diff --git a/driver-core/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/test/CollectionHelper.java b/driver-core/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/test/CollectionHelper.java
index 9bf435d013e..0e58ef638b7 100644
--- a/driver-core/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/test/CollectionHelper.java
+++ b/driver-core/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/test/CollectionHelper.java
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ public static void dropDatabase(final String name, final WriteConcern writeConce
         }
     }
 
+    public static BsonDocument getCurrentClusterTime() {
+        return new CommandReadOperation<BsonDocument>("admin", new BsonDocument("ping", new BsonInt32(1)), new BsonDocumentCodec())
+                .execute(getBinding()).getDocument("$clusterTime", null);
+    }
+
     public MongoNamespace getNamespace() {
         return namespace;
     }
diff --git a/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/Entities.java b/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/Entities.java
index ba1ed53cd83..87b6bf0c145 100644
--- a/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/Entities.java
+++ b/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/Entities.java
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@
 import com.mongodb.ReadConcernLevel;
 import com.mongodb.ServerApi;
 import com.mongodb.ServerApiVersion;
-import com.mongodb.internal.connection.TestClusterListener;
-import com.mongodb.logging.TestLoggingInterceptor;
 import com.mongodb.TransactionOptions;
 import com.mongodb.WriteConcern;
 import com.mongodb.assertions.Assertions;
@@ -56,11 +54,13 @@
 import com.mongodb.event.ConnectionPoolListener;
 import com.mongodb.event.ConnectionPoolReadyEvent;
 import com.mongodb.event.ConnectionReadyEvent;
+import com.mongodb.internal.connection.TestClusterListener;
 import com.mongodb.internal.connection.TestCommandListener;
 import com.mongodb.internal.connection.TestConnectionPoolListener;
 import com.mongodb.internal.connection.TestServerListener;
 import com.mongodb.internal.logging.LogMessage;
 import com.mongodb.lang.NonNull;
+import com.mongodb.logging.TestLoggingInterceptor;
 import org.bson.BsonArray;
 import org.bson.BsonBoolean;
 import org.bson.BsonDocument;
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@ private <T> void putEntity(final String id, final T entity, final Map<String, T>
     }
 
     public void init(final BsonArray entitiesArray,
+                     final BsonDocument startingClusterTime,
                      final boolean waitForPoolAsyncWorkManagerStart,
                      final Function<MongoClientSettings, MongoClient> mongoClientSupplier,
                      final Function<MongoDatabase, GridFSBucket> gridFSBucketSupplier,
@@ -324,7 +325,7 @@ public void init(final BsonArray entitiesArray,
                     break;
                 }
                 case "session": {
-                    initSession(entity, id);
+                    initSession(entity, id, startingClusterTime);
                     break;
                 }
                 case "bucket": {
@@ -596,7 +597,7 @@ private void initCollection(final BsonDocument entity, final String id) {
         putEntity(id, collection, collections);
     }
 
-    private void initSession(final BsonDocument entity, final String id) {
+    private void initSession(final BsonDocument entity, final String id, final BsonDocument startingClusterTime) {
         MongoClient client = clients.get(entity.getString("client").getValue());
         ClientSessionOptions.Builder optionsBuilder = ClientSessionOptions.builder();
         if (entity.containsKey("sessionOptions")) {
@@ -614,6 +615,7 @@ private void initSession(final BsonDocument entity, final String id) {
             }
         }
         ClientSession session = client.startSession(optionsBuilder.build());
+        session.advanceClusterTime(startingClusterTime);
         putEntity(id, session, sessions);
         putEntity(id + "-identifier", session.getServerSession().getIdentifier(), sessionIdentifiers);
     }
diff --git a/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/UnifiedTest.java b/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/UnifiedTest.java
index 8b76f426dbc..fb99a28621d 100644
--- a/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/UnifiedTest.java
+++ b/driver-sync/src/test/functional/com/mongodb/client/unified/UnifiedTest.java
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
 import static com.mongodb.ClusterFixture.getServerVersion;
 import static com.mongodb.client.Fixture.getMongoClient;
 import static com.mongodb.client.Fixture.getMongoClientSettings;
+import static com.mongodb.client.test.CollectionHelper.getCurrentClusterTime;
 import static com.mongodb.client.unified.RunOnRequirementsMatcher.runOnRequirementsMet;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
 import static java.util.stream.Collectors.toList;
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ public abstract class UnifiedTest {
     private final UnifiedClientEncryptionHelper clientEncryptionHelper = new UnifiedClientEncryptionHelper(entities);
     private final List<FailPoint> failPoints = new ArrayList<>();
     private final UnifiedTestContext rootContext = new UnifiedTestContext();
+    private BsonDocument startingClusterTime;
 
     private class UnifiedTestContext {
         private final AssertionContext context = new AssertionContext();
@@ -212,12 +214,12 @@ public void setUp() {
         if (definition.containsKey("skipReason")) {
             throw new AssumptionViolatedException(definition.getString("skipReason").getValue());
         }
-        entities.init(entitiesArray,
+        startingClusterTime = addInitialDataAndGetClusterTime();
+        entities.init(entitiesArray, startingClusterTime,
                 fileDescription != null && PRESTART_POOL_ASYNC_WORK_MANAGER_FILE_DESCRIPTIONS.contains(fileDescription),
                 this::createMongoClient,
                 this::createGridFSBucket,
                 this::createClientEncryption);
-        addInitialData();
     }
 
     @After
@@ -561,6 +563,7 @@ protected boolean terminateLoop() {
 
     private OperationResult executeCreateEntities(final BsonDocument operation) {
         entities.init(operation.getDocument("arguments").getArray("entities"),
+                startingClusterTime,
                 false,
                 this::createMongoClient,
                 this::createGridFSBucket,
@@ -890,7 +893,7 @@ private List<CommandEvent> lastTwoCommandEvents(final TestCommandListener listen
         return events.subList(events.size() - 2, events.size());
     }
 
-    private void addInitialData() {
+    private BsonDocument addInitialDataAndGetClusterTime() {
         for (BsonValue cur : initialData.getValues()) {
             BsonDocument curDataSet = cur.asDocument();
             CollectionHelper<BsonDocument> helper = new CollectionHelper<>(new BsonDocumentCodec(),
@@ -905,5 +908,6 @@ private void addInitialData() {
                         WriteConcern.MAJORITY);
             }
         }
+        return getCurrentClusterTime();
     }
 }