diff --git a/ci/test.sh b/ci/test.sh
index 9583869d8c..6d24a08660 100755
--- a/ci/test.sh
+++ b/ci/test.sh
@@ -38,15 +38,17 @@ display_logs() {
 }
 
 
-echo "running tests:"
-echo " - pytest interacts with JupyterHub's API"
-echo " - kubectl can also observe changes"
-
+echo "running tests from outside the cluster:"
+echo "- kubectl port-forward has enabled communication with services in the cluster"
 ## FIXME: The spawn test are instable, I'm not sure why yet...
-## 
-pytest -v || {
+## ref: https://travis-ci.org/jupyterhub/zero-to-jupyterhub-k8s/jobs/589401453
+##
+## NOTE: --exitfirst makes us avoid noise in the hub and proxy pod logs
+## following a failure we are interested in debugging
+##
+pytest -v --exitfirst || {
   r=$?
-  echo "tests failed"
+  echo "a test failed, here is relevant debugging information"
   display_logs
   exit $r
 }