diff --git a/tests/basics/bytes_format_modulo.py b/tests/basics/bytes_format_modulo.py
index 70246e72dc..b928f593e0 100644
--- a/tests/basics/bytes_format_modulo.py
+++ b/tests/basics/bytes_format_modulo.py
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 # This test requires CPython3.5
+
+try:
+    b'' % ()
+except TypeError:
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
 print(b"%%" % ())
 print(b"=%d=" % 1)
 print(b"=%d=%d=" % (1, 2))
diff --git a/tests/basics/string_format_modulo.py b/tests/basics/string_format_modulo.py
index 77bbcfbe36..021b5f08d2 100644
--- a/tests/basics/string_format_modulo.py
+++ b/tests/basics/string_format_modulo.py
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+try:
+    '' % ()
+except TypeError:
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
 print("%%" % ())
 print("=%s=" % 1)
 print("=%s=%s=" % (1, 2))
diff --git a/tests/basics/string_format_modulo_int.py b/tests/basics/string_format_modulo_int.py
index d1f29db220..d057522bfc 100644
--- a/tests/basics/string_format_modulo_int.py
+++ b/tests/basics/string_format_modulo_int.py
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # test string modulo formatting with int values
 
+try:
+    '' % ()
+except TypeError:
+    print("SKIP")
+    raise SystemExit
+
 # basic cases
 print("%d" % 10)
 print("%+d" % 10)