diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyarrow/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyarrow/default.nix
index 53dde0cd0f61..83d8a19007da 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyarrow/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyarrow/default.nix
@@ -111,8 +111,10 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   preCheck = ''
     shopt -s extglob
-    rm -r pyarrow/!(tests)
-  '' + lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin  ''
+    rm -r pyarrow/!(conftest.py|tests)
+    mv pyarrow/conftest.py pyarrow/tests/parent_conftest.py
+    substituteInPlace pyarrow/tests/conftest.py --replace ..conftest .parent_conftest
+  '' + lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
     # OSError: [Errno 24] Too many open files
     ulimit -n 1024
   '';