diff --git a/pkg/controllers/horizontalautoscaler/v1alpha1/suite_test.go b/pkg/controllers/horizontalautoscaler/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
index 1fb67dc954ac..655d09d638d8 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/horizontalautoscaler/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/horizontalautoscaler/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Examples", func() {
 		It("should scale to average utilization target, metric=85, target=60, replicas=5, want=8", func() {
 			Expect(ns.ParseResources("docs/examples/reserved-capacity-utilization.yaml", ha, sng)).To(Succeed())
 			sng.Spec.Replicas = ptr.Int32(5)
-			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(*sng.Spec.Replicas)
+			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(*sng.Spec.Replicas) // create a new pointer to avoid races with the controller
 			MockMetricValue(fakeServer, .85)
 
 			ExpectCreated(ns.Client, sng, ha)
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Examples", func() {
 		It("should scale to average value target, metric=41, target=4, want=11", func() {
 			Expect(ns.ParseResources("docs/examples/queue-length-average-value.yaml", ha, sng)).To(Succeed())
 			sng.Spec.Replicas = ptr.Int32(1)
-			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(*sng.Spec.Replicas)
+			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(*sng.Spec.Replicas) // create a new pointer to avoid races with the controller
 			MockMetricValue(fakeServer, 41)
 
 			ExpectCreated(ns.Client, sng, ha)
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/scalablenodegroup/v1alpha1/suite_test.go b/pkg/controllers/scalablenodegroup/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
index a9203526655f..70f9e4a04b2b 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/scalablenodegroup/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/scalablenodegroup/v1alpha1/suite_test.go
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ var _ = AfterSuite(func() {
 
 var _ = Describe("Examples", func() {
 	var ns *environment.Namespace
-	var desiredReplicas = ptr.Int32(5)
-	var dummyMessage = "test message"
+	var defaultReplicaCount = ptr.Int32(3)
+
 	var sng *v1alpha1.ScalableNodeGroup
 
 	BeforeEach(func() {
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Examples", func() {
 		fakeCloudProvider.NodeGroupStable = true
 		fakeCloudProvider.NodeGroupMessage = ""
 		fakeCloudProvider.WantErr = nil
-		sng.Spec.Replicas = desiredReplicas
+		sng.Spec.Replicas = defaultReplicaCount
 		sng.Spec.ID = "dummyID"
 		fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(0)
 	})
@@ -84,38 +84,40 @@ var _ = Describe("Examples", func() {
 	Context("ScalableNodeGroup Reconcile tests", func() {
 		It("Test reconciler to scale up nodes", func() {
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())
-			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(desiredReplicas))
+			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(defaultReplicaCount))
 		})
 
 		It("Test reconciler to scale down nodes", func() {
 			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = ptr.Int32(10) // set existing replicas higher than desired
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())
-			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(desiredReplicas))
+			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(defaultReplicaCount))
 		})
 
 		It("Test reconciler to make no change to node count", func() {
-			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = desiredReplicas // set existing replicas equal to desired
+			fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID] = defaultReplicaCount // set existing replicas equal to desired
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())
-			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(desiredReplicas))
+			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(defaultReplicaCount))
 		})
 
 		It("Scale up nodes when not node group is stabilized and check status condition", func() {
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())
-			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(desiredReplicas))
+			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(defaultReplicaCount))
 			Expect(sng.StatusConditions().GetCondition(v1alpha1.Stabilized).IsTrue()).To(Equal(true))
 			Expect(sng.StatusConditions().GetCondition(v1alpha1.Stabilized).Message).To(Equal(""))
 		})
 
 		It("Scale up nodes when not node group is NOT stabilized and check status condition", func() {
+			var dummyMessage = "test message"
 			fakeCloudProvider.NodeGroupStable = false
 			fakeCloudProvider.NodeGroupMessage = dummyMessage
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())
-			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(desiredReplicas))
+			Expect(fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]).To(Equal(defaultReplicaCount))
 			Expect(sng.StatusConditions().GetCondition(v1alpha1.Stabilized).IsFalse()).To(Equal(true))
 			Expect(sng.StatusConditions().GetCondition(v1alpha1.Stabilized).Message).To(Equal(dummyMessage))
 		})
 
 		It("Retryable error while reconciling", func() {
+			var dummyMessage = "test message"
 			fakeCloudProvider.WantErr = fake.RetryableError(fmt.Errorf(dummyMessage)) // retryable error
 			existingReplicas := fakeCloudProvider.NodeReplicas[sng.Spec.ID]
 			Expect(fakeController.Reconcile(sng)).To(Succeed())