diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_courseware_index.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_courseware_index.py
index 508f7230c55b0a917cb96155f56e4b0037c46be3..488c3a27f48ecf167b51ef65b4f87904b38f9ceb 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_courseware_index.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_courseware_index.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from unittest import skip
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 import ddt
+import pytest
 from dateutil.tz import tzutc
 from django.conf import settings
 from lazy.lazy import lazy
@@ -181,6 +182,7 @@ class MixedWithOptionsTestCase(MixedSplitTestCase):
             store.update_item(item, ModuleStoreEnum.UserID.test)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_db
 @ddt.ddt
 class TestCoursewareSearchIndexer(MixedWithOptionsTestCase):
     """ Tests the operation of the CoursewareSearchIndexer """
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/static_replace/test/test_static_replace.py b/common/djangoapps/static_replace/test/test_static_replace.py
index 7c259fed3690998a4fdb9092082acf50d572f266..802571a777aff92de47c2a39497c44a0c067ae8d 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/static_replace/test/test_static_replace.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/static_replace/test/test_static_replace.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from cStringIO import StringIO
 from urlparse import parse_qsl, urlparse, urlunparse
 
 import ddt
+import pytest
 from django.test import override_settings
 from django.utils.http import urlencode, urlquote
 from mock import Mock, patch
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@ def test_raw_static_check():
     assert_equals(path, replace_static_urls(path, text))
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_db
 @patch('static_replace.staticfiles_storage', autospec=True)
 @patch('static_replace.modulestore', autospec=True)
 def test_static_url_with_query(mock_modulestore, mock_storage):
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/tests/test_tools.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/tests/test_tools.py
index 5eecf44359c05866bb14172b4f23287107876c4d..07a147788f8ece165770d9c25a4a8754c8cf7a4f 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/tests/test_tools.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/tests/test_tools.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import json
 import unittest
 
 import mock
+from django.test import TestCase
 from django.test.utils import override_settings
 from django.utils.timezone import utc
 from nose.plugins.attrib import attr
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ class TestHandleDashboardError(unittest.TestCase):
 
 
 @attr(shard=1)
-class TestRequireStudentIdentifier(unittest.TestCase):
+class TestRequireStudentIdentifier(TestCase):
     """
     Test require_student_from_identifier()
     """
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/tests/test_partition_schemes.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/tests/test_partition_schemes.py
index 899603b34152bc7a8dd92f11d47df62157a67372..93454844d0eb44db0a5f2183cb3d26e4e1256919 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/tests/test_partition_schemes.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/tests/test_partition_schemes.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 Test the user api's partition extensions.
 """
 from collections import defaultdict
+
+import pytest
 from django.test import TestCase
 from mock import patch
 
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@ class MemoryCourseTagAPI(object):
             return False
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_db
 class TestRandomUserPartitionScheme(PartitionTestCase):
     """
     Test getting a user's group out of a partition
diff --git a/openedx/core/lib/tests/test_time_zone_utils.py b/openedx/core/lib/tests/test_time_zone_utils.py
index 4b5afdecaade8b8b877bb3985e53275a8291c952..273c56e8249cc7c16c02f6eabb67a162afd58826 100644
--- a/openedx/core/lib/tests/test_time_zone_utils.py
+++ b/openedx/core/lib/tests/test_time_zone_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 """Tests covering time zone utilities."""
-from unittest import TestCase
-
+from django.test import TestCase
 from freezegun import freeze_time
 from pytz import timezone, utc