diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
index 0b5e8d9593..95b7c2d179 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ class Tests_External_HTTP_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 	 * @covers ::wp_remote_retrieve_response_code
 	 * @covers ::wp_remote_retrieve_body
 	 */
-	public function test_readme() {
+	public function test_readme_php_version() {
 		// This test is designed to only run on trunk/master.
 		$this->skipOnAutomatedBranches();
 
@@ -17,54 +17,28 @@ class Tests_External_HTTP_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 
 		preg_match( '#Recommendations.*PHP</a> version <strong>([0-9.]*)#s', $readme, $matches );
 
-		$response = wp_remote_get( 'https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php' );
-
-		$this->skipTestOnTimeout( $response );
-
-		$response_code = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $response );
-		$response_body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response );
-
-		if ( 200 !== $response_code ) {
-			$error_message = sprintf(
-				'Could not contact PHP.net to check versions. Response code: %s. Response body: %s',
-				$response_code,
-				$response_body
-			);
-
-			if ( 503 === $response_code ) {
-				$this->markTestSkipped( $error_message );
-			}
-
-			$this->fail( $error_message );
-		}
+		$response_body = $this->get_response_body( 'https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php' );
 
 		preg_match_all( '#<tr class="stable">\s*<td>\s*<a [^>]*>\s*([0-9.]*)#s', $response_body, $phpmatches );
 
 		// TODO: Enable this check once PHP 8.0 compatibility is achieved.
 		// $this->assertContains( $matches[1], $phpmatches[1], "readme.html's Recommended PHP version is too old. Remember to update the WordPress.org Requirements page, too." );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @covers ::wp_remote_get
+	 * @covers ::wp_remote_retrieve_response_code
+	 * @covers ::wp_remote_retrieve_body
+	 */
+	public function test_readme_mysql_version() {
+		// This test is designed to only run on trunk/master.
+		$this->skipOnAutomatedBranches();
+
+		$readme = file_get_contents( ABSPATH . 'readme.html' );
 
 		preg_match( '#Recommendations.*MySQL</a> version <strong>([0-9.]*)#s', $readme, $matches );
 
-		$response = wp_remote_get( "https://dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/mysql/{$matches[1]}/en/" );
-
-		$this->skipTestOnTimeout( $response );
-
-		$response_code = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $response );
-		$response_body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response );
-
-		if ( 200 !== $response_code ) {
-			$error_message = sprintf(
-				'Could not contact dev.MySQL.com to check versions. Response code: %s. Response body: %s',
-				$response_code,
-				$response_body
-			);
-
-			if ( 503 === $response_code ) {
-				$this->markTestSkipped( $error_message );
-			}
-
-			$this->fail( $error_message );
-		}
+		$response_body = $this->get_response_body( "https://dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/mysql/{$matches[1]}/en/" );
 
 		preg_match( '#(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}), General Availability#', $response_body, $mysqlmatches );
 
@@ -73,4 +47,38 @@ class Tests_External_HTTP_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 
 		$this->assertLessThan( $mysql_eol, time(), "readme.html's Recommended MySQL version is too old. Remember to update the WordPress.org Requirements page, too." );
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Helper function to retrieve the response body or skip the test on HTTP timeout.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $url The URL to retrieve the response from.
+	 * @return string The response body.
+	 */
+	public function get_response_body( $url ) {
+		$response = wp_remote_get( $url );
+
+		$this->skipTestOnTimeout( $response );
+
+		$response_code = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $response );
+		$response_body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response );
+
+		if ( 200 !== $response_code ) {
+			$parsed_url = parse_url( $url );
+
+			$error_message = sprintf(
+				'Could not contact %1$s to check versions. Response code: %2$s. Response body: %3$s',
+				$parsed_url['host'],
+				$response_code,
+				$response_body
+			);
+
+			if ( 503 === $response_code ) {
+				$this->markTestSkipped( $error_message );
+			}
+
+			$this->fail( $error_message );
+		}
+
+		return $response_body;
+	}
 }