diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio1.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio1.py
index c7ff9e0b9802..55f399ff2ea8 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio1.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio1.py
@@ -38,11 +38,11 @@ def ioctl(self, op, arg):
 
 try:
     bdev = RAMFS(50)
+    uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
 except MemoryError:
     print("SKIP")
     raise SystemExit
 
-uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
 vfs = uos.VfsFat(bdev)
 uos.mount(vfs, "/ramdisk")
 uos.chdir("/ramdisk")
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio2.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio2.py
index c7bdceb3dfa9..9429f115f626 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio2.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_fileio2.py
@@ -38,11 +38,11 @@ def ioctl(self, op, arg):
 
 try:
     bdev = RAMFS(50)
+    uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
 except MemoryError:
     print("SKIP")
     raise SystemExit
 
-uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
 vfs = uos.VfsFat(bdev)
 uos.mount(vfs, "/ramdisk")
 uos.chdir("/ramdisk")
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ilistdir_del.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ilistdir_del.py
index a833e9ac128c..4389f822bb6f 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ilistdir_del.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ilistdir_del.py
@@ -71,5 +71,10 @@ def test(bdev, vfs_class):
         vfs.open("/test", "w").close()
 
 
-bdev = RAMBlockDevice(30)
+try:
+    bdev = RAMBlockDevice(30)
+except MemoryError:
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
 test(bdev, uos.VfsFat)
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ramdisk.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ramdisk.py
index 0d58cec15332..01235bc26647 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ramdisk.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_fat_ramdisk.py
@@ -38,12 +38,11 @@ def ioctl(self, op, arg):
 
 try:
     bdev = RAMFS(50)
+    uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
 except MemoryError:
     print("SKIP")
     raise SystemExit
 
-uos.VfsFat.mkfs(bdev)
-
 print(b"FOO_FILETXT" not in bdev.data)
 print(b"hello!" not in bdev.data)
 
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_lfs_mtime.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_lfs_mtime.py
index bacdd2246c6d..a67e48dd80dd 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_lfs_mtime.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_lfs_mtime.py
@@ -101,5 +101,10 @@ def test(bdev, vfs_class):
     vfs.umount()
 
 
-bdev = RAMBlockDevice(30)
+try:
+    bdev = RAMBlockDevice(30)
+except MemoryError:
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
 test(bdev, uos.VfsLfs2)