diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ssl.py b/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
index 6998dda1017..75dc2029b66 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
@@ -2324,7 +2324,7 @@ def test_read_write_after_close_raises_valuerror(self):
                 s.close()
 
                 self.assertRaises(ValueError, s.read, 1024)
-                self.assertRaises(ValueError, s.write, 'hello')
+                self.assertRaises(ValueError, s.write, b'hello')
 
 
 def test_main(verbose=False):