diff --git a/Lib/test/test_socketserver.py b/Lib/test/test_socketserver.py
index caac24a302c..bd25f57f755 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_socketserver.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socketserver.py
@@ -253,7 +253,4 @@ def test_main():
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()
-    # Signal an alarm after 20 seconds if we haven't shut down.  This
-    # was originally 3 seconds, but has been bumped as numerous build
-    # slaves have been failing with SIGALMs on this test.
-    signal_alarm(20)
+    signal_alarm(3)  # Shutdown shouldn't take more than 3 seconds.