diff --git a/ckan/tests/test_coding_standards.py b/ckan/tests/test_coding_standards.py
index 3c01419097a..ec662df1420 100644
--- a/ckan/tests/test_coding_standards.py
+++ b/ckan/tests/test_coding_standards.py
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ def show_passing(msg, errors):
 
 
 class TestNastyString(object):
-
+    ''' Look for a common coding problem in ckan '..%s..' % str(x) '''
     fails = {}
     passes = []
     done = False
@@ -774,6 +774,7 @@ def test_bad(self):
 
 
 class TestImportFromCkan(object):
+    ''' Find files using from ckan import ... style imports '''
 
     fails = {}
     passes = []
@@ -812,6 +813,7 @@ def test_import_bad(self):
 
 
 class TestImportStar(object):
+    ''' Find files using from xxx import * '''
 
     fails = {}
     passes = []
@@ -851,6 +853,7 @@ def test_import_bad(self):
 
 
 class TestPep8(object):
+    ''' Check that .py files are pep8 compliant '''
 
     fails = {}
     passes = []
@@ -902,6 +905,10 @@ def find_pep8_errors(filename=None, lines=None):
 
 
 class TestActionAuth(object):
+    ''' These tests check the logic auth/action functions are compliant. The
+    main tests are that each action has a corresponding auth function and
+    that each auth function has an action.  We check the function only
+    accepts (context, data_dict) as parameters. '''
 
     done = False