diff --git a/test/common/README.md b/test/common/README.md
index 73779fd5372..f0bbe7d13dc 100644
--- a/test/common/README.md
+++ b/test/common/README.md
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ Synchronous version of `spawnPwd`.
 The `Countdown` module provides a simple countdown mechanism for tests that
 require a particular action to be taken after a given number of completed
 tasks (for instance, shutting down an HTTP server after a specific number of
-requests).
+requests). The Countdown will fail the test if the remainder did not reach 0.
 
 <!-- eslint-disable strict, required-modules -->
 ```js
diff --git a/test/common/countdown.js b/test/common/countdown.js
index 93bdbbfb16d..5fcb77c4ed6 100644
--- a/test/common/countdown.js
+++ b/test/common/countdown.js
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 const assert = require('assert');
 const kLimit = Symbol('limit');
 const kCallback = Symbol('callback');
+const common = require('./');
 
 class Countdown {
   constructor(limit, cb) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof limit, 'number');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof cb, 'function');
     this[kLimit] = limit;
-    this[kCallback] = cb;
+    this[kCallback] = common.mustCall(cb);
   }
 
   dec() {
diff --git a/test/fixtures/failcounter.js b/test/fixtures/failcounter.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f3bc34a7308
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/failcounter.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+const Countdown = require('../common/countdown');
+new Countdown(2, () => {});
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-common-countdown.js b/test/parallel/test-common-countdown.js
index ec0543f36fe..6a1a2f1bbce 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-common-countdown.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-common-countdown.js
@@ -3,13 +3,31 @@
 const common = require('../common');
 const assert = require('assert');
 const Countdown = require('../common/countdown');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+const { execFile } = require('child_process');
 
 let done = '';
-
-const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => done = true));
+const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => done = true);
 assert.strictEqual(countdown.remaining, 2);
 countdown.dec();
 assert.strictEqual(countdown.remaining, 1);
 countdown.dec();
 assert.strictEqual(countdown.remaining, 0);
 assert.strictEqual(done, true);
+
+const failFixtures = [
+  [
+    fixtures.path('failcounter.js'),
+    'Mismatched <anonymous> function calls. Expected exactly 1, actual 0.',
+  ]
+];
+
+for (const p of failFixtures) {
+  const [file, expected] = p;
+  execFile(process.argv[0], [file], common.mustCall((ex, stdout, stderr) => {
+    assert.ok(ex);
+    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
+    const firstLine = stdout.split('\n').shift();
+    assert.strictEqual(firstLine, expected);
+  }));
+}
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-after-connect.js b/test/parallel/test-http-after-connect.js
index 324186bab72..d209c82083e 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-after-connect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-after-connect.js
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
   setTimeout(() => res.end(req.url), 50);
 }, 2));
 
-const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => server.close());
 
 server.on('connect', common.mustCall((req, socket) => {
   socket.write('HTTP/1.1 200 Connection established\r\n\r\n');
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-destroyed-socket.js b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-destroyed-socket.js
index 7970ce8bae0..39f4ebef537 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-destroyed-socket.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-destroyed-socket.js
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
     assert(request1.socket.destroyed);
     // assert not reusing the same socket, since it was destroyed.
     assert.notStrictEqual(request1.socket, request2.socket);
-    const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+    const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => server.close());
     request2.socket.on('close', common.mustCall(() => countdown.dec()));
     response.on('end', common.mustCall(() => countdown.dec()));
     response.resume();
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets-regress-4050.js b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets-regress-4050.js
index 57a90e4b05c..eb1c95d5200 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets-regress-4050.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets-regress-4050.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
   res.end('hello world');
 }, 6));
 
-const countdown = new Countdown(6, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+const countdown = new Countdown(6, () => server.close());
 
 function get(path, callback) {
   return http.get({
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets.js b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets.js
index 4d422f4a90b..267f820e043 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-maxsockets.js
@@ -26,13 +26,13 @@ function get(path, callback) {
   }, callback);
 }
 
-const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => {
+const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => {
   const freepool = agent.freeSockets[Object.keys(agent.freeSockets)[0]];
   assert.strictEqual(freepool.length, 2,
                      `expect keep 2 free sockets, but got ${freepool.length}`);
   agent.destroy();
   server.close();
-}));
+});
 
 function dec() {
   process.nextTick(() => countdown.dec());
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-client-abort.js b/test/parallel/test-http-client-abort.js
index 71fd2ad64ca..f767189ea9d 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-client-abort.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-client-abort.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ const Countdown = require('../common/countdown');
 
 const N = 8;
 
-const countdown = new Countdown(N, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+const countdown = new Countdown(N, () => server.close());
 
 const server = http.Server(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
   res.writeHead(200);
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ const server = http.Server(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
 server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
 
   const requests = [];
-  const reqCountdown = new Countdown(N, common.mustCall(() => {
+  const reqCountdown = new Countdown(N, () => {
     requests.forEach((req) => req.abort());
-  }));
+  });
 
   const options = { port: server.address().port };
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-client-parse-error.js b/test/parallel/test-http-client-parse-error.js
index 60f1ee45c8e..cb4e3ff0843 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-client-parse-error.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-client-parse-error.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const http = require('http');
 const net = require('net');
 const Countdown = require('../common/countdown');
 
-const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => server.close());
 
 const payloads = [
   'HTTP/1.1 302 Object Moved\r\nContent-Length: 0\r\n\r\nhi world',
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-exceptions.js b/test/parallel/test-http-exceptions.js
index 0b6ac5bdc1f..03e30b67e18 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-exceptions.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-exceptions.js
@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@
 
 'use strict';
 require('../common');
+const Countdown = require('../common/countdown');
 const http = require('http');
+const NUMBER_OF_EXCEPTIONS = 4;
+const countdown = new Countdown(NUMBER_OF_EXCEPTIONS, () => {
+  process.exit(0);
+});
 
 const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
   intentionally_not_defined(); // eslint-disable-line no-undef
@@ -30,16 +35,16 @@ const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
   res.end();
 });
 
+function onUncaughtException(err) {
+  console.log(`Caught an exception: ${err}`);
+  if (err.name === 'AssertionError') throw err;
+  countdown.dec();
+}
+
+process.on('uncaughtException', onUncaughtException);
+
 server.listen(0, function() {
-  for (let i = 0; i < 4; i += 1) {
+  for (let i = 0; i < NUMBER_OF_EXCEPTIONS; i += 1) {
     http.get({ port: this.address().port, path: `/busy/${i}` });
   }
 });
-
-let exception_count = 0;
-
-process.on('uncaughtException', function(err) {
-  console.log(`Caught an exception: ${err}`);
-  if (err.name === 'AssertionError') throw err;
-  if (++exception_count === 4) process.exit(0);
-});
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http2-no-more-streams.js b/test/parallel/test-http2-no-more-streams.js
index dd06a709f23..ff0c8baa14c 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http2-no-more-streams.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http2-no-more-streams.js
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
 
     assert.strictEqual(client.state.nextStreamID, nextID);
 
-    const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => {
+    const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => {
       server.close();
       client.close();
-    }));
+    });
 
     {
       // This one will be ok
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http2-server-rst-stream.js b/test/parallel/test-http2-server-rst-stream.js
index c2d938c22f4..4b59a5ebe85 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http2-server-rst-stream.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http2-server-rst-stream.js
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ server.on('stream', (stream, headers) => {
 server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
   const client = http2.connect(`http://localhost:${server.address().port}`);
 
-  const countdown = new Countdown(tests.length, common.mustCall(() => {
+  const countdown = new Countdown(tests.length, () => {
     client.close();
     server.close();
-  }));
+  });
 
   tests.forEach((test) => {
     const req = client.request({
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-performanceobserver.js b/test/parallel/test-performanceobserver.js
index 196675d1f5f..2a629995227 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-performanceobserver.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-performanceobserver.js
@@ -65,10 +65,10 @@ assert.strictEqual(counts[NODE_PERFORMANCE_ENTRY_TYPE_FUNCTION], 0);
     new PerformanceObserver(common.mustCall(callback, 3));
 
   const countdown =
-    new Countdown(3, common.mustCall(() => {
+    new Countdown(3, () => {
       observer.disconnect();
       assert.strictEqual(counts[NODE_PERFORMANCE_ENTRY_TYPE_MARK], 1);
-    }));
+    });
 
   function callback(list, obs) {
     assert.strictEqual(obs, observer);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-timers-socket-timeout-removes-other-socket-unref-timer.js b/test/parallel/test-timers-socket-timeout-removes-other-socket-unref-timer.js
index 842c8180701..5dceb386fdb 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-timers-socket-timeout-removes-other-socket-unref-timer.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-timers-socket-timeout-removes-other-socket-unref-timer.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ const server = net.createServer(function onClient(client) {
 });
 
 server.listen(0, common.localhostIPv4, common.mustCall(() => {
-  const countdown = new Countdown(2, common.mustCall(() => server.close()));
+  const countdown = new Countdown(2, () => server.close());
 
   {
     const client = net.connect({ port: server.address().port });