diff --git a/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.c b/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.c
index 06b4e0682..c2e65b885 100644
--- a/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.c
+++ b/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "checkout_helpers.h"
 #include "refs.h"
 #include "fileops.h"
+#include "index.h"
 
 void assert_on_branch(git_repository *repo, const char *branch)
 {
@@ -128,3 +129,22 @@ int checkout_count_callback(
 
 	return 0;
 }
+
+void tick_index(git_index *index)
+{
+	git_time_t ts;
+	struct timespec times[2];
+
+	cl_assert(index->on_disk);
+	cl_assert(git_index_path(index));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_index_read(index, true));
+	ts = index->stamp.mtime;
+
+	times[0].tv_sec  = UTIME_OMIT; /* dont' change the atime */
+	times[0].tv_nsec = UTIME_OMIT; /* dont' change the atime */
+	times[1].tv_sec  = ts + 1;
+	times[1].tv_nsec = 0;
+	cl_git_pass(p_utimensat(AT_FDCWD, git_index_path(index), times, 0));
+	cl_git_pass(git_index_read(index, true));
+}
diff --git a/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.h b/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.h
index 705ee903d..6058a196c 100644
--- a/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.h
+++ b/tests/checkout/checkout_helpers.h
@@ -27,3 +27,5 @@ extern int checkout_count_callback(
 	const git_diff_file *target,
 	const git_diff_file *workdir,
 	void *payload);
+
+extern void tick_index(git_index *index);
diff --git a/tests/checkout/crlf.c b/tests/checkout/crlf.c
index e0d94e79f..61459b3a4 100644
--- a/tests/checkout/crlf.c
+++ b/tests/checkout/crlf.c
@@ -32,25 +32,6 @@ void test_checkout_crlf__detect_crlf_autocrlf_false(void)
 	check_file_contents("./crlf/all-crlf", ALL_CRLF_TEXT_RAW);
 }
 
-static void tick_index(git_index *index)
-{
-	git_time_t ts;
-	struct timespec times[2];
-
-	cl_assert(index->on_disk);
-	cl_assert(git_index_path(index));
-
-	cl_git_pass(git_index_read(index, true));
-	ts = index->stamp.mtime;
-
-	times[0].tv_sec  = UTIME_OMIT; /* dont' change the atime */
-	times[0].tv_nsec = UTIME_OMIT; /* dont' change the atime */
-	times[1].tv_sec  = ts + 1;
-	times[1].tv_nsec = 0;
-	cl_git_pass(p_utimensat(AT_FDCWD, git_index_path(index), times, 0));
-	cl_git_pass(git_index_read(index, true));
-}
-
 void test_checkout_crlf__autocrlf_false_index_size_is_unfiltered_size(void)
 {
 	git_index *index;
diff --git a/tests/diff/workdir.c b/tests/diff/workdir.c
index 5d6ebed95..6b72f3286 100644
--- a/tests/diff/workdir.c
+++ b/tests/diff/workdir.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "diff_helpers.h"
 #include "repository.h"
 #include "git2/sys/diff.h"
+#include "../checkout/checkout_helpers.h"
 
 static git_repository *g_repo = NULL;
 
@@ -1583,6 +1584,7 @@ void test_diff_workdir__can_update_index(void)
 	git_diff_options opts = GIT_DIFF_OPTIONS_INIT;
 	git_diff *diff = NULL;
 	git_diff_perfdata perf = GIT_DIFF_PERFDATA_INIT;
+	git_index *index;
 
 	g_repo = cl_git_sandbox_init("status");
 
@@ -1607,6 +1609,10 @@ void test_diff_workdir__can_update_index(void)
 	/* now allow diff to update stat cache */
 	opts.flags |= GIT_DIFF_UPDATE_INDEX;
 
+	/* advance a tick for the index so we don't re-calculate racily-clean entries */
+	cl_git_pass(git_repository_index__weakptr(&index, g_repo));
+	tick_index(index);
+
 	basic_diff_status(&diff, &opts);
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_diff_get_perfdata(&perf, diff));
diff --git a/tests/status/worktree.c b/tests/status/worktree.c
index 3b18ae6c0..f8d1f7f54 100644
--- a/tests/status/worktree.c
+++ b/tests/status/worktree.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "util.h"
 #include "path.h"
 #include "../diff/diff_helpers.h"
+#include "../checkout/checkout_helpers.h"
 #include "git2/sys/diff.h"
 
 /**
@@ -956,6 +957,7 @@ void test_status_worktree__update_stat_cache_0(void)
 	git_status_options opts = GIT_STATUS_OPTIONS_INIT;
 	git_status_list *status;
 	git_diff_perfdata perf = GIT_DIFF_PERFDATA_INIT;
+	git_index *index;
 
 	opts.flags = GIT_STATUS_OPT_DEFAULTS;
 
@@ -967,6 +969,10 @@ void test_status_worktree__update_stat_cache_0(void)
 
 	git_status_list_free(status);
 
+	/* tick the index so we avoid recalculating racily-clean entries */
+	cl_git_pass(git_repository_index__weakptr(&index, repo));
+	tick_index(index);
+
 	opts.flags |= GIT_STATUS_OPT_UPDATE_INDEX;
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_status_list_new(&status, repo, &opts));