diff --git a/distarray/dist/tests/test_distarray.py b/distarray/dist/tests/test_distarray.py
index c184af92..4e4bc150 100644
--- a/distarray/dist/tests/test_distarray.py
+++ b/distarray/dist/tests/test_distarray.py
@@ -137,8 +137,7 @@ def test_from_global_dim_data_irregular_block(self):
                 )
         distribution = Distribution(self.context, glb_dim_data)
         distarr = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
-        for i in range(global_size):
-            distarr[i] = i
+        distarr.toarray()
 
     def test_from_global_dim_data_1d(self):
         total_size = 40
@@ -180,9 +179,7 @@ def test_from_global_dim_data_bu(self):
             )
         distribution = Distribution(self.context, glb_dim_data)
         distarr = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
-        for i in range(rows):
-            for j in range(cols):
-                distarr[i, j] = i*cols + j
+        distarr.toarray()
 
     def test_from_global_dim_data_bc(self):
         """ Test creation of a block-cyclic array. """
@@ -204,12 +201,11 @@ def test_from_global_dim_data_bc(self):
                 },)
         distribution = Distribution(self.context, global_dim_data)
         distarr = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
-        for i in range(rows):
-            for j in range(cols):
-                distarr[i, j] = i*cols + j
+        distarr.toarray()
         las = distarr.get_localarrays()
         local_shapes = [la.local_shape for la in las]
-        self.assertSequenceEqual(local_shapes, [(3,5), (3,4), (2,5), (2,4)])
+        self.assertSequenceEqual(local_shapes,
+                                 [(3, 5), (3, 4), (2, 5), (2, 4)])
 
     def test_from_global_dim_data_uu(self):
         rows = 6
@@ -226,9 +222,7 @@ def test_from_global_dim_data_uu(self):
                 )
         distribution = Distribution(self.context, glb_dim_data)
         distarr = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
-        for i in range(rows):
-            for j in range(cols):
-                distarr[i, j] = i*cols + j
+        distarr.toarray()
 
     def test_global_dim_data_local_dim_data_equivalence(self):
         rows, cols = 5, 9
@@ -300,7 +294,6 @@ def test_global_dim_data_local_dim_data_equivalence(self):
         self.assertSequenceEqual(actual, expected)
 
     def test_irregular_block_assignment(self):
-        global_shape = (5, 9)
         global_dim_data = (
                 {
                     'dist_type': 'b',
@@ -313,9 +306,7 @@ def test_irregular_block_assignment(self):
             )
         distribution = Distribution(self.context, global_dim_data)
         distarr = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
-        for i in range(global_shape[0]):
-            for j in range(global_shape[1]):
-                distarr[i, j] = i + j
+        distarr.toarray()
 
 
 class TestDistArrayCreation(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -329,7 +320,7 @@ def tearDown(self):
         self.context.close()
 
     def test___init__(self):
-        shape = (100, 100)
+        shape = (5, 5)
         distribution = Distribution.from_shape(self.context, shape, ('b', 'c'))
         da = DistArray(distribution, dtype=int)
         da.fill(42)
diff --git a/distarray/dist/tests/test_distributed_io.py b/distarray/dist/tests/test_distributed_io.py
index b794acb4..eaf155d1 100644
--- a/distarray/dist/tests/test_distributed_io.py
+++ b/distarray/dist/tests/test_distributed_io.py
@@ -209,12 +209,7 @@ def test_save_3d(self):
 
         dist = {0: 'b', 1: 'c', 2: 'n'}
         distribution = Distribution.from_shape(self.dac, shape, dist=dist)
-        da = self.dac.empty(distribution)
-
-        for i in range(shape[0]):
-            for j in range(shape[1]):
-                for k in range(shape[2]):
-                    da[i, j, k] = source[i, j, k]
+        da = self.dac.fromarray(source, distribution)
 
         self.dac.save_hdf5(self.output_path, da, mode='w')
         with self.h5py.File(self.output_path, 'r') as fp: