diff --git a/ci/requirements-3.5.build b/ci/requirements-3.5.build
index de36b1afb9fa4..9558cf00ddf5c 100644
--- a/ci/requirements-3.5.build
+++ b/ci/requirements-3.5.build
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 python-dateutil
 pytz
-numpy=1.9.3
+numpy
 cython
diff --git a/ci/requirements-3.5.run b/ci/requirements-3.5.run
index 91938675280d9..8de8f7d8f0630 100644
--- a/ci/requirements-3.5.run
+++ b/ci/requirements-3.5.run
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 python-dateutil
 pytz
-numpy=1.9.3
+numpy
 openpyxl
 xlsxwriter
 xlrd
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_categorical.py b/pandas/tests/test_categorical.py
index e97010e1cb552..7ae39571c6e8e 100755
--- a/pandas/tests/test_categorical.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_categorical.py
@@ -87,11 +87,7 @@ def test_constructor_unsortable(self):
         self.assertFalse(factor.ordered)
 
         # this however will raise as cannot be sorted
-        # but fixed in newer versions of numpy
-        if LooseVersion(np.__version__) < "1.10":
-            self.assertRaises(TypeError, lambda :  Categorical.from_array(arr, ordered=True))
-        else:
-            Categorical.from_array(arr, ordered=True)
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, lambda :  Categorical.from_array(arr, ordered=True))
 
     def test_is_equal_dtype(self):