diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index a4462d07d00..b59c5d4be4d 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ Release 2.2.1 - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5561. org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.v2.app.job.impl.TestJobImpl
     testcase failing on trunk (Karthik Kambatla via jlowe)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5598. TestUserDefinedCounters.testMapReduceJob is flakey
+    (Robert Kanter via jlowe)
+
 Release 2.2.0 - 2013-10-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestUserDefinedCounters.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestUserDefinedCounters.java
index e1f1a408970..3c2cf215fb3 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestUserDefinedCounters.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestUserDefinedCounters.java
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ public class TestUserDefinedCounters extends TestCase {
   
   private static String TEST_ROOT_DIR =
     new File(System.getProperty("test.build.data", "/tmp")).toURI()
-    .toString().replace(' ', '+');
+    .toString().replace(' ', '+')
+    + "/" + TestUserDefinedCounters.class.getName();
 
   private final Path INPUT_DIR = new Path(TEST_ROOT_DIR + "/input");
   private final Path OUTPUT_DIR = new Path(TEST_ROOT_DIR + "/out");
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ public class TestUserDefinedCounters extends TestCase {
   }
   
   private void cleanAndCreateInput(FileSystem fs) throws IOException {
-    fs.delete(INPUT_FILE, true);
+    fs.delete(INPUT_DIR, true);
     fs.delete(OUTPUT_DIR, true);
 
     OutputStream os = fs.create(INPUT_FILE);