diff --git a/tez-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/tez/test/TestSecureShuffle.java b/tez-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/tez/test/TestSecureShuffle.java
index 8e298506b8..7857c1ca2f 100644
--- a/tez-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/tez/test/TestSecureShuffle.java
+++ b/tez-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/tez/test/TestSecureShuffle.java
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@ public void setupTezCluster() throws Exception {
     conf.setInt(TezRuntimeConfiguration.TEZ_RUNTIME_SHUFFLE_READ_TIMEOUT, 3 * 1000);
     //set to low value so that it can detect failures quickly
     conf.setInt(TezRuntimeConfiguration.TEZ_RUNTIME_SHUFFLE_FETCH_FAILURES_LIMIT, 2);
+    //reduce the maximum number of failed attempts per task
+    conf.setInt(TezConfiguration.TEZ_AM_TASK_MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS, 1);
 
     conf.setLong(TezConfiguration.TEZ_AM_SLEEP_TIME_BEFORE_EXIT_MILLIS, 500);
     conf.setBoolean(TezRuntimeConfiguration.TEZ_RUNTIME_SHUFFLE_USE_ASYNC_HTTP, asyncHttp);