diff --git a/bin/test.sh b/bin/test.sh
index 73e04459..21f6873a 100755
--- a/bin/test.sh
+++ b/bin/test.sh
@@ -61,6 +61,16 @@ function check_gpdb() {
     environment_compose exec gpdb su gpadmin -l -c "pg_isready"
 }
 
+function check_spark() {
+    environment_compose exec spark curl -f http://localhost:10213
+}
+
+function run_spark_tests() {
+    environment_compose exec spark beeline -u jdbc:hive2://localhost:10213 -e 'SELECT 1;' &&
+        environment_compose exec spark beeline -u jdbc:hive2://localhost:10213 -e 'SHOW DATABASES;' &&
+        true
+}
+
 function check_health() {
     local service=$1
     test "$(environment_compose ps --format json | jq -er --arg name "$service" '.[] | select(.Service == $name) | .Health')" == "healthy"
@@ -200,7 +210,14 @@ for ARCH in "${platforms[@]}"; do
     elif [[ ${ENVIRONMENT} == *"openldap"* ]]; then
         retry check_openldap
     elif [[ ${ENVIRONMENT} == *"spark"* ]]; then
-        retry check_health spark
+        # wait until Spark is started
+        retry check_spark
+
+        # run tests
+        set -x
+        set +e
+        sleep 10
+        run_spark_tests
     else
         echo >&2 "ERROR: no test defined for ${ENVIRONMENT}"
         cleanup
diff --git a/testing/spark3-delta/Dockerfile b/testing/spark3-delta/Dockerfile
index 466d4439..7eb1ff91 100644
--- a/testing/spark3-delta/Dockerfile
+++ b/testing/spark3-delta/Dockerfile
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ ENV PATH="${SPARK_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
 
 EXPOSE 10213
 
-HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=10s \
-    CMD curl -f http://127.0.0.1:10213/
 CMD spark-submit \
    --master "local[*]" \
    --class org.apache.spark.sql.hive.thriftserver.HiveThriftServer2 \
diff --git a/testing/spark3-hudi/Dockerfile b/testing/spark3-hudi/Dockerfile
index eb1f3783..9b88917c 100644
--- a/testing/spark3-hudi/Dockerfile
+++ b/testing/spark3-hudi/Dockerfile
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ ENV PATH="${SPARK_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
 
 EXPOSE 10213
 
-HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=10s \
-    CMD curl -f http://127.0.0.1:10213/
 CMD spark-submit \
    --master "local[*]" \
    --class org.apache.spark.sql.hive.thriftserver.HiveThriftServer2 \
diff --git a/testing/spark3-iceberg/Dockerfile b/testing/spark3-iceberg/Dockerfile
index 2f6436d0..86250206 100644
--- a/testing/spark3-iceberg/Dockerfile
+++ b/testing/spark3-iceberg/Dockerfile
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@ ENV PATH="${SPARK_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
 # add hive user needed in interactions with the Apache Hive environment
 RUN useradd -ms /bin/bash hive
 
-HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=10s \
-    CMD curl -f http://127.0.0.1:10213/
 CMD spark-submit \
    --master "local[*]" \
    --class org.apache.spark.sql.hive.thriftserver.HiveThriftServer2 \