diff --git a/tests/common_testing.py b/tests/common_testing.py
index 6e2cdc46..0f32e7e2 100644
--- a/tests/common_testing.py
+++ b/tests/common_testing.py
@@ -154,22 +154,24 @@ class TestCaseMixin(unittest.TestCase):
             input, other, rtol=rtol, atol=atol, equal_nan=equal_nan
         )
 
-        if not close and msg is None:
-            diff = backend.abs(input + 0.0 - other)
-            ratio = diff / backend.abs(other)
-            try_relative = (diff <= atol) | (backend.isfinite(ratio) & (ratio > 0))
-            if try_relative.all():
-                if backend == np:
-                    # Avoid a weirdness with zero dimensional arrays.
-                    ratio = np.array(ratio)
-                ratio[diff <= atol] = 0
-                extra = f" Max relative diff {ratio.max()}"
-            else:
-                extra = ""
-            shape = tuple(input.shape)
-            loc = np.unravel_index(diff.argmax(), shape)
-            max_diff = diff.max()
-            msg = f"Not close. Max diff {max_diff}.{extra} Shape {shape}. At {loc}."
-            self.fail(msg)
+        if close:
+            return
 
-        self.assertTrue(close, msg)
+        diff = backend.abs(input + 0.0 - other)
+        ratio = diff / backend.abs(other)
+        try_relative = (diff <= atol) | (backend.isfinite(ratio) & (ratio > 0))
+        if try_relative.all():
+            if backend == np:
+                # Avoid a weirdness with zero dimensional arrays.
+                ratio = np.array(ratio)
+            ratio[diff <= atol] = 0
+            extra = f" Max relative diff {ratio.max()}"
+        else:
+            extra = ""
+        shape = tuple(input.shape)
+        loc = np.unravel_index(int(diff.argmax()), shape)
+        max_diff = diff.max()
+        err = f"Not close. Max diff {max_diff}.{extra} Shape {shape}. At {loc}."
+        if msg is not None:
+            self.fail(f"{msg} {err}")
+        self.fail(err)
diff --git a/tests/test_common_testing.py b/tests/test_common_testing.py
index c8976ad5..16e36fad 100644
--- a/tests/test_common_testing.py
+++ b/tests/test_common_testing.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ class TestOpsUtils(TestCaseMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertClose(to_np(x), to_np(x_noise), atol=10 * noise_std)
         with self.assertRaises(AssertionError) as context:
             self.assertClose(to_np(x), to_np(x_noise), atol=0.1 * noise_std, msg=msg)
-        self.assertTrue(msg in str(context.exception))
+        self.assertIn(msg, str(context.exception))
+        self.assertIn("Not close", str(context.exception))
 
         # test relative tolerance
         assert torch.allclose(x, x_noise, rtol=100 * noise_std)