diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8291a4953..3f7907b31 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 ### Infrastructure
 * Upgrade gradle to 8.4 [1289](https://github.com/opensearch-project/k-NN/pull/1289)
 * Refactor security testing to install from individual components [#1307](https://github.com/opensearch-project/k-NN/pull/1307)
+* Refactor integ tests that access model index [#1423](https://github.com/opensearch-project/k-NN/pull/1423)
 ### Documentation
 ### Maintenance
 * Update developer guide to include M1 Setup [#1222](https://github.com/opensearch-project/k-NN/pull/1222)
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestDeleteModelHandlerIT.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestDeleteModelHandlerIT.java
index b9f1b0a79..2bc7e04b2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestDeleteModelHandlerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestDeleteModelHandlerIT.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.knn.plugin.action;
 
+import lombok.SneakyThrows;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.EntityUtils;
 import org.opensearch.client.Request;
 import org.opensearch.client.Response;
@@ -30,7 +31,6 @@
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.KNN_ENGINE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_ID;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODELS;
-import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_INDEX_NAME;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.METHOD_PARAMETER_SPACE_TYPE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.METHOD_PARAMETER_NLIST;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.METHOD_ENCODER_PARAMETER;
@@ -43,9 +43,8 @@
 
 public class RestDeleteModelHandlerIT extends KNNRestTestCase {
 
-    public void testDeleteModelExists() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
-
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testDelete_whenModelExists_thenDeletionSucceeds() {
         String modelId = "test-model-id";
         String trainingIndexName = "train-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
@@ -80,42 +79,8 @@ public void testDeleteModelExists() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(ex.getMessage().contains(modelId));
     }
 
-    public void testDeleteTrainingModel() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
-
-        String modelId = "test-model-id";
-        String trainingIndexName = "train-index";
-        String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
-        int dimension = 8;
-        String modelDescription = "dummy description";
-
-        createBasicKnnIndex(trainingIndexName, trainingFieldName, dimension);
-        // we do not wait for training to be completed
-        ingestDataAndTrainModel(modelId, trainingIndexName, trainingFieldName, dimension, modelDescription);
-
-        Response getModelResponse = getModel(modelId, List.of());
-        assertEquals(RestStatus.OK, RestStatus.fromCode(getModelResponse.getStatusLine().getStatusCode()));
-
-        String responseBody = EntityUtils.toString(getModelResponse.getEntity());
-        assertNotNull(responseBody);
-
-        Map<String, Object> responseMap = createParser(MediaTypeRegistry.getDefaultMediaType().xContent(), responseBody).map();
-
-        assertEquals(modelId, responseMap.get(MODEL_ID));
-
-        String deleteModelRestURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, modelId);
-        Request deleteModelRequest = new Request("DELETE", deleteModelRestURI);
-
-        ResponseException ex = expectThrows(ResponseException.class, () -> client().performRequest(deleteModelRequest));
-        assertEquals(RestStatus.CONFLICT.getStatus(), ex.getResponse().getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
-
-        // need to wait for training operation as it's required for after test cleanup
-        assertTrainingSucceeds(modelId, NUM_OF_ATTEMPTS, DELAY_MILLI_SEC);
-    }
-
-    public void testDeleteModelFailsInvalid() throws Exception {
+    public void testDelete_whenModelIDIsInvalid_thenFail() {
         String modelId = "invalid-model-id";
-        createModelSystemIndex();
         String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, modelId);
         Request request = new Request("DELETE", restURI);
 
@@ -124,7 +89,8 @@ public void testDeleteModelFailsInvalid() throws Exception {
     }
 
     // Test Train Model -> Delete Model -> Train Model with same modelId
-    public void testTrainingDeletedModel() throws Exception {
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testTraining_whenModelHasBeenDeleted_thenSucceedTrainingModelWithSameID() {
         String modelId = "test-model-id1";
         String trainingIndexName1 = "train-index-1";
         String trainingIndexName2 = "train-index-2";
@@ -141,8 +107,6 @@ public void testTrainingDeletedModel() throws Exception {
         Response response = client().performRequest(request);
         assertEquals(request.getEndpoint() + ": failed", RestStatus.OK, RestStatus.fromCode(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode()));
 
-        assertEquals(0, getDocCount(MODEL_INDEX_NAME));
-
         // Train Model again with same ModelId
         trainModel(modelId, trainingIndexName2, trainingFieldName, dimension);
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestGetModelHandlerIT.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestGetModelHandlerIT.java
index 20e0d58c3..a846b5dcd 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestGetModelHandlerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestGetModelHandlerIT.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 package org.opensearch.knn.plugin.action;
 
 import joptsimple.internal.Strings;
+import lombok.SneakyThrows;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.EntityUtils;
 import org.opensearch.client.Request;
 import org.opensearch.client.Response;
@@ -21,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.opensearch.knn.plugin.KNNPlugin;
 import org.opensearch.core.rest.RestStatus;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -44,9 +44,8 @@
 
 public class RestGetModelHandlerIT extends KNNRestTestCase {
 
-    public void testGetModelExists() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
-
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testGetModel_whenModelIdExists_thenSucceed() {
         String modelId = "test-model-id";
         String trainingIndexName = "train-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
@@ -81,8 +80,8 @@ public void testGetModelExists() throws Exception {
         assertEquals(L2.getValue(), responseMap.get(METHOD_PARAMETER_SPACE_TYPE));
     }
 
-    public void testGetModelExistsWithFilter() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testGetModel_whenFilterApplied_thenReturnExpectedFields() {
         String modelId = "test-model-id";
         String trainingIndexName = "train-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
@@ -118,8 +117,7 @@ public void testGetModelExistsWithFilter() throws Exception {
         assertFalse(responseMap.containsKey(MODEL_STATE));
     }
 
-    public void testGetModelFailsInvalid() throws IOException {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    public void testGetModel_whenModelIDIsInValid_thenFail() {
         String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, "invalid-model-id");
         Request request = new Request("GET", restURI);
 
@@ -127,8 +125,7 @@ public void testGetModelFailsInvalid() throws IOException {
         assertTrue(ex.getMessage().contains("\"invalid-model-id\""));
     }
 
-    public void testGetModelFailsBlank() throws IOException {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    public void testGetModel_whenIDIsBlank_thenFail() {
         String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, " ");
         Request request = new Request("GET", restURI);
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestKNNStatsHandlerIT.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestKNNStatsHandlerIT.java
index 411a51c3c..2e13c7049 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestKNNStatsHandlerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestKNNStatsHandlerIT.java
@@ -339,7 +339,6 @@ public void testScriptStats_multipleShards() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testModelIndexHealthMetricsStats() throws Exception {
-        // Create request that filters only model index
         String modelIndexStatusName = StatNames.MODEL_INDEX_STATUS.getName();
         // index can be created in one of previous tests, and as we do not delete it each test the check below became optional
         if (!systemIndexExists(MODEL_INDEX_NAME)) {
@@ -351,7 +350,11 @@ public void testModelIndexHealthMetricsStats() throws Exception {
             // Check that model health status is null since model index is not created to system yet
             assertNull(statsMap.get(StatNames.MODEL_INDEX_STATUS.getName()));
 
-            createModelSystemIndex();
+            // Train a model so that the system index will get created
+            createBasicKnnIndex(TRAINING_INDEX, TRAINING_FIELD, DIMENSION);
+            bulkIngestRandomVectors(TRAINING_INDEX, TRAINING_FIELD, NUM_DOCS, DIMENSION);
+            trainKnnModel(TEST_MODEL_ID, TRAINING_INDEX, TRAINING_FIELD, DIMENSION, MODEL_DESCRIPTION);
+            validateModelCreated(TEST_MODEL_ID);
         }
 
         Response response = getKnnStats(Collections.emptyList(), Arrays.asList(modelIndexStatusName));
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestSearchModelHandlerIT.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestSearchModelHandlerIT.java
index ae3e71528..e04c5e61c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestSearchModelHandlerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/plugin/action/RestSearchModelHandlerIT.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.knn.plugin.action;
 
+import lombok.SneakyThrows;
 import org.apache.hc.core5.http.io.entity.EntityUtils;
 import org.opensearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.opensearch.client.Request;
@@ -19,22 +20,18 @@
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.MediaTypeRegistry;
 import org.opensearch.knn.KNNRestTestCase;
-import org.opensearch.knn.index.SpaceType;
-import org.opensearch.knn.index.util.KNNEngine;
 import org.opensearch.knn.indices.Model;
-import org.opensearch.knn.indices.ModelMetadata;
-import org.opensearch.knn.indices.ModelState;
 import org.opensearch.knn.plugin.KNNPlugin;
 import org.opensearch.core.rest.RestStatus;
 import org.opensearch.search.SearchHit;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODELS;
+import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_INDEX_NAME;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.PARAM_SIZE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.SEARCH_MODEL_MAX_SIZE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.SEARCH_MODEL_MIN_SIZE;
@@ -47,12 +44,7 @@
 
 public class RestSearchModelHandlerIT extends KNNRestTestCase {
 
-    private ModelMetadata getModelMetadata() {
-        return new ModelMetadata(KNNEngine.DEFAULT, SpaceType.DEFAULT, 4, ModelState.CREATED, "2021-03-27", "test model", "", "");
-    }
-
-    public void testNotSupportedParams() throws IOException {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    public void testSearch_whenUnSupportedParamsPassed_thenFail() {
         String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, "_search");
         Map<String, String> invalidParams = new HashMap<>();
         invalidParams.put("index", "index-name");
@@ -61,27 +53,31 @@ public void testNotSupportedParams() throws IOException {
         expectThrows(ResponseException.class, () -> client().performRequest(request));
     }
 
-    public void testNoModelExists() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testSearch_whenNoModelExists_thenReturnEmptyResults() {
+        // Currently, if the model index exists, we will return empty hits. If it does not exist, we will
+        // throw an exception. This is somewhat of a bug considering that the model index is supposed to be
+        // an implementation detail abstracted away from the user. However, in order to test, we need to handle
+        // the 2 different scenarios
         String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, "_search");
         Request request = new Request("GET", restURI);
         request.setJsonEntity("{\n" + "    \"query\": {\n" + "        \"match_all\": {}\n" + "    }\n" + "}");
-
-        Response response = client().performRequest(request);
-        assertEquals(RestStatus.OK, RestStatus.fromCode(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode()));
-
-        String responseBody = EntityUtils.toString(response.getEntity());
-        assertNotNull(responseBody);
-
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(MediaTypeRegistry.getDefaultMediaType().xContent(), responseBody);
-        SearchResponse searchResponse = SearchResponse.fromXContent(parser);
-        assertNotNull(searchResponse);
-        assertEquals(searchResponse.getHits().getHits().length, 0);
-
+        if (!systemIndexExists(MODEL_INDEX_NAME)) {
+            ResponseException ex = expectThrows(ResponseException.class, () -> client().performRequest(request));
+            assertEquals(RestStatus.NOT_FOUND.getStatus(), ex.getResponse().getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
+        } else {
+            Response response = client().performRequest(request);
+            assertEquals(RestStatus.OK, RestStatus.fromCode(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode()));
+            String responseBody = EntityUtils.toString(response.getEntity());
+            assertNotNull(responseBody);
+            XContentParser parser = createParser(MediaTypeRegistry.getDefaultMediaType().xContent(), responseBody);
+            SearchResponse searchResponse = SearchResponse.fromXContent(parser);
+            assertNotNull(searchResponse);
+            assertEquals(searchResponse.getHits().getHits().length, 0);
+        }
     }
 
-    public void testSizeValidationFailsInvalidSize() throws IOException {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    public void testSearch_whenInvalidSizePassed_thenFail() {
         for (Integer invalidSize : Arrays.asList(SEARCH_MODEL_MIN_SIZE - 1, SEARCH_MODEL_MAX_SIZE + 1)) {
             String restURI = String.join("/", KNNPlugin.KNN_BASE_URI, MODELS, "_search?" + PARAM_SIZE + "=" + invalidSize);
             Request request = new Request("GET", restURI);
@@ -101,8 +97,8 @@ public void testSizeValidationFailsInvalidSize() throws IOException {
 
     }
 
-    public void testSearchModelExists() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
+    @SneakyThrows
+    public void testSearch_whenModelExists_thenSuccess() {
         String trainingIndex = "irrelevant-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
         int dimension = 8;
@@ -151,7 +147,6 @@ public void testSearchModelExists() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testSearchModelWithoutSource() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
         String trainingIndex = "irrelevant-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
         int dimension = 8;
@@ -192,7 +187,6 @@ public void testSearchModelWithoutSource() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testSearchModelWithSourceFilteringIncludes() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
         String trainingIndex = "irrelevant-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
         int dimension = 8;
@@ -244,7 +238,6 @@ public void testSearchModelWithSourceFilteringIncludes() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testSearchModelWithSourceFilteringExcludes() throws Exception {
-        createModelSystemIndex();
         String trainingIndex = "irrelevant-index";
         String trainingFieldName = "train-field";
         int dimension = 8;
diff --git a/src/testFixtures/java/org/opensearch/knn/KNNRestTestCase.java b/src/testFixtures/java/org/opensearch/knn/KNNRestTestCase.java
index 3af8b7ec8..1d984927f 100644
--- a/src/testFixtures/java/org/opensearch/knn/KNNRestTestCase.java
+++ b/src/testFixtures/java/org/opensearch/knn/KNNRestTestCase.java
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.knn;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
-import com.google.common.io.Resources;
 import com.google.common.primitives.Floats;
 import lombok.extern.log4j.Log4j2;
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
@@ -22,7 +20,6 @@
 import org.opensearch.knn.index.query.KNNQueryBuilder;
 import org.opensearch.knn.index.KNNSettings;
 import org.opensearch.knn.index.SpaceType;
-import org.opensearch.knn.indices.ModelDao;
 import org.opensearch.knn.indices.ModelState;
 import org.opensearch.knn.plugin.KNNPlugin;
 import org.opensearch.knn.plugin.script.KNNScoringScriptEngine;
@@ -51,7 +48,6 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -77,8 +73,6 @@
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.METHOD_PARAMETER_NLIST;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.METHOD_PARAMETER_SPACE_TYPE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_DESCRIPTION;
-import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_INDEX_MAPPING_PATH;
-import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_INDEX_NAME;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.MODEL_STATE;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.TRAIN_FIELD_PARAMETER;
 import static org.opensearch.knn.common.KNNConstants.TRAIN_INDEX_PARAMETER;
@@ -781,20 +775,6 @@ protected String getIndexSettingByName(String indexName, String settingName, boo
         }
     }
 
-    protected void createModelSystemIndex() throws IOException {
-        URL url = ModelDao.class.getClassLoader().getResource(MODEL_INDEX_MAPPING_PATH);
-        if (url == null) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Unable to retrieve mapping for \"" + MODEL_INDEX_NAME + "\"");
-        }
-
-        String mapping = Resources.toString(url, Charsets.UTF_8);
-        mapping = mapping.substring(1, mapping.length() - 1);
-
-        if (!systemIndexExists(MODEL_INDEX_NAME)) {
-            createIndex(MODEL_INDEX_NAME, Settings.builder().put("number_of_shards", 1).put("number_of_replicas", 0).build(), mapping);
-        }
-    }
-
     /**
      * Clear cache
      * <p>