diff --git a/test/list.cpp b/test/list.cpp
index b573dcf7..8ddf8574 100644
--- a/test/list.cpp
+++ b/test/list.cpp
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ void exercise(list x, object y, object print)
 
     print("sorted:");
     x.pop(2); // make sorting predictable
+    x.pop(2); // remove [1,2] so the list is sortable in py3k
     x.sort();
     print(x);
 
diff --git a/test/list.py b/test/list.py
index c01f9268..6c1b8aef 100644
--- a/test/list.py
+++ b/test/list.py
@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ removing 666
 reversing...
 ['y', 'x', X(3), [1, 2], '.', 'o', 'l', 'l', 'e', 'h']
 sorted:
-[[1, 2], '.', 'e', 'h', 'l', 'l', 'o', 'x', 'y']
+['.', 'e', 'h', 'l', 'l', 'o', 'x', 'y']
 reverse sorted:
-['y', 'x', 'o', 'l', 'l', 'h', 'e', '.', [1, 2]]
+['y', 'x', 'o', 'l', 'l', 'h', 'e', '.']
 '''
 
 def run(args = None):