diff --git a/tests/test_json_model.py b/tests/test_json_model.py
index c4c3901..b198652 100644
--- a/tests/test_json_model.py
+++ b/tests/test_json_model.py
@@ -121,7 +121,12 @@
 
     query_dict = parse_qs(query[1:])
     self.assertEqual(query_dict['foo'], ['1'])
-    self.assertEqual(query_dict['bar'], [u'\N{COMET}'.encode('utf-8')])
+    if six.PY3:
+      # Python 3, no need to encode
+      self.assertEqual(query_dict['bar'], [u'\N{COMET}'])
+    else:
+      # Python 2, encode string
+      self.assertEqual(query_dict['bar'], [u'\N{COMET}'.encode('utf-8')])
     self.assertEqual(query_dict['baz'], ['fe', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'])
     self.assertTrue('qux' not in query_dict)
     self.assertEqual(body, '{}')