diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Precision.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Precision.java
index f6bacbec05e7b..dd04f23710118 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Precision.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Precision.java
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.dataframe.evaluation.classification;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.ParseField;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
@@ -75,25 +74,15 @@ public static Precision fromXContent(XContentParser parser) {
         return PARSER.apply(parser, null);
     }
 
-    private static final int DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY = 1000;
+    private static final int MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY = 1000;
 
-    private final int maxClassesCardinality;
     private String actualField;
     private List<String> topActualClassNames;
     private EvaluationMetricResult result;
 
-    public Precision() {
-        this((Integer) null);
-    }
-
-    // Visible for testing
-    public Precision(@Nullable Integer maxClassesCardinality) {
-        this.maxClassesCardinality = maxClassesCardinality != null ? maxClassesCardinality : DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY;
-    }
+    public Precision() {}
 
-    public Precision(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        this.maxClassesCardinality = DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY;
-    }
+    public Precision(StreamInput in) throws IOException {}
 
     @Override
     public String getWriteableName() {
@@ -115,7 +104,7 @@ public final Tuple<List<AggregationBuilder>, List<PipelineAggregationBuilder>> a
                     AggregationBuilders.terms(ACTUAL_CLASSES_NAMES_AGG_NAME)
                         .field(actualField)
                         .order(List.of(BucketOrder.count(false), BucketOrder.key(true)))
-                        .size(maxClassesCardinality)),
+                        .size(MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY)),
                 List.of());
         }
         if (result == null) {  // This is step 2
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Recall.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Recall.java
index 522810e57e2dd..01bdbe6db230b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Recall.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/dataframe/evaluation/classification/Recall.java
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.dataframe.evaluation.classification;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.ParseField;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
@@ -69,24 +68,14 @@ public static Recall fromXContent(XContentParser parser) {
         return PARSER.apply(parser, null);
     }
 
-    private static final int DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY = 1000;
+    private static final int MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY = 1000;
 
-    private final int maxClassesCardinality;
     private String actualField;
     private EvaluationMetricResult result;
 
-    public Recall() {
-        this((Integer) null);
-    }
-
-    // Visible for testing
-    public Recall(@Nullable Integer maxClassesCardinality) {
-        this.maxClassesCardinality = maxClassesCardinality != null ? maxClassesCardinality : DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY;
-    }
+    public Recall() {}
 
-    public Recall(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        this.maxClassesCardinality = DEFAULT_MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY;
-    }
+    public Recall(StreamInput in) throws IOException {}
 
     @Override
     public String getWriteableName() {
@@ -110,7 +99,7 @@ public final Tuple<List<AggregationBuilder>, List<PipelineAggregationBuilder>> a
             List.of(
                 AggregationBuilders.terms(BY_ACTUAL_CLASS_AGG_NAME)
                     .field(actualField)
-                    .size(maxClassesCardinality)
+                    .size(MAX_CLASSES_CARDINALITY)
                     .subAggregation(AggregationBuilders.avg(PER_ACTUAL_CLASS_RECALL_AGG_NAME).script(script))),
             List.of(
                 PipelineAggregatorBuilders.avgBucket(
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/ClassificationEvaluationIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/ClassificationEvaluationIT.java
index 14c2c3c9aca61..437b2ddbf5180 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/ClassificationEvaluationIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/ClassificationEvaluationIT.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ public class ClassificationEvaluationIT extends MlNativeDataFrameAnalyticsIntegT
 
     @Before
     public void setup() {
+        createAnimalsIndex(ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX);
         indexAnimalsData(ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX);
     }
 
@@ -141,11 +142,12 @@ public void testEvaluate_Precision() {
     }
 
     public void testEvaluate_Precision_CardinalityTooHigh() {
+        indexDistinctAnimals(ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, 1001);
         ElasticsearchStatusException e =
             expectThrows(
                 ElasticsearchStatusException.class,
                 () -> evaluateDataFrame(
-                    ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, new Classification(ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, ANIMAL_NAME_PREDICTION_FIELD, List.of(new Precision(4)))));
+                    ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, new Classification(ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, ANIMAL_NAME_PREDICTION_FIELD, List.of(new Precision()))));
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Cardinality of field [animal_name] is too high"));
     }
 
@@ -172,11 +174,12 @@ public void testEvaluate_Recall() {
     }
 
     public void testEvaluate_Recall_CardinalityTooHigh() {
+        indexDistinctAnimals(ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, 1001);
         ElasticsearchStatusException e =
             expectThrows(
                 ElasticsearchStatusException.class,
                 () -> evaluateDataFrame(
-                    ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, new Classification(ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, ANIMAL_NAME_PREDICTION_FIELD, List.of(new Recall(4)))));
+                    ANIMALS_DATA_INDEX, new Classification(ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, ANIMAL_NAME_PREDICTION_FIELD, List.of(new Recall()))));
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Cardinality of field [animal_name] is too high"));
     }
 
@@ -281,7 +284,7 @@ public void testEvaluate_ConfusionMatrixMetricWithUserProvidedSize() {
         assertThat(confusionMatrixResult.getOtherActualClassCount(), equalTo(2L));
     }
 
-    private static void indexAnimalsData(String indexName) {
+    private static void createAnimalsIndex(String indexName) {
         client().admin().indices().prepareCreate(indexName)
             .addMapping("_doc",
                 ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, "type=keyword",
@@ -291,7 +294,9 @@ private static void indexAnimalsData(String indexName) {
                 IS_PREDATOR_FIELD, "type=boolean",
                 IS_PREDATOR_PREDICTION_FIELD, "type=boolean")
             .get();
+    }
 
+    private static void indexAnimalsData(String indexName) {
         List<String> animalNames = List.of("dog", "cat", "mouse", "ant", "fox");
         BulkRequestBuilder bulkRequestBuilder = client().prepareBulk()
             .setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
@@ -315,4 +320,17 @@ private static void indexAnimalsData(String indexName) {
             fail("Failed to index data: " + bulkResponse.buildFailureMessage());
         }
     }
+
+    private static void indexDistinctAnimals(String indexName, int distinctAnimalCount) {
+        BulkRequestBuilder bulkRequestBuilder = client().prepareBulk()
+            .setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
+        for (int i = 0; i < distinctAnimalCount; i++) {
+            bulkRequestBuilder.add(
+                new IndexRequest(indexName).source(ANIMAL_NAME_FIELD, "animal_" + i, ANIMAL_NAME_PREDICTION_FIELD, randomAlphaOfLength(5)));
+        }
+        BulkResponse bulkResponse = bulkRequestBuilder.get();
+        if (bulkResponse.hasFailures()) {
+            fail("Failed to index data: " + bulkResponse.buildFailureMessage());
+        }
+    }
 }