diff --git a/tests/test_crawl.py b/tests/test_crawl.py
index 4dc04ab66..a56fa9577 100644
--- a/tests/test_crawl.py
+++ b/tests/test_crawl.py
@@ -161,12 +161,24 @@ class CrawlTestCase(TestCase):
         self.assertIsNotNone(record.exc_info)
         self.assertIs(record.exc_info[0], ZeroDivisionError)
 
-    @defer.inlineCallbacks
-    def test_start_requests_eagerness(self):
+    def is_eager(_, requests_in_order):
         """
             All start requests(depth=0) are scheduled before
             any other requests(depth!=0)
         """
+        depths_in_order = [r.meta.get('depth', 0) for r in requests_in_order]
+        order_of_start_requests = [
+            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d == 0
+        ]
+        order_of_other_requests = [
+            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d != 0
+        ]
+        last_start_request = max(order_of_start_requests)
+        first_other_request = min(order_of_other_requests)
+        return last_start_request < first_other_request
+
+    @defer.inlineCallbacks
+    def test_start_requests_eagerness(self):
         class EagerSpider(YeldingRequestsSpider):
             def start_requests_with_control(self):
                 yield from self.start_requests()
@@ -186,17 +198,9 @@ class CrawlTestCase(TestCase):
             mockserver=self.mockserver,
             number_of_start_requests=100,
         )
-        requests_in_order = crawler.spider.requests_in_order_of_scheduling
-        depths_in_order = [r.meta.get('depth', 0) for r in requests_in_order]
-        order_of_start_requests = [
-            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d == 0
-        ]
-        order_of_other_requests = [
-            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d != 0
-        ]
-        last_start_request = max(order_of_start_requests)
-        first_other_request = min(order_of_other_requests)
-        assert last_start_request < first_other_request
+        self.assertTrue(
+            self.is_eager(crawler.spider.requests_in_order_of_scheduling)
+        )
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_start_requests_lazyness(self):
@@ -218,17 +222,9 @@ class CrawlTestCase(TestCase):
             mockserver=self.mockserver,
             number_of_start_requests=100,
         )
-        requests_in_order = crawler.spider.requests_in_order_of_scheduling
-        depths_in_order = [r.meta.get('depth', 0) for r in requests_in_order]
-        order_of_start_requests = [
-            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d == 0
-        ]
-        order_of_other_requests = [
-            o for o, d in enumerate(depths_in_order) if d != 0
-        ]
-        last_start_request = max(order_of_start_requests)
-        first_other_request = min(order_of_other_requests)
-        assert last_start_request > first_other_request
+        self.assertFalse(
+            self.is_eager(crawler.spider.requests_in_order_of_scheduling)
+        )
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_start_requests_dupes(self):