diff --git a/test/Makefile b/test/Makefile
index 3d16f88a741b8..b9919dd59e541 100644
--- a/test/Makefile
+++ b/test/Makefile
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ EMBEDDING_ARGS := "JULIA=$(JULIA_EXECUTABLE)" "BIN=$(SRCDIR)/embedding" "CC=$(CC
 
 GCEXT_ARGS := "JULIA=$(JULIA_EXECUTABLE)" "BIN=$(SRCDIR)/gcext" "CC=$(CC)"
 
-default: all
-
 $(TESTS):
 	@cd $(SRCDIR) && \
 	$(call PRINT_JULIA, $(call spawn,$(JULIA_EXECUTABLE)) --check-bounds=yes --startup-file=no --depwarn=error ./runtests.jl $@)
diff --git a/test/choosetests.jl b/test/choosetests.jl
index 45080abc84fc8..af25f711fd1cf 100644
--- a/test/choosetests.jl
+++ b/test/choosetests.jl
@@ -110,9 +110,13 @@ function choosetests(choices = [])
 
     unhandled = copy(skip_tests)
 
-    if tests == ["all"] || isempty(tests)
-        tests = TESTNAMES
+    requested_all     = "all"     in tests
+    requested_default = "default" in tests
+    if isempty(tests) || requested_all || requested_default
+        append!(tests, TESTNAMES)
     end
+    filter!(x -> x != "all",     tests)
+    filter!(x -> x != "default", tests)
 
     function filtertests!(tests, name, files=[name])
        flt = x -> (x != name && !(x in files))
@@ -125,7 +129,7 @@ function choosetests(choices = [])
        end
     end
 
-    explicit_pkg3    = "Pkg"            in tests
+    explicit_pkg     = "Pkg"            in tests
     explicit_libgit2 = "LibGit2/online" in tests
 
     filtertests!(tests, "unicode", ["unicode/utf8"])
@@ -189,8 +193,9 @@ function choosetests(choices = [])
     end
     filter!(x -> (x != "stdlib" && !(x in STDLIBS)) , tests)
     append!(tests, new_tests)
-    explicit_pkg3    || filter!(x -> x != "Pkg",            tests)
-    explicit_libgit2 || filter!(x -> x != "LibGit2/online", tests)
+
+    requested_all || explicit_pkg     || filter!(x -> x != "Pkg",            tests)
+    requested_all || explicit_libgit2 || filter!(x -> x != "LibGit2/online", tests)
 
     # Filter out tests from the test groups in the stdlibs
     filter!(!in(tests), unhandled)