diff --git a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/index.ts b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/index.ts
index 19bdba3934..505c404bde 100644
--- a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/index.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ async function runMigration(tree: Tree, context: SchematicContext) {
   logger.info('In preparation for Ivy, developers can now explicitly specify the');
   logger.info('timing of their queries. Read more about this here:');
   logger.info('https://github.com/angular/angular/pull/28810');
-  logger.info('');
 
   if (!buildPaths.length && !testPaths.length) {
     throw new SchematicsException(
@@ -92,6 +91,7 @@ async function runMigration(tree: Tree, context: SchematicContext) {
   }
 
   if (failures.length) {
+    logger.info('');
     logger.info('Some queries could not be migrated automatically. Please go');
     logger.info('through those manually and apply the appropriate timing:');
     failures.forEach(failure => logger.warn(`⮑   ${failure}`));
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ function analyzeProject(
  */
 async function runStaticQueryMigration(
     tree: Tree, project: AnalyzedProject, selectedStrategy: SELECTED_STRATEGY,
-    logger: logging.LoggerApi) {
+    logger: logging.LoggerApi): Promise<string[]> {
   const {sourceFiles, typeChecker, host, queryVisitor, tsconfigPath, basePath} = project;
   const printer = ts.createPrinter();
   const failureMessages: string[] = [];
@@ -190,22 +190,22 @@ async function runStaticQueryMigration(
   try {
     strategy.setup();
   } catch (e) {
-    // In case the strategy could not be set up properly, we just exit the
-    // migration. We don't want to throw an exception as this could mean
-    // that other migrations are interrupted.
-    logger.warn(
-        `Could not setup migration strategy for "${project.tsconfigPath}". The ` +
-        `following error has been reported:`);
     if (selectedStrategy === SELECTED_STRATEGY.TEMPLATE) {
       logger.warn(
           `The template migration strategy uses the Angular compiler ` +
           `internally and therefore projects that no longer build successfully after ` +
           `the update cannot use the template migration strategy. Please ensure ` +
-          `there are no AOT compilation errors.`);
+          `there are no AOT compilation errors.\n`);
     }
-    logger.error(e.toString());
+    // In case the strategy could not be set up properly, we just exit the
+    // migration. We don't want to throw an exception as this could mean
+    // that other migrations are interrupted.
+    logger.warn(
+        `Could not setup migration strategy for "${project.tsconfigPath}". The ` +
+        `following error has been reported:\n`);
+    logger.error(`${e.toString()}\n`);
     logger.info(
-        'Migration can be rerun with: "ng update @angular/core --from 7 --to 8 --migrate-only"');
+        'Migration can be rerun with: "ng update @angular/core --from 7 --to 8 --migrate-only"\n');
     return [];
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/strategies/template_strategy/template_strategy.ts b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/strategies/template_strategy/template_strategy.ts
index f7c0084470..6157ab3b99 100644
--- a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/strategies/template_strategy/template_strategy.ts
+++ b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/strategies/template_strategy/template_strategy.ts
@@ -179,11 +179,7 @@ export class QueryTemplateStrategy implements TimingStrategy {
   }
 
   private _createDiagnosticsError(diagnostics: (ts.Diagnostic|Diagnostic)[]) {
-    return new Error(
-        `Could not create Angular AOT compiler to determine query timing.\n` +
-        `The following diagnostics were detected:\n` +
-        `${diagnostics.map(d => d.messageText).join(`\n `)}\n` +
-        `Please make sure that there is no AOT compilation failure.`);
+    return new Error(`${diagnostics.map(d => d.messageText).join(`\n `)}`);
   }
 
   private _getViewQueryUniqueKey(filePath: string, className: string, propName: string) {
diff --git a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/transform.ts b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/transform.ts
index 139df0afa2..f60875799a 100644
--- a/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/transform.ts
+++ b/packages/core/schematics/migrations/static-queries/transform.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export function getTransformedQueryCallExpr(
       // we create a transformation failure message that shows developers that they need
       // to set the query timing manually to the determined query timing.
       if (timing !== null) {
-        failureMessage = 'Cannot update query declaration to explicit timing. Please manually ' +
+        failureMessage = 'Cannot update query to set explicit timing. Please manually ' +
             `set the query timing to: "{static: ${(timing === QueryTiming.STATIC).toString()}}"`;
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/core/schematics/test/static_queries_migration_template_spec.ts b/packages/core/schematics/test/static_queries_migration_template_spec.ts
index 31483df180..4376b2d97f 100644
--- a/packages/core/schematics/test/static_queries_migration_template_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/schematics/test/static_queries_migration_template_spec.ts
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ describe('static-queries migration with template strategy', () => {
           .toContain(`@ViewChild('myRef', /* TODO: add static flag */ myOptionsVar) query: any;`);
       expect(warnOutput.length).toBe(1);
       expect(warnOutput[0])
-          .toMatch(/^⮑ {3}index.ts@8:11: Cannot update query declaration to explicit timing./);
+          .toMatch(/^⮑ {3}index.ts@8:11: Cannot update query to set explicit timing./);
       expect(warnOutput[0]).toMatch(/Please manually set the query timing to.*static: true/);
     });