diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 98ea13c618157..d5e351c2033dd 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ jobs:
           # (This bot doesn't have node canary installed which is required to
           # run wasm64 output).
           test_targets: "browser64
-            skip:browser64.test_worker
+            skip:browser64.test_hello_world_worker*
             skip:browser64.test_2gb_fail
             skip:browser64.test_4gb_fail
             skip:browser64.test_4gb"
diff --git a/test/hello_world_worker.cpp b/test/hello_world_worker.c
similarity index 78%
rename from test/hello_world_worker.cpp
rename to test/hello_world_worker.c
index 165eb1ec87080..4ebda93010db0 100644
--- a/test/hello_world_worker.cpp
+++ b/test/hello_world_worker.c
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@
 #include <emscripten.h>
 
 int main() {
-  printf("you should not see this text when in a worker!\n"); // this should not crash, but also should not show up anywhere if you are in a worker
+  // this should not crash, but also should not show up anywhere if you are in a worker
+  printf("you should not see this text when in a worker!\n");
   FILE *f = fopen("file.dat", "r");
   char buffer[100];
-  memset(buffer, 0, 100);
   buffer[0] = 0;
   if (f) fread(buffer, 10, 1, f);
   char buffer2[100];
diff --git a/test/test_browser.py b/test/test_browser.py
index d6181189e92bc..f1f2abf32fda6 100644
--- a/test/test_browser.py
+++ b/test/test_browser.py
@@ -1584,7 +1584,11 @@ def test_egl_width_height(self, args):
   def test_egl_createcontext_error(self):
     self.btest_exit('test_egl_createcontext_error.c', args=['-lEGL', '-lGL'])
 
-  def test_worker(self):
+  @parameterized({
+    '': ([False],),
+    'preload': ([True],),
+  })
+  def test_hello_world_worker(self, file_data):
     # Test running in a web worker
     create_file('file.dat', 'data for worker')
     create_file('main.html', '''
@@ -1602,13 +1606,12 @@ def test_worker(self):
       </html>
     ''' % self.port)
 
-    for file_data in (1, 0):
-      cmd = [EMCC, test_file('hello_world_worker.cpp'), '-o', 'worker.js'] + self.get_emcc_args()
-      if file_data:
-        cmd += ['--preload-file', 'file.dat']
-      self.run_process(cmd)
-      self.assertExists('worker.js')
-      self.run_browser('main.html', '/report_result?hello from worker, and :' + ('data for w' if file_data else '') + ':')
+    cmd = [EMCC, test_file('hello_world_worker.c'), '-o', 'worker.js'] + self.get_emcc_args()
+    if file_data:
+      cmd += ['--preload-file', 'file.dat']
+    self.run_process(cmd)
+    self.assertExists('worker.js')
+    self.run_browser('main.html', '/report_result?hello from worker, and :' + ('data for w' if file_data else '') + ':')
 
     # code should run standalone too
     # To great memories >4gb we need the canary version of node