diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 2cb06abe5..6fc628ab8 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Type: Package
 Package: mmrm
 Title: Mixed Models for Repeated Measures
-Version: 0.3.2
+Version: 0.3.3
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Daniel", "Sabanes Bove", , "daniel.sabanes_bove@roche.com", role = c("aut", "cre")),
     person("Julia", "Dedic", , "julia.dedic@roche.com", role = "aut"),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index aed2f9144..1f67ac7c2 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# mmrm 0.3.2
+# mmrm 0.3.3
 
 ### New Features
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-fit.R b/tests/testthat/test-fit.R
index 8ca8dda39..2eec19eaa 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-fit.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-fit.R
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ test_that("mmrm works as expected for toeplitz", {
 ## general ----
 
 test_that("mmrm falls back to other optimizers if default does not work", {
-  formula <- FEV1 ~ RACE + SEX + ARMCD * AVISIT + us(AVISIT | USUBJID)
+  formula <- FEV1 ~ ar1(AVISIT | USUBJID)
 
   # Chosen optimizer does not work.
   fake_optimizer <- function(par, fun, grad, ...) {
@@ -371,11 +371,12 @@ test_that("mmrm fails if no optimizer works", {
 })
 
 test_that("mmrm works for rank deficient original design matrix by default", {
-  formula <- FEV1 ~ RACE + SEX + SEX2 + ARMCD * AVISIT + us(AVISIT | USUBJID)
+  formula <- FEV1 ~ SEX + SEX2 + ar1(AVISIT | USUBJID)
   dat <- fev_data
   dat$SEX2 <- dat$SEX # nolint
   result <- expect_silent(mmrm(formula, dat))
   expect_true(attr(result, "converged"))
+  expect_true(is.na(coef(result)["SEX2Female"]))
 })
 
 test_that("mmrm works if data is not provided as argument", {