diff --git a/testsuite/expect/test1.52 b/testsuite/expect/test1.52
index 2044ef331659fb7a2275b79e99fbaf77726d6012..bf3a43d8795e76932d29a3053488114488c747b8 100755
--- a/testsuite/expect/test1.52
+++ b/testsuite/expect/test1.52
@@ -52,10 +52,11 @@ if { [test_front_end] } {
 }
 
 #find out if we have enough nodes to test functionality
-spawn $scontrol show partition $partition
+set def_part [default_partition]
+spawn $scontrol show partition $def_part
 expect {
 	-re "not found" {
-		send_user "\nFAILURE: partition $partition doesn't exist\n"
+		send_user "\nFAILURE: partition $def_part doesn't exist\n"
 		exit 1
 	}
 	-re "TotalNodes=($number)" {
diff --git a/testsuite/expect/test1.82 b/testsuite/expect/test1.82
index b16d8d2a10f740aac2add63542a70a483587d3e8..a4592974577fe8ef4219f26e62c3e0f94199de8a 100755
--- a/testsuite/expect/test1.82
+++ b/testsuite/expect/test1.82
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ if { [test_bluegene] } {
 	set node_cnt 3
 }
 
-set available [available_nodes $partition]
+set available [available_nodes [default_partition]]
 if {$available < $node_cnt} {
     send_user "\nWARNING: not enough nodes currently available ($available avail, $node_cnt needed)\n"
     exit $exit_code
diff --git a/testsuite/expect/test1.83 b/testsuite/expect/test1.83
index 35ce24d30c9a50f37f1ea232e504006f1a39f96c..5a2ac639b88fae9724ed125c7c0db7175b557c31 100755
--- a/testsuite/expect/test1.83
+++ b/testsuite/expect/test1.83
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ if {[test_front_end] != 0} {
 	exit 0
 }
 
-set available [available_nodes $partition]
+set available [available_nodes [default_partition]]
 if {$available < 3} {
     send_user "\nWARNING: This test requires 3 nodes, but only $available available\n"
     exit 0