diff --git a/src/finn/util/test.py b/src/finn/util/test.py
index e53d037368054ad525e4b2dead35dbe04d0f2227..3cd4248c5fbf438ac7dd7974adb38d251d389a07 100644
--- a/src/finn/util/test.py
+++ b/src/finn/util/test.py
@@ -88,10 +88,10 @@ def soft_verify_topk(invec, idxvec, k):
 
 def load_test_checkpoint_or_skip(filename):
     "Try to load given .onnx and return ModelWrapper, else skip current test."
-    try:
+    if os.path.isfile(filename):
         model = ModelWrapper(filename)
         return model
-    except FileNotFoundError:
+    else:
         warnings.warn(filename + " not found from previous test step, skipping")
         pytest.skip(filename + " not found from previous test step, skipping")