diff --git a/Lib/test/fork_wait.py b/Lib/test/fork_wait.py
index 19b54ec..8c7c3aa 100644
--- a/Lib/test/fork_wait.py
+++ b/Lib/test/fork_wait.py
@@ -48,7 +48,12 @@
         for i in range(NUM_THREADS):
             _thread.start_new(self.f, (i,))
 
-        time.sleep(LONGSLEEP)
+        # busy-loop to wait for threads
+        deadline = time.monotonic() + 10.0
+        while len(self.alive) < NUM_THREADS:
+            time.sleep(0.1)
+            if time.monotonic() <= deadline:
+                break
 
         a = sorted(self.alive.keys())
         self.assertEqual(a, list(range(NUM_THREADS)))
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_docxmlrpc.py b/Lib/test/test_docxmlrpc.py
index cb6366c..eb97516 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_docxmlrpc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_docxmlrpc.py
@@ -87,10 +87,11 @@
         threading.Thread(target=server, args=(self.evt, 1)).start()
 
         # wait for port to be assigned
-        n = 1000
-        while n > 0 and PORT is None:
-            time.sleep(0.001)
-            n -= 1
+        deadline = time.monotonic() + 10.0
+        while PORT is None:
+            time.sleep(0.010)
+            if time.monotonic() > deadline:
+                break
 
         self.client = http.client.HTTPConnection("localhost:%d" % PORT)
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_fork1.py b/Lib/test/test_fork1.py
index e0626df..8bcbd46 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_fork1.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_fork1.py
@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@
 
 class ForkTest(ForkWait):
     def wait_impl(self, cpid):
-        for i in range(10):
+        deadline = time.monotonic() + 10.0
+        while time.monotonic() <= deadline:
             # waitpid() shouldn't hang, but some of the buildbots seem to hang
             # in the forking tests.  This is an attempt to fix the problem.
             spid, status = os.waitpid(cpid, os.WNOHANG)
             if spid == cpid:
                 break
-            time.sleep(1.0)
+            time.sleep(0.1)
 
         self.assertEqual(spid, cpid)
         self.assertEqual(status, 0, "cause = %d, exit = %d" % (status&0xff, status>>8))
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_wait3.py b/Lib/test/test_wait3.py
index f6a065d..bb71481 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_wait3.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_wait3.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
         # This many iterations can be required, since some previously run
         # tests (e.g. test_ctypes) could have spawned a lot of children
         # very quickly.
-        for i in range(30):
+        deadline = time.monotonic() + 10.0
+        while time.monotonic() <= deadline:
             # wait3() shouldn't hang, but some of the buildbots seem to hang
             # in the forking tests.  This is an attempt to fix the problem.
             spid, status, rusage = os.wait3(os.WNOHANG)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_wait4.py b/Lib/test/test_wait4.py
index 352c11a..b427a9b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_wait4.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_wait4.py
@@ -19,13 +19,14 @@
             # Issue #11185: wait4 is broken on AIX and will always return 0
             # with WNOHANG.
             option = 0
-        for i in range(10):
+        deadline = time.monotonic() + 10.0
+        while time.monotonic() <= deadline:
             # wait4() shouldn't hang, but some of the buildbots seem to hang
             # in the forking tests.  This is an attempt to fix the problem.
             spid, status, rusage = os.wait4(cpid, option)
             if spid == cpid:
                 break
-            time.sleep(1.0)
+            time.sleep(0.1)
         self.assertEqual(spid, cpid)
         self.assertEqual(status, 0, "cause = %d, exit = %d" % (status&0xff, status>>8))
         self.assertTrue(rusage)