diff --git a/SAS/ResourceAssignment/ResourceAssignmentDatabase/tests/t_radb.py b/SAS/ResourceAssignment/ResourceAssignmentDatabase/tests/t_radb.py
index 5dff041f328c93993b4ac6181804f1b102b01c62..4faf6da9840271fc860acee5074ff9f2081132c8 100755
--- a/SAS/ResourceAssignment/ResourceAssignmentDatabase/tests/t_radb.py
+++ b/SAS/ResourceAssignment/ResourceAssignmentDatabase/tests/t_radb.py
@@ -212,15 +212,12 @@ class ResourceAssignmentDatabaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     # triggers in place?
     def test_insert_specification_swaps_startendtimes_if_needed(self):
-        # insert spec
-        starttime = '2017-05-10 12:00:00'
-        endtime = '2017-05-10 10:00:00'
-        ident = self._insert_test_spec(starttime=starttime, endtime=endtime)
-
-        # check endtime in db is old starttime
-        query = "SELECT endtime FROM resource_allocation.specification WHERE id=%s" % ident
-        fetch = self._execute_query(query, fetch=True)
-        self.assertTrue(parser.parse(starttime) == fetch[0][0])
+        #when inserting spec with start>endtime, should raise error
+        with self.assertRaises(psycopg2.InternalError) as context:
+            # insert spec
+            starttime = '2017-05-10 12:00:00'
+            endtime = '2017-05-10 10:00:00'
+            ident = self._insert_test_spec(starttime=starttime, endtime=endtime)
 
     # notifications in place?
     def test_insert_task_triggers_notification(self):