diff --git a/docs/topics/testing.txt b/docs/topics/testing.txt
index 2362193960..8cb00e39a4 100644
--- a/docs/topics/testing.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/testing.txt
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@ A full explanation of this error output is beyond the scope of this document,
 but it's pretty intuitive. You can consult the documentation of Python's
 ``unittest`` library for details.
 
-Note that the return code for the test-runner script is the total number of
+Note that the return code for the test-runner script is 1 for any number of
 failed and erroneous tests. If all the tests pass, the return code is 0. This
 feature is useful if you're using the test-runner script in a shell script and
 need to test for success or failure at that level.