diff --git a/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp b/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
index ee656ceeb..a3acc7fca 100644
--- a/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
+++ b/test/test_parse_id_list.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "cgimap/api06/handler_utils.hpp"
 #include <boost/foreach.hpp>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <map>
 
@@ -40,26 +41,47 @@ struct test_request : public request {
   std::map<std::string, std::string> m_params;
 };
 
-} // anonymous namespace
-
-int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-  std::string query_str = "nodes=1,1,1,1";
+std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> parse_query_str(std::string query_str) {
   test_request req;
   req.set_header("REQUEST_METHOD", "GET");
   req.set_header("QUERY_STRING", query_str);
   req.set_header("PATH_INFO", "/api/0.6/nodes");
 
+  return api06::parse_id_list_params(req, "nodes");
+}
+
+void test_parse_returns_no_duplicates() {
+  std::string query_str = "nodes=1,1,1,1";
+
   // the container returned from parse_id_list_params should not contain
   // any duplicates.
-  std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> ids = api06::parse_id_list_params(req, "nodes");
+  std::vector<osm_nwr_id_t> ids = parse_query_str(query_str);
+
   if (ids.size() != 1) {
-    std::cerr << "Parsing " << query_str << " as a list of nodes should "
-              << "discard duplicates, but got: {";
+    std::ostringstream err;
+    err << "Parsing " << query_str << " as a list of nodes should "
+        << "discard duplicates, but got: {";
     BOOST_FOREACH(osm_nwr_id_t id, ids) {
-      std::cerr << id << ", ";
+      err << id << ", ";
     }
-    std::cerr << "}\n";
+    err << "}\n";
+    throw std::runtime_error(err.str());
+  }
+}
+
+} // anonymous namespace
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  try {
+    test_parse_returns_no_duplicates();
+
+  } catch (const std::exception &e) {
+    std::cout << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
     return 1;
+
+  } catch (...) {
+    std::cout << "Unknown exception type." << std::endl;
+    return 99;
   }
 
   return 0;