diff --git a/tests/modeltests/basic/tests.py b/tests/modeltests/basic/tests.py
index 6ec9ca03af..ebd70d14d9 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/basic/tests.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/basic/tests.py
@@ -259,9 +259,8 @@ class ModelTest(TestCase):
              "datetime.datetime(2005, 7, 28, 0, 0)"])
 
         # dates() requires valid arguments.
-        six.assertRaisesRegex(self,
+        self.assertRaises(
             TypeError,
-            "dates\(\) takes at least 3 arguments \(1 given\)",
             Article.objects.dates,
         )
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
index a5deba7fe1..3bb8bb0b50 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/admin_scripts/tests.py
@@ -1010,7 +1010,8 @@ class ManageSettingsWithImportError(AdminScriptTestCase):
         args = ['sqlall', 'admin_scripts']
         out, err = self.run_manage(args)
         self.assertNoOutput(out)
-        self.assertOutput(err, "No module named foo42bar")
+        self.assertOutput(err, "No module named")
+        self.assertOutput(err, "foo42bar")
 
     def test_builtin_command_with_attribute_error(self):
         """
@@ -1033,7 +1034,8 @@ class ManageValidate(AdminScriptTestCase):
         args = ['validate']
         out, err = self.run_manage(args)
         self.assertNoOutput(out)
-        self.assertOutput(err, 'No module named admin_scriptz')
+        self.assertOutput(err, 'No module named')
+        self.assertOutput(err, 'admin_scriptz')
 
     def test_broken_app(self):
         "manage.py validate reports an ImportError if an app's models.py raises one on import"
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/file_storage/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/file_storage/tests.py
index 6b57ad6160..595b65d9f1 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/file_storage/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/file_storage/tests.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class GetStorageClassTests(SimpleTestCase):
         six.assertRaisesRegex(self,
             ImproperlyConfigured,
             ('Error importing storage module django.core.files.non_existing_'
-                'storage: "No module named .*non_existing_storage"'),
+                'storage: "No module named .*non_existing_storage'),
             get_storage_class,
             'django.core.files.non_existing_storage.NonExistingStorage'
         )
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/tests.py
index 678db4a9cc..55363bc5b7 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/fixtures_regress/tests.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ class TestFixtures(TestCase):
         Test that failing serializer import raises the proper error
         """
         with six.assertRaisesRegex(self, ImportError,
-                "No module named unexistent.path"):
+                r"No module named.*unexistent"):
             management.call_command(
                 'loaddata',
                 'bad_fixture1.unkn',