diff --git a/barbicanclient/tests/test_client.py b/barbicanclient/tests/test_client.py
index bb3b44c9..20f5e42c 100644
--- a/barbicanclient/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/barbicanclient/tests/test_client.py
@@ -151,13 +151,13 @@ class WhenTestingClientGet(TestClient):
 
     def test_get_uses_href_as_is(self):
         self.httpclient.get(self.href)
-        self.assertEqual(self.get_mock.last_request.url, self.href)
+        self.assertEqual(self.href, self.get_mock.last_request.url)
 
     def test_get_passes_params(self):
         params = {'test': 'test1'}
         self.httpclient.get(self.href, params=params)
-        self.assertEqual(self.get_mock.last_request.url.split('?')[0],
-                         self.href)
+        self.assertEqual(self.href,
+                         self.get_mock.last_request.url.split('?')[0])
         self.assertEqual(['test1'], self.get_mock.last_request.qs['test'])
 
     def test_get_includes_accept_header_of_application_json(self):
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ class WhenTestingClientGet(TestClient):
 
     def test_get_raw_uses_href_as_is(self):
         self.httpclient._get_raw(self.href, headers=self.headers)
-        self.assertEqual(self.get_mock.last_request.url, self.href)
+        self.assertEqual(self.href, self.get_mock.last_request.url)
 
     def test_get_raw_passes_headers(self):
         self.httpclient._get_raw(self.href, headers={'test': 'test'})
@@ -263,14 +263,14 @@ class WhenTestingGetErrorMessage(TestClient):
         resp.json.side_effect = ValueError()
         resp.content = content = 'content'
         msg = self.httpclient._get_error_message(resp)
-        self.assertEqual(msg, content)
+        self.assertEqual(content, msg)
 
     def test_gets_error_message_from_description_in_json(self):
         resp = mock.MagicMock()
         resp.json.return_value = {'title': 'test_text',
                                   'description': 'oopsie'}
         msg = self.httpclient._get_error_message(resp)
-        self.assertEqual(msg, 'test_text: oopsie')
+        self.assertEqual('test_text: oopsie', msg)
 
 
 class BaseEntityResource(testtools.TestCase):
diff --git a/barbicanclient/tests/test_containers.py b/barbicanclient/tests/test_containers.py
index 51f92b7c..44dfc6f7 100644
--- a/barbicanclient/tests/test_containers.py
+++ b/barbicanclient/tests/test_containers.py
@@ -283,8 +283,8 @@ class WhenTestingContainers(test_client.BaseEntityResource):
             secrets=self.container.generic_secrets
         )
 
-        self.assertEqual(container.secret_refs,
-                         self.container.generic_secret_refs)
+        self.assertEqual(self.container.generic_secret_refs,
+                         container.secret_refs)
 
     def test_should_reload_attributes_after_store(self):
         data = {'container_ref': self.entity_href}
diff --git a/functionaltests/client/v1/functional/test_acl.py b/functionaltests/client/v1/functional/test_acl.py
index cdfcd0eb..94552239 100644
--- a/functionaltests/client/v1/functional/test_acl.py
+++ b/functionaltests/client/v1/functional/test_acl.py
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ class ACLsTestCase(BaseACLsTestCase):
             entity.remove
         )
 
-        self.assertEqual(e.status_code, 404)
+        self.assertEqual(404, e.status_code)
 
     @utils.parameterized_dataset(ACL_SUBMIT_DATA_POSITIVE)
     @testcase.attr('positive')