diff --git a/flow/e2e/bigquery/peer_flow_bq_test.go b/flow/e2e/bigquery/peer_flow_bq_test.go
index c18c14d518..9a6e83a5a2 100644
--- a/flow/e2e/bigquery/peer_flow_bq_test.go
+++ b/flow/e2e/bigquery/peer_flow_bq_test.go
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@ func (s PeerFlowE2ETestSuiteBQ) Test_Simple_Schema_Changes_BQ() {
 		s.t.Log("Inserted row after dropping all columns in the source table")
 
 		// verify we got our two rows, if schema did not match up it will error.
-		e2e.EnvWaitForEqualTables(env, s, "normalize altered row", tableName, "id,c1")
+		e2e.EnvWaitForEqualTables(env, s, "normalize drop column", tableName, "id,c1")
 
 		env.CancelWorkflow()
 	}()
diff --git a/flow/e2e/test_utils.go b/flow/e2e/test_utils.go
index d9bb05a222..62636dd526 100644
--- a/flow/e2e/test_utils.go
+++ b/flow/e2e/test_utils.go
@@ -169,11 +169,12 @@ func EnvWaitForEqualTablesWithNames(
 
 func SetupCDCFlowStatusQuery(env *testsuite.TestWorkflowEnvironment,
 	connectionGen FlowConnectionGenerationConfig,
-) {
-	// wait for PeerFlowStatusQuery to finish setup
-	// sleep for 5 second to allow the workflow to start
-	time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
+) error {
+	// errors expected while PeerFlowStatusQuery is setup
+	counter := 0
 	for {
+		time.Sleep(time.Second)
+		counter++
 		response, err := env.QueryWorkflow(
 			shared.CDCFlowStateQuery,
 			connectionGen.FlowJobName,
@@ -186,13 +187,14 @@ func SetupCDCFlowStatusQuery(env *testsuite.TestWorkflowEnvironment,
 			}
 
 			if *state.CurrentFlowState == protos.FlowStatus_STATUS_RUNNING {
-				break
+				return nil
 			}
-		} else {
+		} else if counter > 15 {
+			return err
+		} else if counter > 5 {
 			// log the error for informational purposes
 			slog.Error(err.Error())
 		}
-		time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
 	}
 }