diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/TestHive.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/TestHive.scala
index 2fea9702954d7..661a3f1576e2d 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/TestHive.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/TestHive.scala
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ class TestHiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends LocalHiveContext(sc) {
 
   private val loadedTables = new collection.mutable.HashSet[String]
 
+  var cacheTables: Boolean = false
   def loadTestTable(name: String) {
     if (!(loadedTables contains name)) {
       // Marks the table as loaded first to prevent infite mutually recursive table loading.
@@ -265,6 +266,9 @@ class TestHiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends LocalHiveContext(sc) {
       val createCmds =
         testTables.get(name).map(_.commands).getOrElse(sys.error(s"Unknown test table $name"))
       createCmds.foreach(_())
+
+      if (cacheTables)
+        cacheTable(name)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveCompatibilitySuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveCompatibilitySuite.scala
index f76e16bc1afc5..d11b119f40067 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveCompatibilitySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveCompatibilitySuite.scala
@@ -18,6 +18,17 @@
 package org.apache.spark.sql.hive.execution
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.TestHive
+import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfter
+
+class HiveInMemoryCompatibilitySuite extends HiveCompatibilitySuite with BeforeAndAfter {
+  override def beforeAll() {
+    TestHive.cacheTables = true
+  }
+
+  override def afterAll() {
+    TestHive.cacheTables = false
+  }
+}
 
 /**
  * Runs the test cases that are included in the hive distribution.