diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/akka/AkkaRpcEnvSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/akka/AkkaRpcEnvSuite.scala
index 6f673e518f6d4..96e6803c038d9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/akka/AkkaRpcEnvSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rpc/akka/AkkaRpcEnvSuite.scala
@@ -87,28 +87,37 @@ class AkkaRpcEnvSuite extends RpcEnvSuite {
 
       assert(result.nonEmpty)
 
-      // Ask with delayed response
+      // Ask with a delayed response and wait for response immediately that should timeout
+      fut = sleepyActor.ask("doh")(timeout.duration).mapTo[String]
+      val msg1 =
+        intercept[RpcTimeoutException] {
+          timeout.awaitResult(fut)
+        }.getMessage()
+
+      assert(msg1.contains(shortProp))
+
+      // Ask with delayed response using addMessageIfTimeout in recover callback
       fut = sleepyActor.ask("goodbye")(timeout.duration).mapTo[String].
         recover(timeout.addMessageIfTimeout)
 
       // Allow future to complete with failure using plain Await.result, this will return
-      // once the future is complete
-      val msg1 =
+      // once the future is complete to verify addMessageIfTimeout was invoked
+      val msg2 =
         intercept[RpcTimeoutException] {
           Await.result(fut, 200 millis)
         }.getMessage()
 
-      assert(msg1.contains(shortProp))
+      assert(msg2.contains(shortProp))
 
       // Use RpcTimeout.awaitResult to process Future, since it has already failed with
       // RpcTimeoutException, the same exception should be thrown
-      val msg2 =
+      val msg3 =
         intercept[RpcTimeoutException] {
           timeout.awaitResult(fut)
         }.getMessage()
 
       // Ensure description is not in message twice after addMessageIfTimeout and awaitResult
-      assert(shortProp.r.findAllIn(msg2).length === 1)
+      assert(shortProp.r.findAllIn(msg3).length === 1)
 
     } finally {
       system.shutdown()