diff --git a/tests/54-live-binary_tree.c b/tests/54-live-binary_tree.c
index cd4e9e42..16378dcb 100644
--- a/tests/54-live-binary_tree.c
+++ b/tests/54-live-binary_tree.c
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 
 #include "util.h"
 
-/* arbitrary list of syscalls to force seccomp to generate a binary tree */
 static const int denylist[] = {
 	SCMP_SYS(times),
 	SCMP_SYS(ptrace),
@@ -87,6 +86,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if (ctx == NULL)
 		return ENOMEM;
 
+        rc = seccomp_attr_set(ctx, SCMP_FLTATR_CTL_OPTIMIZE, 2);
+        if (rc < 0)
+                goto out;
 	rc = seccomp_rule_add(ctx, SCMP_ACT_ALLOW, SCMP_SYS(write), 1,
 			      SCMP_A0(SCMP_CMP_EQ, fd));
 	if (rc != 0)
diff --git a/tests/54-live-binary_tree.py b/tests/54-live-binary_tree.py
index 22509388..2bc7386a 100755
--- a/tests/54-live-binary_tree.py
+++ b/tests/54-live-binary_tree.py
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ def test():
     util.install_trap()
     f = SyscallFilter(TRAP)
     f.set_attr(Attr.CTL_TSYNC, 1)
+    f.set_attr(Attr.CTL_OPTIMIZE, 2)
     # NOTE: additional syscalls required for python
     f.add_rule(ALLOW, "stat")
     f.add_rule(ALLOW, "fstat")