and would have been the pride of Class A had she not lost consciousness.
At this academy, things work differently than a normal high school. Classes can challenge each other to "avatar battles" by summoning a small chibi version of themselves, with their strengths and weaknesses based around their most recent scores on tests in a particular subject. With this in mind, Class F's representative, Yuuji Sakamoto, saw an opening. Class F had a powerful weapon in Mizuki Himeji, and he rallied Class F to challenge the other classes and make it all the way to the top, claiming the luxurious Class A for themselves.
Baka and Test's story, while simple, doesn't quite stick to the plot as closely as would be ideal. A lot of what happens is purely for comedic benefit, and some of the anime's events hardly tie into the main storyline at all. For a show of a different genre, this would be a practical death sentence, but Baka and Test focuses on idiotic comedy. And an idiotic comedy's story does not need to be especially good to accomplish its goals, although it would surely help. That said, the premise is interesting but silly, and it sticks to the basic idea enough for a comedy anime, so it's not bad - in fact, it's above-average for comedy shows.
Art: 6/10
The animation is smooth, but not especially notable, and the colorful art style is an eye-catcher, but it also doesn't stand out. It's okay, I guess, but not great by any means.
Sound: 6/10
None of the soundtrack seems out of place for a whimsical anime like Baka and Test. Everything fits into its ideal place, but the soundtrack isn't great. It's passable.
Characters: 8/10
The characters had little to no development, but in an anime that is not plot-driven, that's not important. What is important is the depth of the characters, and that they are. The main characters are pretty well fleshed-out, and even a number of side characters do well in that regard as well. Even though you have your traditional roles (boke and tsukkomi in Akihisa and Minami, busty ditz in Mizuki, quiet plotter in Yuuji), they go further beyond that and add additional quirks and qualities that make the characters much easier to become attached to.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I didn't come into this expecting the dramatic story of a boy struggling to achieve in high school, I came into it to laugh at immature and silly humor, and that's what I got. Unless you're the kind of person who isn't amused easily (in which case I pity you), Baka and Test does that exceptionally well. It's hard not to crack a smile or two when watching an episode here, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall: 7/10
A lot of comedy-style anime tend to fall short with humor in the wrong places and poor character depth. Some even resort to just throwing out immature sex jokes (Seitokai Yakuindomo, I'm looking at you). However, Baka and Test is a great example of a comedy done well. Even though it doesn't have a captivating storyline that hooks a viewer, a beautiful art style, or an exceptional soundtrack, it's still quite enjoyable to watch.
