diff --git a/Lib/test/test_rgbimg.py b/Lib/test/test_rgbimg.py
index 38bcdf56523..1fa201d4670 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_rgbimg.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_rgbimg.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 from test_support import verbose, unlink, findfile
 
-error = 'test_rgbimg.error'
+class error(Exception):
+        pass
 
 print 'RGBimg test suite:'
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_unpack.py b/Lib/test/test_unpack.py
index 1bfd47840b9..25324c053a3 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_unpack.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_unpack.py
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ def __getitem__(self, i):
 
 # unpacking a sequence where the test for too long raises a different
 # kind of error
-BozoError = 'BozoError'
+class BozoError(Exception):
+    pass
 
 class BadSeq:
     def __getitem__(self, i):