diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
index 0ba79e8979df..e63b77432022 100755
--- a/runtests.py
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -14,12 +14,36 @@
     else:
         python_name = 'python3'
 
+# Slow test suites
+CMDLINE = 'PythonCmdline'
+SAMPLES = 'SamplesSuite'
+TYPESHED = 'TypeshedSuite'
+PEP561 = 'TestPEP561'
+EVALUATION = 'PythonEvaluation'
+
+ALL_NON_FAST = [CMDLINE, SAMPLES, TYPESHED, PEP561, EVALUATION]
+
+# We split the pytest run into three parts to improve test
+# parallelization. Each run should have tests that each take a roughly similiar
+# time to run.
 cmds = {
+    # Self type check
     'self': python_name + ' -m mypy --config-file mypy_self_check.ini -p mypy',
+    # Lint
     'lint': 'flake8 -j0',
-    'pytest': 'pytest'
+    # Fast test cases only (this is the bulk of the test suite)
+    'pytest-fast': 'pytest -k "not (%s)"' % ' or '.join(ALL_NON_FAST),
+    # Test cases that invoke mypy (with small inputs)
+    'pytest-cmdline': 'pytest -k "%s"' % ' or '.join([CMDLINE, EVALUATION]),
+    # Test cases that may take seconds to run each
+    'pytest-slow': 'pytest -k "%s"' % ' or '.join([SAMPLES, TYPESHED, PEP561]),
 }
 
+# Stop run immediately if these commands fail
+FAST_FAIL = ['self', 'lint']
+
+assert all(cmd in cmds for cmd in FAST_FAIL)
+
 if not set(args).issubset(cmds):
     print("usage:", prog, " ".join('[%s]' % k for k in cmds))
     exit(1)
@@ -27,9 +51,16 @@
 if not args:
     args = list(cmds)
 
+status = 0
+
 for arg in args:
     cmd = cmds[arg]
-    print('$', cmd)
+    print('run %s: %s' % (arg, cmd))
     res = (system(cmd) & 0x7F00) >> 8
     if res:
-        exit(res)
+        print('\nFAILED: %s' % arg)
+        status = res
+        if arg in FAST_FAIL:
+            exit(status)
+
+exit(status)