diff --git a/phpunit.xml b/phpunit.xml
index 409eaafd0..06f984f70 100644
--- a/phpunit.xml
+++ b/phpunit.xml
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="vendor/phpunit/phpunit/phpunit.xsd"
     bootstrap="vendor/autoload.php"
+    colors="true"
+    beStrictAboutChangesToGlobalState="true"
+    beStrictAboutOutputDuringTests="true"
+    beStrictAboutResourceUsageDuringSmallTests="true"
+    beStrictAboutTestsThatDoNotTestAnything="true"
+    beStrictAboutTodoAnnotatedTests="true"
+    verbose="true"
 >
     <testsuites>
         <testsuite name="Unit Tests">
diff --git a/tests/FeatureFlagTest.php b/tests/FeatureFlagTest.php
index 51f865b08..ac08dfa04 100644
--- a/tests/FeatureFlagTest.php
+++ b/tests/FeatureFlagTest.php
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ class FeatureFlagTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
     public function testDecode()
     {
-        FeatureFlag::decode(\GuzzleHttp\json_decode(FeatureFlagTest::$json1, true));
-        FeatureFlag::decode(\GuzzleHttp\json_decode(FeatureFlagTest::$json2, true));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(FeatureFlag::class, FeatureFlag::decode(\GuzzleHttp\json_decode(FeatureFlagTest::$json1, true)));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(FeatureFlag::class, FeatureFlag::decode(\GuzzleHttp\json_decode(FeatureFlagTest::$json2, true)));
     }
     
     public function dataDecodeMulti()
diff --git a/tests/LDClientTest.php b/tests/LDClientTest.php
index 2c938bca3..e02b9c138 100644
--- a/tests/LDClientTest.php
+++ b/tests/LDClientTest.php
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class LDClientTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
     public function testDefaultCtor()
     {
-        new LDClient("BOGUS_SDK_KEY");
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(LDClient::class, new LDClient("BOGUS_SDK_KEY"));
     }
 
     public function testToggleDefault()
diff --git a/tests/LDUserTest.php b/tests/LDUserTest.php
index 1733db567..104019b0e 100644
--- a/tests/LDUserTest.php
+++ b/tests/LDUserTest.php
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 namespace LaunchDarkly\Tests;
 
+use LaunchDarkly\LDUser;
 use LaunchDarkly\LDUserBuilder;
 
 class LDUserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
@@ -23,7 +24,10 @@ public function testCoerceLDUserKey()
     public function testEmptyCustom()
     {        
         $builder = new LDUserBuilder("foo@bar.com");
+        
         $user = $builder->build();
+        
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(LDUser::class, $user);
     }
 
     public function testLDUserSecondary()
diff --git a/tests/SemanticVersionTest.php b/tests/SemanticVersionTest.php
index 073169197..5ef68c399 100644
--- a/tests/SemanticVersionTest.php
+++ b/tests/SemanticVersionTest.php
@@ -47,32 +47,31 @@ public function testCanParseVersionWithPrereleaseAndBuild()
         $this->assertEquals('build2.4', $sv->build);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage not a valid semantic version
+     */
     public function testLeadingZeroNotAllowedInMajor()
     {
-        try {
-            SemanticVersion::parse('02.3.4');
-            $this->assertTrue(false, 'expected exception');
-            // can't use expectException method because we must support older PHPUnit
-        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
-        }
+        SemanticVersion::parse('02.3.4');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage not a valid semantic version
+     */
     public function testLeadingZeroNotAllowedInMinor()
     {
-        try {
-            SemanticVersion::parse('2.03.4');
-            $this->assertTrue(false, 'expected exception');
-        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
-        }
+        SemanticVersion::parse('2.03.4');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage not a valid semantic version
+     */
     public function testLeadingZeroNotAllowedInPatch()
     {
-        try {
-            SemanticVersion::parse('2.3.04');
-            $this->assertTrue(false, 'expected exception');
-        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
-        }
+        SemanticVersion::parse('2.3.04');
     }
 
     public function testZeroByItselfIsAllowed()
@@ -147,22 +146,22 @@ public function testCanParseVersionWithMajorMinorAndBuildOnlyInLooseMode()
         $this->assertEquals('build1', $sv->build);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage not a valid semantic version
+     */
     public function testCannotParseVersionWithMajorOnlyByDefault()
     {
-        try {
-            SemanticVersion::parse('2');
-            $this->assertTrue(false, 'expected exception');
-        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
-        }
+        SemanticVersion::parse('2');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage not a valid semantic version
+     */
     public function testCannotParseVersionWithMajorAndMinorOnlyByDefault()
     {
-        try {
-            SemanticVersion::parse('2.3');
-            $this->assertTrue(false, 'expected exception');
-        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
-        }
+        SemanticVersion::parse('2.3');
     }
 
     public function testEqualVersionsHaveEqualPrecedence()