diff --git a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/integration/SmokeTestDriverIntegrationTest.java b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/integration/SmokeTestDriverIntegrationTest.java
index bf3889cb0f987..dc10f7a0a5785 100644
--- a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/integration/SmokeTestDriverIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/integration/SmokeTestDriverIntegrationTest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.kafka.streams.integration;
 
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.Exit;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.StreamsConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.integration.utils.EmbeddedKafkaCluster;
@@ -89,6 +90,10 @@ SmokeTestDriver.VerificationResult result() {
 
     }
 
+    // In this test, we try to keep creating new stream, and closing the old one, to maintain only 3 streams alive.
+    // During the new stream added and old stream left, the stream process should still complete without issue.
+    // We set 2 timeout condition to fail the test before passing the verification:
+    // (1) 6 min timeout, (2) 30 tries of polling without getting any data
     @Test
     public void shouldWorkWithRebalance() throws InterruptedException {
         Exit.setExitProcedure((statusCode, message) -> {
@@ -110,6 +115,8 @@ public void shouldWorkWithRebalance() throws InterruptedException {
 
         final Properties props = new Properties();
         props.put(StreamsConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, bootstrapServers);
+        // decrease the session timeout so that we can trigger the rebalance soon after old client left closed
+        props.put(ConsumerConfig.SESSION_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG, 10000);
 
         // cycle out Streams instances as long as the test is running.
         while (driver.isAlive()) {
diff --git a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/tests/SmokeTestClient.java b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/tests/SmokeTestClient.java
index 2e53d580d5292..e39b3c0a741b0 100644
--- a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/tests/SmokeTestClient.java
+++ b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/tests/SmokeTestClient.java
@@ -126,13 +126,14 @@ public void start(final Properties streamsProperties) {
         try {
             if (!countDownLatch.await(1, TimeUnit.MINUTES)) {
                 System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-EXCEPTION: Didn't start in one minute");
+            } else {
+                System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-STARTED");
+                System.out.println(name + " started at " + Instant.now());
             }
         } catch (final InterruptedException e) {
             System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-EXCEPTION: " + e);
             e.printStackTrace(System.out);
         }
-        System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-STARTED");
-        System.out.println(name + " started at " + Instant.now());
     }
 
     public void closeAsync() {
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ public void close() {
         if (wasClosed && !uncaughtException) {
             System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-CLOSED");
         } else if (wasClosed) {
-            System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-EXCEPTION");
+            System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-EXCEPTION: Got an uncaught exception");
         } else {
             System.out.println(name + ": SMOKE-TEST-CLIENT-EXCEPTION: Didn't close in time.");
         }