diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/CacheManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/CacheManager.scala
index 315ed91f81df3..3f667a4a0f9c5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/CacheManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/CacheManager.scala
@@ -20,25 +20,25 @@ package org.apache.spark
 import scala.collection.mutable.{ArrayBuffer, HashSet}
 
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD
-import org.apache.spark.storage.{BlockId, BlockManager, BlockStatus, RDDBlockId, StorageLevel}
+import org.apache.spark.storage._
 
 /**
- * Spark class responsible for passing RDDs split contents to the BlockManager and making
+ * Spark class responsible for passing RDDs partition contents to the BlockManager and making
  * sure a node doesn't load two copies of an RDD at once.
  */
 private[spark] class CacheManager(blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
 
-  /** Keys of RDD splits that are being computed/loaded. */
+  /** Keys of RDD partitions that are being computed/loaded. */
   private val loading = new HashSet[RDDBlockId]()
 
-  /** Gets or computes an RDD split. Used by RDD.iterator() when an RDD is cached. */
+  /** Gets or computes an RDD partition. Used by RDD.iterator() when an RDD is cached. */
   def getOrCompute[T](
       rdd: RDD[T],
-      split: Partition,
+      partition: Partition,
       context: TaskContext,
       storageLevel: StorageLevel): Iterator[T] = {
 
-    val key = RDDBlockId(rdd.id, split.index)
+    val key = RDDBlockId(rdd.id, partition.index)
     logDebug(s"Looking for partition $key")
     blockManager.get(key) match {
       case Some(values) =>
@@ -46,79 +46,28 @@ private[spark] class CacheManager(blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
         new InterruptibleIterator(context, values.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]])
 
       case None =>
-        // Mark the split as loading (unless someone else marks it first)
-        loading.synchronized {
-          if (loading.contains(key)) {
-            logInfo(s"Another thread is loading $key, waiting for it to finish...")
-            while (loading.contains(key)) {
-              try {
-                loading.wait()
-              } catch {
-                case e: Exception =>
-                  logWarning(s"Got an exception while waiting for another thread to load $key", e)
-              }
-            }
-            logInfo(s"Finished waiting for $key")
-            /* See whether someone else has successfully loaded it. The main way this would fail
-             * is for the RDD-level cache eviction policy if someone else has loaded the same RDD
-             * partition but we didn't want to make space for it. However, that case is unlikely
-             * because it's unlikely that two threads would work on the same RDD partition. One
-             * downside of the current code is that threads wait serially if this does happen. */
-            blockManager.get(key) match {
-              case Some(values) =>
-                return new InterruptibleIterator(context, values.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]])
-              case None =>
-                logInfo(s"Whoever was loading $key failed; we'll try it ourselves")
-                loading.add(key)
-            }
-          } else {
-            loading.add(key)
-          }
+        // Acquire a lock for loading this partition
+        // If another thread already holds the lock, wait for it to finish return its results
+        val storedValues = acquireLockForPartition[T](key)
+        if (storedValues.isDefined) {
+          return new InterruptibleIterator[T](context, storedValues.get)
         }
+
+        // Otherwise, we have to load the partition ourselves
         try {
-          // If we got here, we have to load the split
           logInfo(s"Partition $key not found, computing it")
-          val computedValues = rdd.computeOrReadCheckpoint(split, context)
+          val computedValues = rdd.computeOrReadCheckpoint(partition, context)
 
-          // Persist the result, so long as the task is not running locally
+          // If the task is running locally, do not persist the result
           if (context.runningLocally) {
             return computedValues
           }
 
-          // Keep track of blocks with updated statuses
-          var updatedBlocks = Seq[(BlockId, BlockStatus)]()
-          val returnValue: Iterator[T] = {
-            if (storageLevel.useDisk && !storageLevel.useMemory) {
-              /* In the case that this RDD is to be persisted using DISK_ONLY
-               * the iterator will be passed directly to the blockManager (rather then
-               * caching it to an ArrayBuffer first), then the resulting block data iterator
-               * will be passed back to the user. If the iterator generates a lot of data,
-               * this means that it doesn't all have to be held in memory at one time.
-               * This could also apply to MEMORY_ONLY_SER storage, but we need to make sure
-               * blocks aren't dropped by the block store before enabling that. */
-              updatedBlocks = blockManager.put(key, computedValues, storageLevel, tellMaster = true)
-              blockManager.get(key) match {
-                case Some(values) =>
-                  values.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]]
-                case None =>
-                  logInfo(s"Failure to store $key")
-                  throw new SparkException("Block manager failed to return persisted value")
-              }
-            } else {
-              // In this case the RDD is cached to an array buffer. This will save the results
-              // if we're dealing with a 'one-time' iterator
-              val elements = new ArrayBuffer[Any]
-              elements ++= computedValues
-              updatedBlocks = blockManager.put(key, elements, storageLevel, tellMaster = true)
-              elements.iterator.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]]
-            }
-          }
-
-          // Update task metrics to include any blocks whose storage status is updated
-          val metrics = context.taskMetrics
-          metrics.updatedBlocks = Some(updatedBlocks)
-
-          new InterruptibleIterator(context, returnValue)
+          // Otherwise, cache the values and keep track of any updates in block statuses
+          val updatedBlocks = new ArrayBuffer[(BlockId, BlockStatus)]
+          val cachedValues = putInBlockManager(key, computedValues, storageLevel, updatedBlocks)
+          context.taskMetrics.updatedBlocks = Some(updatedBlocks)
+          new InterruptibleIterator(context, cachedValues)
 
         } finally {
           loading.synchronized {
@@ -128,4 +77,76 @@ private[spark] class CacheManager(blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
         }
     }
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Acquire a loading lock for the partition identified by the given block ID.
+   *
+   * If the lock is free, just acquire it and return None. Otherwise, another thread is already
+   * loading the partition, so we wait for it to finish and return the values loaded by the thread.
+   */
+  private def acquireLockForPartition[T](id: RDDBlockId): Option[Iterator[T]] = {
+    loading.synchronized {
+      if (!loading.contains(id)) {
+        // If the partition is free, acquire its lock to compute its value
+        loading.add(id)
+        None
+      } else {
+        // Otherwise, wait for another thread to finish and return its result
+        logInfo(s"Another thread is loading $id, waiting for it to finish...")
+        while (loading.contains(id)) {
+          try {
+            loading.wait()
+          } catch {
+            case e: Exception =>
+              logWarning(s"Exception while waiting for another thread to load $id", e)
+          }
+        }
+        logInfo(s"Finished waiting for $id")
+        val values = blockManager.get(id)
+        if (!values.isDefined) {
+          /* The block is not guaranteed to exist even after the other thread has finished.
+           * For instance, the block could be evicted after it was put, but before our get.
+           * In this case, we still need to load the partition ourselves. */
+          logInfo(s"Whoever was loading $id failed; we'll try it ourselves")
+          loading.add(id)
+        }
+        values.map(_.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]])
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Cache the values of a partition, keeping track of any updates in the storage statuses
+   * of other blocks along the way.
+   */
+  private def putInBlockManager[T](
+      key: BlockId,
+      values: Iterator[T],
+      storageLevel: StorageLevel,
+      updatedBlocks: ArrayBuffer[(BlockId, BlockStatus)]): Iterator[T] = {
+
+    if (!storageLevel.useMemory) {
+      /* This RDD is not to be cached in memory, so we can just pass the computed values
+       * as an iterator directly to the BlockManager, rather than first fully unrolling
+       * it in memory. The latter option potentially uses much more memory and risks OOM
+       * exceptions that can be avoided. */
+      updatedBlocks ++= blockManager.put(key, values, storageLevel, tellMaster = true)
+      blockManager.get(key) match {
+        case Some(v) => v.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]]
+        case None =>
+          logInfo(s"Failure to store $key")
+          throw new BlockException(key, s"Block manager failed to return cached value for $key!")
+      }
+    } else {
+      /* This RDD is to be cached in memory. In this case we cannot pass the computed values
+       * to the BlockManager as an iterator and expect to read it back later. This is because
+       * we may end up dropping a partition from memory store before getting it back, e.g.
+       * when the entirety of the RDD does not fit in memory. */
+      val elements = new ArrayBuffer[Any]
+      elements ++= values
+      updatedBlocks ++= blockManager.put(key, elements, storageLevel, tellMaster = true)
+      elements.iterator.asInstanceOf[Iterator[T]]
+    }
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ResultTask.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ResultTask.scala
index 0e8d551e4b2ab..bbf9f7388b074 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ResultTask.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ResultTask.scala
@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.scheduler
 
+import scala.language.existentials
+
 import java.io._
 import java.util.zip.{GZIPInputStream, GZIPOutputStream}
 
 import scala.collection.mutable.HashMap
-import scala.language.existentials
 
 import org.apache.spark._
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.{RDD, RDDCheckpointData}
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ShuffleMapTask.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ShuffleMapTask.scala
index 0098b5a59d1a5..859cdc524a581 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ShuffleMapTask.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/ShuffleMapTask.scala
@@ -25,10 +25,7 @@ import java.util.zip.{GZIPInputStream, GZIPOutputStream}
 import scala.collection.mutable.HashMap
 
 import org.apache.spark._
-import org.apache.spark.executor.ShuffleWriteMetrics
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.{RDD, RDDCheckpointData}
-import org.apache.spark.serializer.Serializer
-import org.apache.spark.storage._
 import org.apache.spark.shuffle.ShuffleWriter
 
 private[spark] object ShuffleMapTask {
@@ -150,7 +147,7 @@ private[spark] class ShuffleMapTask(
       for (elem <- rdd.iterator(split, context)) {
         writer.write(elem.asInstanceOf[Product2[Any, Any]])
       }
-      return writer.stop(success = true).get
+      writer.stop(success = true).get
     } catch {
       case e: Exception =>
         if (writer != null) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/BlockStore.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/BlockStore.scala
index 9a9be047c7245..b9b53b1a2f118 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/BlockStore.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/BlockStore.scala
@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 import org.apache.spark.Logging
 
 /**
- * Abstract class to store blocks
+ * Abstract class to store blocks.
  */
-private[spark]
-abstract class BlockStore(val blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
-  def putBytes(blockId: BlockId, bytes: ByteBuffer, level: StorageLevel) : PutResult
+private[spark] abstract class BlockStore(val blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
+
+  def putBytes(blockId: BlockId, bytes: ByteBuffer, level: StorageLevel): PutResult
 
   /**
    * Put in a block and, possibly, also return its content as either bytes or another Iterator.
@@ -37,11 +37,17 @@ abstract class BlockStore(val blockManager: BlockManager) extends Logging {
    * @return a PutResult that contains the size of the data, as well as the values put if
    *         returnValues is true (if not, the result's data field can be null)
    */
-  def putValues(blockId: BlockId, values: Iterator[Any], level: StorageLevel,
-    returnValues: Boolean) : PutResult
+  def putValues(
+    blockId: BlockId,
+    values: Iterator[Any],
+    level: StorageLevel,
+    returnValues: Boolean): PutResult
 
-  def putValues(blockId: BlockId, values: ArrayBuffer[Any], level: StorageLevel,
-    returnValues: Boolean) : PutResult
+  def putValues(
+    blockId: BlockId,
+    values: ArrayBuffer[Any],
+    level: StorageLevel,
+    returnValues: Boolean): PutResult
 
   /**
    * Return the size of a block in bytes.
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/MemoryStore.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/MemoryStore.scala
index 084a566c48560..71f66c826c5b3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/MemoryStore.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/storage/MemoryStore.scala
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@ private class MemoryStore(blockManager: BlockManager, maxMemory: Long)
       val elements = new ArrayBuffer[Any]
       elements ++= values
       val sizeEstimate = SizeEstimator.estimate(elements.asInstanceOf[AnyRef])
-      tryToPut(blockId, elements, sizeEstimate, true)
-      PutResult(sizeEstimate, Left(values.toIterator))
+      val putAttempt = tryToPut(blockId, elements, sizeEstimate, deserialized = true)
+      PutResult(sizeEstimate, Left(values.toIterator), putAttempt.droppedBlocks)
     } else {
-      tryToPut(blockId, bytes, bytes.limit, false)
-      PutResult(bytes.limit(), Right(bytes.duplicate()))
+      val putAttempt = tryToPut(blockId, bytes, bytes.limit, deserialized = false)
+      PutResult(bytes.limit(), Right(bytes.duplicate()), putAttempt.droppedBlocks)
     }
   }