diff --git a/phasecalculator/test/iotest/polynomialio_test.py b/phasecalculator/test/iotest/polynomialio_test.py
index f873e3923002a07acae051790acfa928986c88d5..d371806ccc197a95d233a85836e138e9110a3809 100755
--- a/phasecalculator/test/iotest/polynomialio_test.py
+++ b/phasecalculator/test/iotest/polynomialio_test.py
@@ -193,26 +193,16 @@ class PolynomialIOTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             [self.binding_file]
         )
         self.assertListEqual([0], results)
-        exp_file = pandas.read_csv(
-            self.expected_binding_poly,
-            sep="\t",
-            quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE,
-            names=list(range(0, 9)),
-        )
-        act_file = pandas.read_csv(
-            self.actual_binding_poly_file,
-            sep="\t",
-            quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE,
-            names=list(range(0, 9)),
-        )
-        self.assertTrue(exp_file.columns.equals(act_file.columns))
-        self.assertTrue(exp_file.loc[0].equals(act_file.loc[0]))
-        for i in range(1, exp_file.shape[0]):
-            self.assertTrue(exp_file.loc[i, :1].equals(act_file.loc[i, :1]))
-            np.testing.assert_almost_equal(
-                exp_file.loc[i, 2:].values.astype(float),
-                act_file.loc[i, 2:].values.astype(float),
-            )
+        with open(self.expected_binding_poly, "r") as exp_poly:
+            exp_contents = exp_poly.readlines()
+            with open(self.actual_binding_poly_file) as act_poly:
+                actual_contents = act_poly.readlines()
+                self.assertEqual(len(exp_contents), len(actual_contents))
+                for i in range(len(exp_contents)):
+                    self.assertEqual(
+                        len(exp_contents[i].split("\t")),
+                        len(actual_contents[i].split("\t")),
+                    )
 
     def test_generate_polynomial_filename(self):
         """Test expected filename is produced.