diff --git a/cms/envs/test.py b/cms/envs/test.py
index 166af8268c..ec85b7a9a2 100644
--- a/cms/envs/test.py
+++ b/cms/envs/test.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ sessions. Assumes structure:
 from .common import *
 import os
 from path import Path as path
-from warnings import filterwarnings, simplefilter
 from uuid import uuid4
 from util.db import NoOpMigrationModules
 from openedx.core.lib.derived import derive_settings
@@ -175,15 +174,6 @@ CACHES = {
     },
 }
 
-# hide ratelimit warnings while running tests
-filterwarnings('ignore', message='No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit')
-
-# Ignore deprecation warnings (so we don't clutter Jenkins builds/production)
-# https://docs.python.org/2/library/warnings.html#the-warnings-filter
-# Change to "default" to see the first instance of each hit
-# or "error" to convert all into errors
-simplefilter('ignore')
-
 ################################# CELERY ######################################
 
 CELERY_ALWAYS_EAGER = True
diff --git a/cms/pytest.ini b/cms/pytest.ini
index c12268a41f..cf4d8324a4 100644
--- a/cms/pytest.ini
+++ b/cms/pytest.ini
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 [pytest]
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = cms.envs.test
 addopts = --nomigrations --reuse-db --durations=20 -p no:randomly
+# Enable default handling for all warnings, including those that are ignored by default;
+# but hide rate-limit warnings, because we deliberately don't throttle test user logins
+filterwarnings =
+    default
+    ignore:No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit.*:UserWarning
 norecursedirs = envs
 python_classes =
 python_files = tests.py test_*.py *_tests.py
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/views.py b/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
index dec0f6a3a6..b5aae8a5b0 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
@@ -2412,7 +2412,9 @@ def auto_auth(request):
 
     # Log in as the user
     if login_when_done:
-        user = authenticate(username=username, password=password)
+        backend = load_backend(NEW_USER_AUTH_BACKEND)
+        user = backend.authenticate(request=request, username=username, password=password)
+        user.backend = NEW_USER_AUTH_BACKEND
         login(request, user)
 
     create_comments_service_user(user)
diff --git a/common/lib/pytest.ini b/common/lib/pytest.ini
index 349b1dff15..e85793143f 100644
--- a/common/lib/pytest.ini
+++ b/common/lib/pytest.ini
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 [pytest]
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = openedx.tests.settings
 addopts = --nomigrations --reuse-db --durations=20
+# Enable default handling for all warnings, including those that are ignored by default;
+# but hide rate-limit warnings, because we deliberately don't throttle test user logins
+filterwarnings =
+    default
+    ignore:No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit.*:UserWarning
 norecursedirs = .cache
 python_classes =
 python_files = tests.py test_*.py tests_*.py *_tests.py __init__.py
diff --git a/common/test/pytest.ini b/common/test/pytest.ini
index d8172d2726..57251b8fb7 100644
--- a/common/test/pytest.ini
+++ b/common/test/pytest.ini
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 [pytest]
 addopts = -p no:randomly --durations=20
+# Enable default handling for all warnings, including those that are ignored by default;
+# but hide rate-limit warnings, because we deliberately don't throttle test user logins
+filterwarnings =
+    default
+    ignore:No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit.*:UserWarning
 norecursedirs = .cache
diff --git a/lms/envs/test.py b/lms/envs/test.py
index f717b65a55..e64aeebfa3 100644
--- a/lms/envs/test.py
+++ b/lms/envs/test.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ from .common import *
 import os
 from path import Path as path
 from uuid import uuid4
-from warnings import filterwarnings, simplefilter
 
 from util.db import NoOpMigrationModules
 from openedx.core.lib.derived import derive_settings
@@ -231,15 +230,6 @@ CACHES = {
 # Dummy secret key for dev
 SECRET_KEY = '85920908f28904ed733fe576320db18cabd7b6cd'
 
-# hide ratelimit warnings while running tests
-filterwarnings('ignore', message='No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit')
-
-# Ignore deprecation warnings (so we don't clutter Jenkins builds/production)
-# https://docs.python.org/2/library/warnings.html#the-warnings-filter
-# Change to "default" to see the first instance of each hit
-# or "error" to convert all into errors
-simplefilter('ignore')
-
 ############################# SECURITY SETTINGS ################################
 # Default to advanced security in common.py, so tests can reset here to use
 # a simpler security model
diff --git a/openedx/tests/settings.py b/openedx/tests/settings.py
index 85e1df4f71..ccfc7217be 100644
--- a/openedx/tests/settings.py
+++ b/openedx/tests/settings.py
@@ -58,10 +58,12 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
     'djcelery',
     'openedx.core.djangoapps.video_config',
     'openedx.core.djangoapps.video_pipeline',
+    'openedx.core.djangoapps.bookmarks.apps.BookmarksConfig',
     'edxval',
     'courseware',
     'student',
     'certificates.apps.CertificatesConfig',
+    'openedx.core.djangoapps.user_api',
     'course_modes.apps.CourseModesConfig',
     'lms.djangoapps.verify_student.apps.VerifyStudentConfig',
     'openedx.core.djangoapps.dark_lang',
@@ -71,6 +73,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
     'openedx.core.djangoapps.self_paced',
     'milestones',
     'celery_utils',
+    'lms.djangoapps.completion.apps.CompletionAppConfig',
 )
 
 LMS_ROOT_URL = 'http://localhost:8000'
diff --git a/openedx/tests/util/__init__.py b/openedx/tests/util/__init__.py
index b9835638df..0db3fb023f 100644
--- a/openedx/tests/util/__init__.py
+++ b/openedx/tests/util/__init__.py
@@ -11,10 +11,20 @@ import django
 def expected_redirect_url(relative_url, hostname='testserver'):
     """
     Get the expected redirect URL for the current Django version and the
-    given relative URL.  Django 1.8 and earlier redirect to absolute URLs,
-    later versions redirect to relative ones.
+    given relative URL:
+
+    * Django 1.8 and earlier redirect URLs beginning with a slash to absolute
+      URLs, later versions redirect to relative ones.
+    * Django 1.8 and earlier leave URLs without a leading slash alone, later
+      versions prepend the missing slash.
     """
     if django.VERSION < (1, 9):
-        return 'http://{}{}'.format(hostname, relative_url)
+        if relative_url.startswith('/'):
+            return 'http://{}{}'.format(hostname, relative_url)
+        else:
+            return relative_url
     else:
-        return relative_url
+        if relative_url.startswith('/'):
+            return relative_url
+        else:
+            return '/{}'.format(relative_url)
diff --git a/pavelib/tests.py b/pavelib/tests.py
index 808c09f266..fc66984b68 100644
--- a/pavelib/tests.py
+++ b/pavelib/tests.py
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ __test__ = False  # do not collect
         dest='disable_migrations',
         help="Create tables by applying migrations."
     ),
+    make_option('--stderr', help='redirect stderr from tests to a file at this path'),
 ], share_with=['pavelib.utils.test.utils.clean_reports_dir'])
 @PassthroughTask
 @timed
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ def test_system(options, passthrough_options):
         "--disable_capture", action="store_true", dest="disable_capture",
         help="Disable capturing of stdout/stderr"
     ),
+    make_option('--stderr', help='redirect stderr from tests to a file at this path'),
 ], share_with=['pavelib.utils.test.utils.clean_reports_dir'])
 @PassthroughTask
 @timed
diff --git a/pavelib/utils/test/suites/suite.py b/pavelib/utils/test/suites/suite.py
index 74ee8f708a..8830233960 100644
--- a/pavelib/utils/test/suites/suite.py
+++ b/pavelib/utils/test/suites/suite.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """
 A class used for defining and running test suites
 """
+import os
 import sys
 import subprocess
 
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ class TestSuite(object):
         self.verbosity = int(kwargs.get('verbosity', 1))
         self.skip_clean = kwargs.get('skip_clean', False)
         self.passthrough_options = kwargs.get('passthrough_options', [])
+        self.stderr_path = kwargs.get('stderr', None)
 
     def __enter__(self):
         """
@@ -91,6 +93,10 @@ class TestSuite(object):
         sys.stdout.flush()
 
         kwargs = {'shell': True, 'cwd': None}
+        stderr = None
+        if self.stderr_path:
+            stderr = open(self.stderr_path, 'a')
+            kwargs['stderr'] = stderr
         process = None
 
         try:
@@ -99,12 +105,17 @@ class TestSuite(object):
         except KeyboardInterrupt:
             kill_process(process)
             sys.exit(1)
+        finally:
+            if stderr:
+                stderr.close()
 
     def run_suite_tests(self):
         """
         Runs each of the suites in self.subsuites while tracking failures
         """
         # Uses __enter__ and __exit__ for context
+        if self.stderr_path and os.path.isfile(self.stderr_path):
+            os.remove(self.stderr_path)
         with self:
             # run the tests for this class, and for all subsuites
             if self.cmd:
diff --git a/scripts/generic-ci-tests.sh b/scripts/generic-ci-tests.sh
index fcc99748ad..51e7db7885 100755
--- a/scripts/generic-ci-tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/generic-ci-tests.sh
@@ -132,13 +132,13 @@ case "$TEST_SUITE" in
     "lms-unit")
         case "$SHARD" in
             "all")
-                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL 2> lms-tests.log
+                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL --stderr=lms-tests.log
                 ;;
             [1-3])
-                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture --eval-attr="shard==$SHARD" $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL 2> lms-tests.$SHARD.log
+                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture --eval-attr="shard==$SHARD" $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL --stderr=lms-tests.$SHARD.log
                 ;;
             4|"noshard")
-                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture --eval-attr='not shard' $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL 2> lms-tests.4.log
+                $TOX paver test_system -s lms --disable_capture --eval-attr='not shard' $PAVER_ARGS $PARALLEL --stderr=lms-tests.4.log
                 ;;
             *)
                 # If no shard is specified, rather than running all tests, create an empty xunit file. This is a
@@ -152,11 +152,11 @@ case "$TEST_SUITE" in
         ;;
 
     "cms-unit")
-        $TOX paver test_system -s cms --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS 2> cms-tests.log
+        $TOX paver test_system -s cms --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS --stderr=cms-tests.log
         ;;
 
     "commonlib-unit")
-        $TOX paver test_lib --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS 2> common-tests.log
+        $TOX paver test_lib --disable_capture $PAVER_ARGS --stderr=common-tests.log
         ;;
 
     "js-unit")
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 0c96005f23..c2c454a69d 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ process-timeout=300
 [tool:pytest]
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE = lms.envs.test
 addopts = --nomigrations --reuse-db --durations=20
+# Enable default handling for all warnings, including those that are ignored by default;
+# but hide rate-limit warnings, because we deliberately don't throttle test user logins
+filterwarnings =
+    default
+    ignore:No request passed to the backend, unable to rate-limit.*:UserWarning
 norecursedirs = .* *.egg build conf dist node_modules test_root cms/envs lms/envs
 python_classes =
 python_files = tests.py test_*.py tests_*.py *_tests.py __init__.py