diff --git a/ax/service/scheduler.py b/ax/service/scheduler.py
index 4faf63b3f21..1b9066e7456 100644
--- a/ax/service/scheduler.py
+++ b/ax/service/scheduler.py
@@ -77,8 +77,10 @@
 """
 FAILURE_EXCEEDED_MSG = (
     "Failure rate exceeds the tolerated trial failure rate of {f_rate} (at least "
-    "{n_failed} out of first {n_ran} trials failed). Checks are triggered both at "
-    "the end of a optimization and if at least {min_failed} trials have failed."
+    "{n_failed} out of first {n_ran} trials failed or were abandoned). Checks are "
+    "triggered both at the end of a optimization and if at least {min_failed} trials "
+    "have either failed, or have been abandoned, potentially automatically due to "
+    "issues with the trial."
 )
 
 
@@ -828,16 +830,7 @@ def error_if_failure_rate_exceeded(self, force_check: bool = False) -> None:
                 five failed trials. If True, the check will be performed unless there
                 are 0 failures.
         """
-        bad_idcs = (
-            self.experiment.trial_indices_by_status[TrialStatus.FAILED]
-            | self.experiment.trial_indices_by_status[TrialStatus.ABANDONED]
-        )
-        # We only count failed trials with indices that came after the preexisting
-        # trials on experiment before scheduler use.
-        num_bad_in_scheduler = sum(
-            1 for f in bad_idcs if f >= self._num_preexisting_trials
-        )
-
+        num_bad_in_scheduler = self._num_bad_in_scheduler()
         # skip check if 0 failures
         if num_bad_in_scheduler == 0:
             return
@@ -850,10 +843,7 @@ def error_if_failure_rate_exceeded(self, force_check: bool = False) -> None:
         ):
             return
 
-        num_ran_in_scheduler = (
-            len(self.experiment.trials) - self._num_preexisting_trials
-        )
-
+        num_ran_in_scheduler = self._num_ran_in_scheduler()
         failure_rate_exceeded = (
             num_bad_in_scheduler / num_ran_in_scheduler
         ) > self.options.tolerated_trial_failure_rate
@@ -872,6 +862,26 @@ def error_if_failure_rate_exceeded(self, force_check: bool = False) -> None:
                 num_ran_in_scheduler=num_ran_in_scheduler,
             )
 
+    def _num_bad_in_scheduler(self) -> int:
+        """Returns the number of trials that have failed or been abandoned in the
+        scheduler.
+        """
+        bad_idcs = (
+            self.experiment.trial_indices_by_status[TrialStatus.FAILED]
+            | self.experiment.trial_indices_by_status[TrialStatus.ABANDONED]
+        )
+        # We only count failed trials with indices that came after the preexisting
+        # trials on experiment before scheduler use.
+        return sum(1 for f in bad_idcs if f >= self._num_preexisting_trials)
+
+    def _num_ran_in_scheduler(self) -> int:
+        """Returns the number of trials that have been run by the scheduler."""
+        return sum(
+            1
+            for idx, t in self.experiment.trials.items()
+            if idx >= self._num_preexisting_trials and t.status.is_terminal
+        )
+
     def run_trials_and_yield_results(
         self,
         max_trials: int,