diff --git a/tests/parse/parse.js b/tests/parse/parse.js
index ebadc4813d..eb45e25371 100644
--- a/tests/parse/parse.js
+++ b/tests/parse/parse.js
@@ -226,6 +226,23 @@ R(["pyret-base/js/pyret-tokenizer", "pyret-base/js/pyret-parser", "fs"], functio
       expect(parse("```asd``\\````")).not.toBe(false);
       expect(parse("```asd```asd```")).toBe(false);
     });
+
+    it('should lex octal escape sequences', function() {
+      const escapeSequences = ['\\0', '\\77', '\\101'];
+      const expectedSequences = ['0', '77', '101'];
+      for (let i = 0; i < escapeSequences.length; ++i) {
+        const expectedValues = ['\\', expectedSequences[i], undefined];
+
+        const lexedValues = lex(escapeSequences[i]).map(token => token.value);
+        expect(lexedValues).toEqual(expectedValues);
+
+        const parseStr = `str = "${escapeSequences[i]}"`;
+        expect(parse(parseStr)).not.toBe(false);
+      }
+
+      // invalid escape sequence
+      expect(parse('str = \'\\8\'')).toBe(false);
+    });
   });
   describe("parsing", function() {
     it("should parse lets and letrecs", function() {
@@ -762,19 +779,6 @@ R(["pyret-base/js/pyret-tokenizer", "pyret-base/js/pyret-parser", "fs"], functio
       expect(parse("spy \"five\": x end")).not.toBe(false);
       expect(parse("spy \"five\": x: 5 end")).not.toBe(false);
     });
-
-    it("should parse octal escape squences", function() {
-      expect(parse("a = '\\0'").toString()).toContain(stringAst('\\u0000'));
-      expect(parse("a = '\\101'").toString()).toContain(stringAst('A'));
-      expect(parse("a = '\\101bc'").toString()).toContain(stringAst('Abc'));
-      expect(parse("a = '\\77'").toString()).toContain(stringAst('?'));
-
-      expect(parse("a = '\\88'")).toBe(false);
-
-      function stringAst(str) {
-        return `'STRING "'${str}'"`;
-      }
-    });
   });
 
   jazz.execute();
diff --git a/tests/pyret/tests/test-strings.arr b/tests/pyret/tests/test-strings.arr
index fb193fa7ee..2fdced6acb 100644
--- a/tests/pyret/tests/test-strings.arr
+++ b/tests/pyret/tests/test-strings.arr
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ check:
   string-to-code-points("abcd") is [list: 97, 98, 99, 100]
   string-to-code-points("") is [list:]
 
+  # octal escape sequences
+  string-to-code-point("\0") is 0
+  string-to-code-point("\77") is 63
+  string-to-code-point("\101") is 65
+
   string-from-code-points([list: 955, 97, 10]) is "λa\n"
   string-from-code-points([list: 955, -1]) raises "Natural Number"
   string-from-code-points([list:]) is ""