diff --git a/tests/kernel/smp/src/main.c b/tests/kernel/smp/src/main.c
index 9cdf166f249..8bed52c9e18 100644
--- a/tests/kernel/smp/src/main.c
+++ b/tests/kernel/smp/src/main.c
@@ -716,8 +716,13 @@ ZTEST(smp, test_fatal_on_smp)
 				      NULL, NULL, NULL,
 				      K_PRIO_PREEMPT(2), 0, K_NO_WAIT);
 
-	/* hold cpu and wait for thread trigger exception */
-	k_busy_wait(2000);
+	/* hold cpu and wait for thread trigger exception and being terminated */
+	k_busy_wait(2 * DELAY_US);
+
+	/* Verify that child thread is no longer running. We can't simply use k_thread_join here
+	 * as we don't want to introduce reschedule point here.
+	 */
+	zassert_true(z_is_thread_state_set(&t2, _THREAD_DEAD));
 
 	/* Manually trigger the crash in mainthread */
 	entry_oops(NULL, NULL, NULL);