diff --git a/tools/test.py b/tools/test.py
index b4ea2178e4..5166e55f32 100644
--- a/tools/test.py
+++ b/tools/test.py
@@ -94,6 +94,18 @@ def parse_args():
     return args
 
 
+def turn_off_pretrained(cfg):
+    # recursively find all pretrained in the model config,
+    # and set them None to avoid redundant pretrain steps for testing
+    if 'pretrained' in cfg:
+        cfg.pretrained = None
+
+    # recursively turn off pretrained value
+    for sub_cfg in cfg.values():
+        if isinstance(sub_cfg, dict):
+            turn_off_pretrained(sub_cfg)
+
+
 def main():
     args = parse_args()
 
@@ -174,6 +186,9 @@ def main():
                               **cfg.data.get('test_dataloader', {}))
     data_loader = build_dataloader(dataset, **dataloader_setting)
 
+    # remove redundant pretrain steps for testing
+    turn_off_pretrained(cfg.model)
+
     # build the model and load checkpoint
     model = build_model(
         cfg.model, train_cfg=None, test_cfg=cfg.get('test_cfg'))