diff --git a/test/ci.sh b/test/ci.sh
index 28d049af64..d96e2e5c50 100755
--- a/test/ci.sh
+++ b/test/ci.sh
@@ -2,13 +2,21 @@
 
 set -e
 
-make ${flags} jdk-test
-make ${flags} test
-make ${flags} mode=debug test
-make ${flags} process=interpret test
+if [ -z "${test_target}" ]; then
+  test_target=test
+fi
+
+# we shouldn't run jdk-test builds if we're not running the test target
+if [ ${test_target} = test ]; then
+  make ${flags} jdk-test
+fi
+
+make ${flags} ${test_target}
+make ${flags} mode=debug ${test_target}
+make ${flags} process=interpret ${test_target}
 # bootimage and openjdk builds without openjdk-src don't work:
 if [ -z "${openjdk}" ]; then
-  make ${flags} bootimage=true test
+  make ${flags} bootimage=true ${test_target}
 fi
-make ${flags} tails=true continuations=true test
+make ${flags} tails=true continuations=true ${test_target}
 make ${flags} codegen-targets=all