diff --git a/tests/dags/test_dag_example.py b/tests/dags/test_dag_example.py
index 43eb535..451d1e6 100644
--- a/tests/dags/test_dag_example.py
+++ b/tests/dags/test_dag_example.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def test_dag_runs(setup_airflow_db, dag_id, dag, fileloc):
     print(f"Testing DAG: {dag_id}, located at: {fileloc}")
     assert dag is not None, f"DAG {dag_id} not found!"
     try:
-        test_utils.run_dag(dag)
+        dag.test()
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"Error running DAG {dag_id}: {e}")
         raise e
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/dags/utils.py b/tests/dags/utils.py
index 335a86d..74a34e1 100644
--- a/tests/dags/utils.py
+++ b/tests/dags/utils.py
@@ -9,14 +9,13 @@
 from airflow.exceptions import AirflowSkipException
 from airflow.models.dag import DAG
 from airflow.models.dagrun import DagRun
-from airflow.models.taskinstance import TaskInstance, TaskReturnCode
+from airflow.models.taskinstance import TaskInstance
 from airflow.secrets.local_filesystem import LocalFilesystemBackend
 from airflow.utils import timezone
 from airflow.utils.session import NEW_SESSION, provide_session
 from airflow.utils.state import DagRunState, State
 from airflow.utils.types import DagRunType
 from sqlalchemy.orm.session import Session
-from airflow.models.operator import Operator
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -25,6 +24,8 @@ def run_dag(dag: DAG, conn_file_path: str | None = None) -> DagRun:
     return test_dag(dag=dag, conn_file_path=conn_file_path)
 
 
+# DAG.test() was added in Airflow version 2.5.0. And to test on older Airflow versions, we need to copy the
+# implementation here.
 @provide_session
 def test_dag(
     dag,
@@ -71,12 +72,24 @@ def test_dag(
 
     tasks = dag.task_dict
     dag.log.debug("starting dagrun")
+    # Instead of starting a scheduler, we run the minimal loop possible to check
+    # for task readiness and dependency management. This is notably faster
+    # than creating a BackfillJob and allows us to surface logs to the user
     while dr.state == State.RUNNING:
         schedulable_tis, _ = dr.update_state(session=session)
         for ti in schedulable_tis:
             add_logger_if_needed(dag, ti)
             ti.task = tasks[ti.task_id]
             _run_task(ti, session=session)
+        
+        # Add handling for DEFERRED tasks
+        deferred_tis = [ti for ti in dr.get_task_instances() if ti.state == State.DEFERRED]
+        if deferred_tis:
+            # Simulate trigger event
+            for ti in deferred_tis:
+                ti.set_state(State.SCHEDULED, session=session)
+                ti.task = tasks[ti.task_id]
+                _run_task(ti, session=session)
 
     if conn_file_path or variable_file_path:
         # Remove the local variables we have added to the secrets_backend_list
@@ -94,6 +107,7 @@ def add_logger_if_needed(dag: DAG, ti: TaskInstance):
     in the command line, rather than needing to search for a log file.
     Args:
         ti: The taskinstance that will receive a logger
+
     """
     logging_format = logging.Formatter("[%(asctime)s] {%(filename)s:%(lineno)d} %(levelname)s - %(message)s")
     handler = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
@@ -104,6 +118,7 @@ def add_logger_if_needed(dag: DAG, ti: TaskInstance):
         dag.log.debug("Adding Streamhandler to taskinstance %s", ti.task_id)
         ti.log.addHandler(handler)
 
+
 def _run_task(ti: TaskInstance, session):
     """
     Run a single task instance, and push result to Xcom for downstream tasks. Bypasses a lot of
@@ -119,9 +134,7 @@ def _run_task(ti: TaskInstance, session):
     else:
         log.info("Running task %s", ti.task_id)
     try:
-        task_status = ti._run_raw_task(session=session)
-        if task_status == TaskReturnCode.DEFERRED:
-            ti._run_raw_task(session=session)
+        ti._run_raw_task(session=session)
         session.flush()
         log.info("%s ran successfully!", ti.task_id)
     except AirflowSkipException: