diff --git a/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-max-listeners.js b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-max-listeners.js
index 5dabbac6ae28c0..85c3293298b7d3 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-max-listeners.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-max-listeners.js
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 const common = require('../common');
-var assert = require('assert');
-var events = require('events');
-var e = new events.EventEmitter();
+const assert = require('assert');
+const events = require('events');
+const e = new events.EventEmitter();
 
 e.on('maxListeners', common.mustCall(function() {}));
 
@@ -11,14 +11,14 @@ e.setMaxListeners(42);
 
 assert.throws(function() {
   e.setMaxListeners(NaN);
-});
+}, /^TypeError: n must be a positive number$/);
 
 assert.throws(function() {
   e.setMaxListeners(-1);
-});
+}, /^TypeError: n must be a positive number$/);
 
 assert.throws(function() {
   e.setMaxListeners('and even this');
-});
+}, /^TypeError: n must be a positive number$/);
 
 e.emit('maxListeners');