diff --git a/.murdock b/.murdock
index 6ed386475d..6536d8e927 100755
--- a/.murdock
+++ b/.murdock
@@ -270,7 +270,12 @@ run_test() {
     print_worker
     echo "-- executing tests for $appdir on $board (compiled with $toolchain toolchain):"
     hook run_test_pre
-    BOARD=$board TOOLCHAIN=${toolchain} make -C$appdir flash-only test
+
+    # do flashing and building of termdeps simultaneously
+    BOARD=$board TOOLCHAIN=${toolchain} make -C$appdir flash-only termdeps -j2
+
+    # now run the actual test
+    BOARD=$board TOOLCHAIN=${toolchain} make -C$appdir test
     RES=$?
 
     if [ $RES -eq 0 -a -n "$TEST_HASH" ]; then
diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 4011cb0d8a..37509aacbb 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ include $(RIOTMAKE)/bindist.inc.mk
 include $(RIOTMAKE)/modules.inc.mk
 
 
-.PHONY: all link clean flash flash-only term doc debug debug-server reset objdump help info-modules
+.PHONY: all link clean flash flash-only termdeps term doc debug debug-server reset objdump help info-modules
 .PHONY: print-size elffile binfile hexfile flashfile
 .PHONY: ..in-docker-container
 
@@ -559,6 +559,8 @@ flash-only: $(FLASHDEPS)
 preflash: $(BUILD_BEFORE_FLASH)
 	$(PREFLASHER) $(PREFFLAGS)
 
+termdeps: $(TERMDEPS)
+
 term: $(filter flash, $(MAKECMDGOALS)) $(TERMDEPS)
 	$(call check_cmd,$(TERMPROG),Terminal program)
 	$(TERMPROG) $(TERMFLAGS)
@@ -588,6 +590,16 @@ reset:
 .PHONY: test test/available
 TESTS ?= $(foreach file,$(wildcard $(APPDIR)/tests/*[^~]),\
                         $(shell test -f $(file) -a -x $(file) && echo $(file)))
+
+# "make test" calls "make term" which would implicitly build it's dependencies,
+# but that increases the time "make test" needs to get ready. That can cause
+# problems ("make term" missing some lines) as terminal startup is not properly
+# sychronized, but depends on a static timeout (TESTRUNNER_START_DELAY).
+# Murdock builds the term dependencies before running "make test" to circumvent
+# this. In order to make local builds behave similar, add the term deps here.
+# See #11762.
+TEST_DEPS += $(TERMDEPS)
+
 test: $(TEST_DEPS)
 	$(Q) for t in $(TESTS); do \
 		$$t || exit 1; \