diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkPlanTest.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkPlanTest.scala
index e72736d9e2691..ece9dafbb1270 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkPlanTest.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkPlanTest.scala
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.execution
 
 import org.apache.spark.SparkFunSuite
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.UnresolvedAttribute
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.BoundReference
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.test.TestSQLContext
 import org.apache.spark.sql.{DataFrame, DataFrameHolder, Row}
@@ -145,12 +144,15 @@ class SparkPlanTest extends SparkFunSuite {
    *                             instantiate a reference implementation of the physical operator
    *                             that's being tested. The result of executing this plan will be
    *                             treated as the source-of-truth for the test.
+   * @param sortAnswers if true, the answers will be sorted by their toString representations prior
+   *                    to being compared.
    */
   protected def checkAnswer(
       input: DataFrame,
       planFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan,
-      expectedPlanFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan): Unit = {
-    SparkPlanTest.checkAnswer(input, planFunction, expectedPlanFunction) match {
+      expectedPlanFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan,
+      sortAnswers: Boolean): Unit = {
+    SparkPlanTest.checkAnswer(input, planFunction, expectedPlanFunction, sortAnswers) match {
       case Some(errorMessage) => fail(errorMessage)
       case None =>
     }
@@ -175,7 +177,8 @@ object SparkPlanTest {
   def checkAnswer(
       input: DataFrame,
       planFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan,
-      expectedPlanFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan): Option[String] = {
+      expectedPlanFunction: SparkPlan => SparkPlan,
+      sortAnswers: Boolean): Option[String] = {
 
     val outputPlan = planFunction(input.queryExecution.sparkPlan)
     val expectedOutputPlan = expectedPlanFunction(input.queryExecution.sparkPlan)
@@ -210,7 +213,7 @@ object SparkPlanTest {
         return Some(errorMessage)
     }
 
-    compareAnswers(actualAnswer, expectedAnswer).map { errorMessage =>
+    compareAnswers(actualAnswer, expectedAnswer, sortAnswers).map { errorMessage =>
       s"""
          | Results do not match.
          | Actual result Spark plan:
@@ -262,7 +265,8 @@ object SparkPlanTest {
 
   private def compareAnswers(
       sparkAnswer: Seq[Row],
-      expectedAnswer: Seq[Row]): Option[String] = {
+      expectedAnswer: Seq[Row],
+      sort: Boolean = true): Option[String] = {
     def prepareAnswer(answer: Seq[Row]): Seq[Row] = {
       // Converts data to types that we can do equality comparison using Scala collections.
       // For BigDecimal type, the Scala type has a better definition of equality test (similar to
@@ -277,7 +281,11 @@ object SparkPlanTest {
           case o => o
         })
       }
-      converted.sortBy(_.toString())
+      if (sort) {
+        converted.sortBy(_.toString())
+      } else {
+        converted
+      }
     }
     if (prepareAnswer(expectedAnswer) != prepareAnswer(sparkAnswer)) {
       val errorMessage =
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/UnsafeExternalSortSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/UnsafeExternalSortSuite.scala
index f92aab904f754..f4b8782e39b03 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/UnsafeExternalSortSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/UnsafeExternalSortSuite.scala
@@ -38,29 +38,29 @@ class UnsafeExternalSortSuite extends SparkPlanTest with BeforeAndAfterAll {
 
   // Test sorting on different data types
   // TODO: randomized spilling to ensure that merging is tested at least once for every data type.
-  (DataTypeTestUtils.atomicTypes ++ Set(NullType)).foreach { dataType =>
-    for (
-      nullable <- Seq(true, false);
-      sortOrder <- Seq('a.asc :: Nil, 'a.desc :: Nil);
-      randomDataGenerator <- RandomDataGenerator.forType(dataType, nullable)
-    ) {
-      test(s"sorting on $dataType with nullable=$nullable, sortOrder=$sortOrder") {
-        val inputData = Seq.fill(1024)(randomDataGenerator()).filter {
-          case d: Double => !d.isNaN
-          case f: Float => !java.lang.Float.isNaN(f)
-          case x => true
-        }
-        val inputDf = TestSQLContext.createDataFrame(
-          TestSQLContext.sparkContext.parallelize(Random.shuffle(inputData).map(v => Row(v))),
-          StructType(StructField("a", dataType, nullable = true) :: Nil)
-        )
-        assert(UnsafeExternalSort.supportsSchema(inputDf.schema))
-        checkAnswer(
-          inputDf,
-          UnsafeExternalSort(sortOrder, global = false, _: SparkPlan, testSpillFrequency = 100),
-          Sort(sortOrder, global = false, _: SparkPlan)
-        )
+  for (
+    dataType <- DataTypeTestUtils.atomicTypes ++ Set(NullType);
+    nullable <- Seq(true, false);
+    sortOrder <- Seq('a.asc :: Nil, 'a.desc :: Nil);
+    randomDataGenerator <- RandomDataGenerator.forType(dataType, nullable)
+  ) {
+    test(s"sorting on $dataType with nullable=$nullable, sortOrder=$sortOrder") {
+      val inputData = Seq.fill(3)(randomDataGenerator()).filter {
+        case d: Double => !d.isNaN
+        case f: Float => !java.lang.Float.isNaN(f)
+        case x => true
       }
+      val inputDf = TestSQLContext.createDataFrame(
+        TestSQLContext.sparkContext.parallelize(Random.shuffle(inputData).map(v => Row(v))),
+        StructType(StructField("a", dataType, nullable = true) :: Nil)
+      )
+      assert(UnsafeExternalSort.supportsSchema(inputDf.schema))
+      checkAnswer(
+        inputDf,
+        UnsafeExternalSort(sortOrder, global = false, _: SparkPlan, testSpillFrequency = 2),
+        Sort(sortOrder, global = false, _: SparkPlan),
+        sortAnswers = false
+      )
     }
   }
 }