diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/django_utils.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/django_utils.py
index 6d314684f9..91c7c04b06 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/django_utils.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/django_utils.py
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from xmodule.contentstore.django import _CONTENTSTORE
 from xmodule.modulestore.django import modulestore, clear_existing_modulestores
 from xmodule.modulestore import ModuleStoreEnum
-from collections import namedtuple
 import datetime
 import pytz
 from xmodule.tabs import CoursewareTab, CourseInfoTab, StaticTab, DiscussionTab, ProgressTab, WikiTab
+from xmodule.modulestore.tests.sample_courses import default_block_info_tree, TOY_BLOCK_INFO_TREE
 
 
 def mixed_store_config(data_dir, mappings):
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ def split_mongo_store_config(data_dir):
         'default_class': 'xmodule.raw_module.RawDescriptor',
         'fs_root': data_dir,
         'render_template': 'edxmako.shortcuts.render_to_string',
-        # ??? does this & draft need xblock_mixins?
     }
 
     store = {
@@ -123,188 +122,7 @@ def xml_store_config(data_dir):
     return store
 
 
-# used to create course subtrees in ModuleStoreTestCase.create_test_course
-# adds to self properties w/ the given block_id which hold the UsageKey for easy retrieval.
-# fields is a dictionary of keys and values. sub_tree is a collection of BlockInfo
-BlockInfo = namedtuple('BlockInfo', 'block_id, category, fields, sub_tree')
-default_block_info_tree = [
-    BlockInfo(
-        'chapter_x', 'chapter', {}, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                'sequential_x1', 'sequential', {}, [
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        'vertical_x1a', 'vertical', {}, [
-                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_1', 'problem', {}, []),
-                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_2', 'problem', {}, []),
-                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_3', 'problem', {}, []),
-                            BlockInfo('html_x1a_1', 'html', {}, []),
-                        ]
-                    )
-                ]
-            )
-        ]
-    ),
-    BlockInfo(
-        'chapter_y', 'chapter', {}, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                'sequential_y1', 'sequential', {}, [
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        'vertical_y1a', 'vertical', {}, [
-                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_1', 'problem', {}, []),
-                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_2', 'problem', {}, []),
-                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_3', 'problem', {}, []),
-                        ]
-                    )
-                ]
-            )
-        ]
-    )
-]
-# equivalent to toy course in xml
-TOY_BLOCK_INFO_TREE = [
-    BlockInfo(
-        'Overview', "chapter", {"display_name" : "Overview"}, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                "Toy_Videos", "videosequence", {
-                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}, "display_name": "Toy Videos", "format": "Lecture Sequence"
-                }, [
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "secret:toylab", "html", {
-                            "data": "<b>Lab 2A: Superposition Experiment</b>\n\n<<<<<<< Updated upstream\n<p>Isn't the toy course great?</p>\n\n<p>Let's add some markup that uses non-ascii characters.\nFor example, we should be able to write words like encyclop&aelig;dia, or foreign words like fran&ccedil;ais.\nLooking beyond latin-1, we should handle math symbols:  &pi;r&sup2 &le; &#8734.\nAnd it shouldn't matter if we use entities or numeric codes &mdash; &Omega; &ne; &pi; &equiv; &#937; &#8800; &#960;.\n</p>\n=======\n<p>Isn't the toy course great? — &le;</p>\n>>>>>>> Stashed changes\n",
-                            "xml_attributes": { "filename" : [  "html/secret/toylab.xml", "html/secret/toylab.xml" ] },
-                            "display_name" : "Toy lab"
-                        }, []
-                    ),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "toyjumpto", "html", {
-                            "data" : "<a href=\"/jump_to_id/vertical_test\">This is a link to another page and some Chinese 四節比分和七年前</a> <p>Some more Chinese 四節比分和七年前</p>\n",
-                            "xml_attributes": { "filename" : [  "html/toyjumpto.xml", "html/toyjumpto.xml" ] }
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "toyhtml", "html", {
-                            "data" : "<a href='/static/handouts/sample_handout.txt'>Sample</a>",
-                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/toyhtml.xml", "html/toyhtml.xml" ] }
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "nonportable", "html", {
-                            "data": "<a href=\"/static/foo.jpg\">link</a>\n",
-                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/nonportable.xml", "html/nonportable.xml" ] }
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "nonportable_link", "html", {
-                            "data": "<a href=\"/jump_to_id/nonportable_link\">link</a>\n\n",
-                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["html/nonportable_link.xml", "html/nonportable_link.xml"]}
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "badlink", "html", {
-                            "data": "<img src=\"/static//file.jpg\" />\n",
-                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/badlink.xml", "html/badlink.xml" ] }
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "with_styling", "html", {
-                            "data": "<p style=\"font:italic bold 72px/30px Georgia, serif; color: red; \">Red text here</p>",
-                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["html/with_styling.xml", "html/with_styling.xml"]}
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "just_img", "html", {
-                            "data": "<img src=\"/static/foo_bar.jpg\" />",
-                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": [  "html/just_img.xml", "html/just_img.xml" ] }
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "Video_Resources", "video", {
-                            "youtube_id_1_0" : "1bK-WdDi6Qw", "display_name" : "Video Resources"
-                        }, []),
-                ]),
-            BlockInfo(
-                "Welcome", "video", {"data": "", "youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8", "display_name": "Welcome"}, []
-            ),
-            BlockInfo(
-                "video_123456789012", "video", {"data": "", "youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8", "display_name": "Test Video"}, []
-            ),
-            BlockInfo(
-                "video_4f66f493ac8f", "video", {"youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8"}, []
-            )
-        ]
-    ),
-    BlockInfo(
-        "secret:magic", "chapter", {
-            "xml_attributes": {"filename": [ "chapter/secret/magic.xml", "chapter/secret/magic.xml"]}
-        }, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                "toyvideo", "video", {"youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfMA", "display_name": "toyvideo"}, []
-            )
-        ]
-    ),
-    BlockInfo(
-       "poll_test", "chapter", {}, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                "T1_changemind_poll_foo", "poll_question", {
-                    "question": "<p>Have you changed your mind? ’</p>",
-                    "answers": [{"text": "Yes", "id": "yes"}, {"text": "No", "id": "no"}],
-                    "xml_attributes": {"reset": "false", "filename": ["", None]},
-                    "display_name": "Change your answer"
-                }, []) ]
-    ),
-    BlockInfo(
-       "vertical_container", "chapter", {
-           "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["chapter/vertical_container.xml", "chapter/vertical_container.xml"]}
-        }, [
-            BlockInfo("vertical_sequential", "sequential", {}, [
-                BlockInfo("vertical_test", "vertical", {
-                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["vertical/vertical_test.xml", "vertical_test"]}
-                }, [
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "sample_video", "video", {
-                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
-                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU",
-                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
-                            "display_name": "default",
-                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY"
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "separate_file_video", "video", {
-                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
-                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU",
-                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
-                            "display_name": "default",
-                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY"
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "video_with_end_time", "video", {
-                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
-                            "display_name": "default",
-                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
-                            "end_time": datetime.timedelta(seconds=10),
-                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY",
-                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU"
-                        }, []),
-                    BlockInfo(
-                        "T1_changemind_poll_foo_2", "poll_question", {
-                            "question": "<p>Have you changed your mind?</p>",
-                            "answers": [{"text": "Yes", "id": "yes"}, {"text": "No", "id": "no"}],
-                            "xml_attributes": {"reset": "false", "filename": [  "", None]},
-                            "display_name": "Change your answer"
-                        }, []),
-                ]),
-                BlockInfo("unicode", "html", {
-                    "data": "…", "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}
-                }, [])
-            ]),
-        ]
-    ),
-    BlockInfo(
-       "handout_container", "chapter", {
-            "xml_attributes" : {"filename" : ["chapter/handout_container.xml", "chapter/handout_container.xml"]}
-        }, [
-            BlockInfo(
-                "html_7e5578f25f79", "html", {
-                    "data": "<a href=\"/static/handouts/sample_handout.txt\"> handouts</a>",
-                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}
-                }, []
-            ),
-        ]
-    )
-]
+
 
 class ModuleStoreTestCase(TestCase):
     """
@@ -456,32 +274,34 @@ class ModuleStoreTestCase(TestCase):
             course_loc: the CourseKey for the created course
         """
         with self.store.branch_setting(ModuleStoreEnum.Branch.draft_preferred, None):
-            # TODO use a single transaction (version, inheritance cache, etc) for this whole thing
-            course = self.store.create_course(org, course, run, self.user.id, fields=course_fields)
-            self.course_loc = course.location
+#             with self.store.bulk_write_operations(self.store.make_course_key(org, course, run)):
+                course = self.store.create_course(org, course, run, self.user.id, fields=course_fields)
+                self.course_loc = course.location
 
-            def create_sub_tree(parent_loc, block_info):
-                block = self.store.create_child(
-                    self.user.id,
-                    # TODO remove version_agnostic() when we impl the single transaction
-                    parent_loc.version_agnostic(),
-                    block_info.category, block_id=block_info.block_id,
-                    fields=block_info.fields,
-                )
-                for tree in block_info.sub_tree:
-                    create_sub_tree(block.location, tree)
-                setattr(self, block_info.block_id, block.location.version_agnostic())
+                def create_sub_tree(parent_loc, block_info):
+                    block = self.store.create_child(
+                        self.user.id,
+                        # TODO remove version_agnostic() when we impl the single transaction
+                        parent_loc.version_agnostic(),
+                        block_info.category, block_id=block_info.block_id,
+                        fields=block_info.fields,
+                    )
+                    for tree in block_info.sub_tree:
+                        create_sub_tree(block.location, tree)
+                    setattr(self, block_info.block_id, block.location.version_agnostic())
 
-            for tree in block_info_tree:
-                create_sub_tree(self.course_loc, tree)
+                for tree in block_info_tree:
+                    create_sub_tree(self.course_loc, tree)
 
-            self.store.publish(self.course_loc, self.user.id)
+                # remove version_agnostic when bulk write works
+                self.store.publish(self.course_loc.version_agnostic(), self.user.id)
         return self.course_loc.course_key.version_agnostic()
 
     def create_toy_course(self, org='edX', course='toy', run='2012_Fall'):
         """
-        Create an equiavlent to the toy xml course
+        Create an equivalent to the toy xml course
         """
+#        with self.store.bulk_write_operations(self.store.make_course_key(org, course, run)):
         self.toy_loc = self.create_sample_course(
             org, course, run, TOY_BLOCK_INFO_TREE,
             {
@@ -490,8 +310,8 @@ class ModuleStoreTestCase(TestCase):
                 "display_name" : "Toy Course",
                 "graded" : True,
                 "tabs" : [
-                     CoursewareTab(),  # {"type" : "courseware", "name" : "Courseware"},
-                     CourseInfoTab(),  # {"type" : "course_info", "name" : "Course Info"},
+                     CoursewareTab(),
+                     CourseInfoTab(),
                      StaticTab(name="Syllabus", url_slug="syllabus"),
                      StaticTab(name="Resources", url_slug="resources"),
                      DiscussionTab(),
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/sample_courses.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/sample_courses.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa634cc09b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/tests/sample_courses.py
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+"""
+The data type and use of it for declaratively creating test courses.
+"""
+# used to create course subtrees in ModuleStoreTestCase.create_test_course
+# adds to self properties w/ the given block_id which hold the UsageKey for easy retrieval.
+# fields is a dictionary of keys and values. sub_tree is a collection of BlockInfo
+from collections import namedtuple
+import datetime
+BlockInfo = namedtuple('BlockInfo', 'block_id, category, fields, sub_tree')
+default_block_info_tree = [
+    BlockInfo(
+        'chapter_x', 'chapter', {}, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                'sequential_x1', 'sequential', {}, [
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        'vertical_x1a', 'vertical', {}, [
+                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_1', 'problem', {}, []),
+                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_2', 'problem', {}, []),
+                            BlockInfo('problem_x1a_3', 'problem', {}, []),
+                            BlockInfo('html_x1a_1', 'html', {}, []),
+                        ]
+                    )
+                ]
+            )
+        ]
+    ),
+    BlockInfo(
+        'chapter_y', 'chapter', {}, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                'sequential_y1', 'sequential', {}, [
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        'vertical_y1a', 'vertical', {}, [
+                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_1', 'problem', {}, []),
+                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_2', 'problem', {}, []),
+                            BlockInfo('problem_y1a_3', 'problem', {}, []),
+                        ]
+                    )
+                ]
+            )
+        ]
+    )
+]
+# equivalent to toy course in xml
+TOY_BLOCK_INFO_TREE = [
+    BlockInfo(
+        'Overview', "chapter", {"display_name" : "Overview"}, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                "Toy_Videos", "videosequence", {
+                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}, "display_name": "Toy Videos", "format": "Lecture Sequence"
+                }, [
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "secret:toylab", "html", {
+                            "data": "<b>Lab 2A: Superposition Experiment</b>\n\n<<<<<<< Updated upstream\n<p>Isn't the toy course great?</p>\n\n<p>Let's add some markup that uses non-ascii characters.\nFor example, we should be able to write words like encyclop&aelig;dia, or foreign words like fran&ccedil;ais.\nLooking beyond latin-1, we should handle math symbols:  &pi;r&sup2 &le; &#8734.\nAnd it shouldn't matter if we use entities or numeric codes &mdash; &Omega; &ne; &pi; &equiv; &#937; &#8800; &#960;.\n</p>\n=======\n<p>Isn't the toy course great? — &le;</p>\n>>>>>>> Stashed changes\n",
+                            "xml_attributes": { "filename" : [  "html/secret/toylab.xml", "html/secret/toylab.xml" ] },
+                            "display_name" : "Toy lab"
+                        }, []
+                    ),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "toyjumpto", "html", {
+                            "data" : "<a href=\"/jump_to_id/vertical_test\">This is a link to another page and some Chinese 四節比分和七年前</a> <p>Some more Chinese 四節比分和七年前</p>\n",
+                            "xml_attributes": { "filename" : [  "html/toyjumpto.xml", "html/toyjumpto.xml" ] }
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "toyhtml", "html", {
+                            "data" : "<a href='/static/handouts/sample_handout.txt'>Sample</a>",
+                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/toyhtml.xml", "html/toyhtml.xml" ] }
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "nonportable", "html", {
+                            "data": "<a href=\"/static/foo.jpg\">link</a>\n",
+                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/nonportable.xml", "html/nonportable.xml" ] }
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "nonportable_link", "html", {
+                            "data": "<a href=\"/jump_to_id/nonportable_link\">link</a>\n\n",
+                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["html/nonportable_link.xml", "html/nonportable_link.xml"]}
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "badlink", "html", {
+                            "data": "<img src=\"/static//file.jpg\" />\n",
+                            "xml_attributes" : { "filename" : [  "html/badlink.xml", "html/badlink.xml" ] }
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "with_styling", "html", {
+                            "data": "<p style=\"font:italic bold 72px/30px Georgia, serif; color: red; \">Red text here</p>",
+                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["html/with_styling.xml", "html/with_styling.xml"]}
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "just_img", "html", {
+                            "data": "<img src=\"/static/foo_bar.jpg\" />",
+                            "xml_attributes": {"filename": [  "html/just_img.xml", "html/just_img.xml" ] }
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "Video_Resources", "video", {
+                            "youtube_id_1_0" : "1bK-WdDi6Qw", "display_name" : "Video Resources"
+                        }, []),
+                ]),
+            BlockInfo(
+                "Welcome", "video", {"data": "", "youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8", "display_name": "Welcome"}, []
+            ),
+            BlockInfo(
+                "video_123456789012", "video", {"data": "", "youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8", "display_name": "Test Video"}, []
+            ),
+            BlockInfo(
+                "video_4f66f493ac8f", "video", {"youtube_id_1_0": "p2Q6BrNhdh8"}, []
+            )
+        ]
+    ),
+    BlockInfo(
+        "secret:magic", "chapter", {
+            "xml_attributes": {"filename": [ "chapter/secret/magic.xml", "chapter/secret/magic.xml"]}
+        }, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                "toyvideo", "video", {"youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfMA", "display_name": "toyvideo"}, []
+            )
+        ]
+    ),
+    BlockInfo(
+       "poll_test", "chapter", {}, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                "T1_changemind_poll_foo", "poll_question", {
+                    "question": "<p>Have you changed your mind? ’</p>",
+                    "answers": [{"text": "Yes", "id": "yes"}, {"text": "No", "id": "no"}],
+                    "xml_attributes": {"reset": "false", "filename": ["", None]},
+                    "display_name": "Change your answer"
+                }, []) ]
+    ),
+    BlockInfo(
+       "vertical_container", "chapter", {
+           "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["chapter/vertical_container.xml", "chapter/vertical_container.xml"]}
+        }, [
+            BlockInfo("vertical_sequential", "sequential", {}, [
+                BlockInfo("vertical_test", "vertical", {
+                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["vertical/vertical_test.xml", "vertical_test"]}
+                }, [
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "sample_video", "video", {
+                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
+                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU",
+                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
+                            "display_name": "default",
+                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY"
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "separate_file_video", "video", {
+                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
+                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU",
+                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
+                            "display_name": "default",
+                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY"
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "video_with_end_time", "video", {
+                            "youtube_id_1_25": "AKqURZnYqpk",
+                            "display_name": "default",
+                            "youtube_id_1_0": "OEoXaMPEzfM",
+                            "end_time": datetime.timedelta(seconds=10),
+                            "youtube_id_1_5": "DYpADpL7jAY",
+                            "youtube_id_0_75": "JMD_ifUUfsU"
+                        }, []),
+                    BlockInfo(
+                        "T1_changemind_poll_foo_2", "poll_question", {
+                            "question": "<p>Have you changed your mind?</p>",
+                            "answers": [{"text": "Yes", "id": "yes"}, {"text": "No", "id": "no"}],
+                            "xml_attributes": {"reset": "false", "filename": [  "", None]},
+                            "display_name": "Change your answer"
+                        }, []),
+                ]),
+                BlockInfo("unicode", "html", {
+                    "data": "…", "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}
+                }, [])
+            ]),
+        ]
+    ),
+    BlockInfo(
+       "handout_container", "chapter", {
+            "xml_attributes" : {"filename" : ["chapter/handout_container.xml", "chapter/handout_container.xml"]}
+        }, [
+            BlockInfo(
+                "html_7e5578f25f79", "html", {
+                    "data": "<a href=\"/static/handouts/sample_handout.txt\"> handouts</a>",
+                    "xml_attributes": {"filename": ["", None]}
+                }, []
+            ),
+        ]
+    )
+]