diff --git a/t/t1010-kvs-commit-sync.t b/t/t1010-kvs-commit-sync.t
index db3ba60d82a9..e7e743c363a8 100755
--- a/t/t1010-kvs-commit-sync.t
+++ b/t/t1010-kvs-commit-sync.t
@@ -18,13 +18,17 @@ checkpoint_get() {
         jq -j -c -n  "{key:\"$1\"}" | $RPC content.checkpoint-get
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'load content module' '
-	flux module load content
+test_expect_success 'load content module and kvs' '
+	flux module load content &&
+        flux module load kvs
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'sync does not work without a backing store' '
+        test_must_fail flux kvs put --sync testsync=1
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'load content-sqlite and kvs and add some data' '
         flux module load content-sqlite &&
-        flux module load kvs &&
         flux kvs put a=1 &&
         flux kvs put b=2
 '