diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/dataframe/frames_test.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/dataframe/frames_test.py
index 6f7a63c29164..fffb5391c760 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/dataframe/frames_test.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/dataframe/frames_test.py
@@ -1021,8 +1021,14 @@ def test_categorical_groupby(self):
     df = df.set_index('B')
     # TODO(BEAM-11190): These aggregations can be done in index partitions, but
     # it will require a little more complex logic
-    self._run_test(lambda df: df.groupby(level=0).sum(), df, nonparallel=True)
-    self._run_test(lambda df: df.groupby(level=0).mean(), df, nonparallel=True)
+    self._run_test(
+        lambda df: df.groupby(level=0, observed=False).sum(),
+        df,
+        nonparallel=True)
+    self._run_test(
+        lambda df: df.groupby(level=0, observed=False).mean(),
+        df,
+        nonparallel=True)
 
   def test_astype_categorical(self):
     df = pd.DataFrame({'A': np.arange(6), 'B': list('aabbca')})