Ordinary adults must try their luck at a series of questions targeted at the fifth-grade level. The adults will be asked questions from elementary school textbooks. There are five children as classmates that can help the adults through out the process. The contestants have the opportunity to answer 10 subject questions for 500,000 and one additional question to win a million dollars.

The adults have three cheats that they can use during the game Peek, Copy and Save. Peek is where the contestant looks at the child's answer and decides whether or not they want to use it. Copy is where they must use the child's answer. Save is used when the contestant guesses wrong and the child guesses right and therefore saves the contestant. All helps are only available once through out the game. The contestant is not allowed to use any helps on the million dollar question. Each child is only available for a maximum of 2 questions in a row.

Contestant can drop out at any time through out the game and leave with the money they have won. They must look into the camera and state, " I am not smarter than a fifth grader."