diff --git a/samples/test/tables.test.js b/samples/test/tables.test.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/samples/test/tables.test.js
+++ b/samples/test/tables.test.js
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ describe('Tables', () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  // to avoid getting rate limited
+  beforeEach(done => setTimeout(done, 500));
+
   after(async () => {
     await bigquery
       .dataset(srcDatasetId)
docs(samples): deflake sample tests (#<I>)