diff --git a/Lib/test/test_signal.py b/Lib/test/test_signal.py
index 72a01cd1e451f4..1497a98f9e6554 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_signal.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_signal.py
@@ -838,11 +838,11 @@ def test_itimer_real(self):
     def test_itimer_virtual(self):
         self.itimer = signal.ITIMER_VIRTUAL
         signal.signal(signal.SIGVTALRM, self.sig_vtalrm)
-        signal.setitimer(self.itimer, 0.3, 0.2)
+        signal.setitimer(self.itimer, 0.001, 0.001)
 
         for _ in support.busy_retry(support.LONG_TIMEOUT):
             # use up some virtual time by doing real work
-            _ = pow(12345, 67890, 10000019)
+            _ = sum(i * i for i in range(10**5))
             if signal.getitimer(self.itimer) == (0.0, 0.0):
                 # sig_vtalrm handler stopped this itimer
                 break
@@ -859,7 +859,7 @@ def test_itimer_prof(self):
 
         for _ in support.busy_retry(support.LONG_TIMEOUT):
             # do some work
-            _ = pow(12345, 67890, 10000019)
+            _ = sum(i * i for i in range(10**5))
             if signal.getitimer(self.itimer) == (0.0, 0.0):
                 # sig_prof handler stopped this itimer
                 break