diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
index b79d86b52f..f2a0b7b606 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
@@ -421,6 +421,17 @@ class ContentStoreTest(ModuleStoreTestCase):
         self.assertIn('markdown', problem.metadata, "markdown is missing from metadata")
         self.assertNotIn('markdown', problem.editable_metadata_fields, "Markdown slipped into the editable metadata fields")
 
+    def test_import_metadata_with_attempts_empty_string(self):
+        import_from_xml(modulestore(), 'common/test/data/', ['simple'])
+        ms = modulestore('direct')
+        asserted = False
+        try:       
+            effort = ms.get_item(Location(['i4x', 'edX', 'simple', 'problem', 'ps01-simple', None]))
+        except ItemNotFoundError:
+            asserted = True
+
+        # make sure we found the item (e.g. it didn't error while loading)
+        self.assertFalse(asserted)   
 
 class TemplateTestCase(ModuleStoreTestCase):
 
diff --git a/common/test/data/simple/course.xml b/common/test/data/simple/course.xml
index 86dc8df45c..433c9bb01b 100644
--- a/common/test/data/simple/course.xml
+++ b/common/test/data/simple/course.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
   <chapter name="Chapter 2">
     <section name="Problem Set 1">
       <sequential>
-        <problem type="lecture" showanswer="attempted" rerandomize="true" display_name="A simple coding problem" name="Simple coding problem" filename="ps01-simple"/>
+        <problem type="lecture" showanswer="attempted" rerandomize="true" display_name="A simple coding problem" name="Simple coding problem" filename="ps01-simple" url_name="ps01-simple" weight="" attempts=""/>
       </sequential>
     </section>
     <video name="Lost Video" youtube="1.0:TBvX7HzxexQ"/>