diff --git a/mast/src/node.rs b/mast/src/node.rs
index de901a22..8ec132ce 100644
--- a/mast/src/node.rs
+++ b/mast/src/node.rs
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ use redb::{ReadableTable, Table};
 
 use crate::{Hash, Hasher, HASH_LEN};
 
-// TODO: Are we creating too many hashers?
-// TODO: are we calculating the rank and hash too often?
+// TODO: room for improvement (pending actual benchmarks to justify):
+//  - cache encoding
+//  - cache hashing
+
 // TODO: remove unwrap
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
diff --git a/mast/src/operations/insert.rs b/mast/src/operations/insert.rs
index cc24318b..520ac9c4 100644
--- a/mast/src/operations/insert.rs
+++ b/mast/src/operations/insert.rs
@@ -233,8 +233,7 @@ mod test {
         });
 
         test_operations(
-            &expected.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected,
+            &expected.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("78fd7507ef338f1a5816ffd702394999680a9694a85f4b8af77795d9fdd5854d"),
         )
     }
@@ -252,8 +251,7 @@ mod test {
         });
 
         test_operations(
-            &expected.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected,
+            &expected.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("02af3de6ed6368c5abc16f231a17d1140e7bfec483c8d0aa63af4ef744d29bc3"),
         );
     }
@@ -273,8 +271,7 @@ mod test {
         });
 
         test_operations(
-            &expected.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected,
+            &expected.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("02af3de6ed6368c5abc16f231a17d1140e7bfec483c8d0aa63af4ef744d29bc3"),
         )
     }
@@ -289,8 +286,7 @@ mod test {
         });
 
         test_operations(
-            &expected.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected,
+            &expected.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("0957cc9b87c11cef6d88a95328cfd9043a3d6a99e9ba35ee5c9c47e53fb6d42b"),
         )
     }
@@ -310,8 +306,7 @@ mod test {
         });
 
         test_operations(
-            &entries.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &entries[1..],
+            &entries.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("4538b4de5e58f9be9d54541e69fab8c94c31553a1dec579227ef9b572d1c1dff"),
         )
     }
@@ -331,12 +326,8 @@ mod test {
             }
         });
 
-        let mut expected = entries.to_vec();
-        expected.sort_by(|a, b| a.key.cmp(&b.key));
-
         test_operations(
-            &entries.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected[1..],
+            &entries.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("c9f7aaefb18ec8569322b9621fc64f430a7389a790e0bf69ec0ad02879d6ce54"),
         )
     }
@@ -356,12 +347,8 @@ mod test {
             }
         });
 
-        let mut expected = entries.to_vec();
-        expected.remove(1);
-
         test_operations(
-            &entries.clone().map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
-            &expected,
+            &entries.map(|e| (e, Operation::Insert)),
             Some("02e26311f2b55bf6d4a7163399f99e17c975891a05af2f1e09bc969f8bf0f95d"),
         )
     }
diff --git a/mast/src/test.rs b/mast/src/test.rs
index 0088cc51..a1ded2aa 100644
--- a/mast/src/test.rs
+++ b/mast/src/test.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use std::assert_eq;
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 
 use crate::node::Node;
 use crate::treap::HashTreap;
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ impl std::fmt::Debug for Entry {
     }
 }
 
-pub fn test_operations(input: &[(Entry, Operation)], expected: &[Entry], root_hash: Option<&str>) {
+pub fn test_operations(input: &[(Entry, Operation)], root_hash: Option<&str>) {
     let inmemory = InMemoryBackend::new();
     let db = Database::builder()
         .create_with_backend(inmemory)
@@ -62,12 +63,29 @@ pub fn test_operations(input: &[(Entry, Operation)], expected: &[Entry], root_ha
         })
         .collect::<Vec<_>>();
 
-    let mut sorted = expected.to_vec();
-    sorted.sort_by(|a, b| a.key.cmp(&b.key));
-
     verify_ranks(&treap);
 
-    assert_eq!(collected, sorted, "{}", format!("Entries do not match"));
+    let mut btree = BTreeMap::new();
+    for (entry, operation) in input {
+        match operation {
+            Operation::Insert => {
+                btree.insert(&entry.key, &entry.value);
+            }
+            Operation::Delete => {
+                btree.remove(&entry.key);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    let expected = btree
+        .iter()
+        .map(|(key, value)| Entry {
+            key: key.to_vec(),
+            value: value.to_vec(),
+        })
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
+    assert_eq!(collected, expected, "{}", format!("Entries do not match"));
 
     if root_hash.is_some() {
         assert_root(&treap, root_hash.unwrap());