diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 046e678f8c1b4b..064d3f8187db01 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -242,11 +242,18 @@ jobs:
         # BOLT currently crashes during instrumentation on aarch64
         - os: ubuntu-24.04-arm
           bolt: true
+        include:
+        # Enable CPU-intensive tests on ARM (default build only)
+        - os: ubuntu-24.04-arm
+          bolt: false
+          free-threading: false
+          test-opts: '-u cpu'
     uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-ubuntu.yml
     with:
       bolt-optimizations: ${{ matrix.bolt }}
       free-threading: ${{ matrix.free-threading }}
       os: ${{ matrix.os }}
+      test-opts: ${{ matrix.test-opts || '' }}
 
   build-ubuntu-ssltests-openssl:
     name: 'Ubuntu SSL tests with OpenSSL'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-ubuntu.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable-ubuntu.yml
index ad725e92f2b20f..ca885c563f8ce3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable-ubuntu.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/reusable-ubuntu.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ on:
          description: OS to run the job
          required: true
          type: string
+      test-opts:
+         description: Extra options to pass to the test runner via TESTOPTS
+         required: false
+         type: string
+         default: ''
 
 env:
   FORCE_COLOR: 1
@@ -111,4 +116,6 @@ jobs:
       run: sudo mount "$CPYTHON_RO_SRCDIR" -oremount,rw
     - name: Tests
       working-directory: ${{ env.CPYTHON_BUILDDIR }}
-      run: xvfb-run make ci
+      run: xvfb-run make ci EXTRATESTOPTS="${TEST_OPTS}"
+      env:
+        TEST_OPTS: ${{ inputs.test-opts }}