diff --git a/test/core.jl b/test/core.jl
index 6817c0510b4b0..5da0e45363cac 100644
--- a/test/core.jl
+++ b/test/core.jl
@@ -3109,15 +3109,25 @@ Base.convert(::Type{Foo11874},x::Int) = float(x)
 
 # issue #9233
 let
-    err = @test_throws TypeError NTuple{Int, 1}
-    @test err.func == :NTuple
-    @test err.expected == Int
-    @test err.got == Int
-
-    err = @test_throws TypeError NTuple{0x1, Int}
-    @test err.func == :NTuple
-    @test err.expected == Int
-    @test err.got == 0x1
+    try
+        NTuple{Int, 1}
+        @test false
+    catch err
+        @test isa(err, TypeError)
+        @test err.func == :NTuple
+        @test err.expected == Int
+        @test err.got == Int
+    end
+
+    try
+        NTuple{0x1, Int}
+        @test false
+    catch err
+        @test isa(err, TypeError)
+        @test err.func == :NTuple
+        @test err.expected == Int
+        @test err.got == 0x1
+    end
 end
 
 # 11996
diff --git a/test/misc.jl b/test/misc.jl
index a5c4478eb112c..b605fd6f2f1cd 100644
--- a/test/misc.jl
+++ b/test/misc.jl
@@ -34,11 +34,13 @@ let res = assert(true)
     @test res === nothing
 end
 let
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         assert(false)
         error("unexpected")
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test isempty(ex.msg)
     end
-    @test isempty(ex.msg)
 end
 
 # test @assert macro
@@ -48,44 +50,54 @@ end
 @test_throws AssertionError (@assert false "this is a test" "another test")
 @test_throws AssertionError (@assert false :a)
 let
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         @assert 1 == 2
         error("unexpected")
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test contains(ex.msg, "1 == 2")
     end
-    @test contains(ex.msg, "1 == 2")
 end
 # test @assert message
 let
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         @assert 1 == 2 "this is a test"
         error("unexpected")
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test ex.msg == "this is a test"
     end
-    @test ex.msg == "this is a test"
 end
 # @assert only uses the first message string
 let
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         @assert 1 == 2 "this is a test" "this is another test"
         error("unexpected")
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test ex.msg == "this is a test"
     end
-    @test ex.msg == "this is a test"
 end
 # @assert calls string() on second argument
 let
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         @assert 1 == 2 :random_object
         error("unexpected")
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test !contains(ex.msg,  "1 == 2")
+        @test contains(ex.msg, "random_object")
     end
-    @test !contains(ex.msg,  "1 == 2")
-    @test contains(ex.msg, "random_object")
 end
 # if the second argument is an expression, c
 let deepthought(x, y) = 42
-    ex = @test_throws AssertionError begin
+    try
         @assert 1 == 2 string("the answer to the ultimate question: ",
                               deepthought(6, 9))
+    catch ex
+        @test isa(ex, AssertionError)
+        @test ex.msg == "the answer to the ultimate question: 42"
     end
-    @test ex.msg == "the answer to the ultimate question: 42"
 end
 
 let # test the process title functions, issue #9957
diff --git a/test/mmap.jl b/test/mmap.jl
index 466bb3c7c4466..2a7b493bd1b68 100644
--- a/test/mmap.jl
+++ b/test/mmap.jl
@@ -6,20 +6,20 @@ s = open(file, "w") do f
 end
 t = "Hello World".data
 @test Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,3}, (11,1,1)) == reshape(t,(11,1,1))
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 @test Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,3}, (1,11,1)) == reshape(t,(1,11,1))
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 @test Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,3}, (1,1,11)) == reshape(t,(1,1,11))
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 @test_throws ArgumentError Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,3}, (11,0,1)) # 0-dimension results in len=0
 @test Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, (11,)) == t
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 @test Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,2}, (1,11)) == t'
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 @test_throws ArgumentError Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,2}, (0,12))
 m = Mmap.mmap(file, Array{UInt8,3}, (1,2,1))
 @test m == reshape("He".data,(1,2,1))
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 
 # constructors
 @test length(Mmap.mmap(file)) == 12
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ s = open(file)
 @test length(Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{Int8}, 12, 0; shared=false)) == 12
 close(s)
 @test_throws ErrorException Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{Ref}) # must be bit-type
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 
 s = open(f->f,file,"w")
 @test_throws ArgumentError Mmap.mmap(file) # requested len=0 on empty file
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ s = open(f->f,file,"w")
 m = Mmap.mmap(file,Vector{UInt8},12)
 m[:] = "Hello World\n".data
 Mmap.sync!(m)
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 @test open(readall,file) == "Hello World\n"
 
 s = open(file, "r")
@@ -70,30 +70,30 @@ close(s)
 for i = 0x01:0x0c
     @test length(Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, i)) == Int(i)
 end
-gc()
+gc(); gc()
 
 sz = filesize(file)
 m = Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, sz+1)
 @test length(m) == sz+1 # test growing
 @test m[end] == 0x00
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 sz = filesize(file)
 m = Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, 1, sz)
 @test length(m) == 1
 @test m[1] == 0x00
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 sz = filesize(file)
 # test where offset is actually > than size of file; file is grown with zeroed bytes
 m = Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, 1, sz+1)
 @test length(m) == 1
 @test m[1] == 0x00
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 
 # Uncomment out once #11351 is resolved
 # s = open(file, "r")
 # m = Mmap.mmap(s)
 # @test_throws ReadOnlyMemoryError m[5] = Vector{UInt8}('x') # tries to setindex! on read-only array
-# m=nothing; gc()
+# finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 
 s = open(file, "w") do f
     write(f, "Hello World\n")
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ end
 s = open(file, "r")
 m = Mmap.mmap(s)
 close(s)
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 m = Mmap.mmap(file)
 s = open(file, "r+")
 c = Mmap.mmap(s)
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ Mmap.sync!(c)
 close(s)
 @test m[1] == UInt8('J')
 @test d[1] == UInt8('J')
+finalize(m); finalize(c); finalize(d)
 m=nothing; c=nothing; d=nothing; gc()
 
 s = open(file, "w") do f
@@ -122,10 +123,10 @@ s = open(file, "r")
 @test isreadonly(s) == true
 c = Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{UInt8}, (11,))
 @test c == "Hello World".data
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 c = Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{UInt8}, (UInt16(11),))
 @test c == "Hello World".data
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 @test_throws ArgumentError Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{UInt8}, (Int16(-11),))
 @test_throws ArgumentError Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{UInt8}, (typemax(UInt),))
 close(s)
@@ -139,22 +140,22 @@ s = open(file, "r")
 str = readline(s)
 close(s)
 @test startswith(str, "Hellx World")
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 
 c = Mmap.mmap(file)
 @test c == "Hellx World\n".data
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 c = Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, 3)
 @test c == "Hel".data
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 s = open(file, "r")
 c = Mmap.mmap(s, Vector{UInt8}, 6)
 @test c == "Hellx ".data
 close(s)
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 c = Mmap.mmap(file, Vector{UInt8}, 5, 6)
 @test c == "World".data
-c=nothing; gc()
+finalize(c); c=nothing; gc()
 
 s = open(file, "w")
 write(s, "Hello World\n")
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ for i = 1:12
     @test m[i] == t.data[i]
 end
 @test_throws BoundsError m[13]
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 
 m = Mmap.mmap(file,Vector{UInt8},6)
 @test m[1] == "H".data[1]
@@ -177,7 +178,7 @@ m = Mmap.mmap(file,Vector{UInt8},6)
 @test m[5] == "o".data[1]
 @test m[6] == " ".data[1]
 @test_throws BoundsError m[7]
-m=nothing; gc()
+finalize(m); m=nothing; gc()
 
 m = Mmap.mmap(file,Vector{UInt8},2,6)
 @test m[1] == "W".data[1]
@@ -283,3 +284,4 @@ n = similar(m, (2,2))
 n = similar(m, 12)
 @test length(n) == 12
 @test size(n) == (12,)
+finalize(m); m = nothing; gc()
\ No newline at end of file