diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-dunder-init.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-dunder-init.yml
index 9d920238ebd4..c398c506730b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/verify-dunder-init.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-dunder-init.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: CI
+name: Verify Dunder __init__.py Files
 
 on:
   pull_request:
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_linkedin.py b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_linkedin.py
index 50dd921f25a9..a5de21595bb6 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_linkedin.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_linkedin.py
@@ -38,28 +38,20 @@ class LinkedInAddToProfileUrlTests(TestCase):
     def test_linked_in_url(self, cert_mode, expected_cert_name):
         config = LinkedInAddToProfileConfigurationFactory()
 
-        # We can switch to this once edx-platform reaches Python 3.8
-        # expected_url = (
-        #     'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
-        #     'name={platform}+{cert_name}&certUrl={cert_url}&'
-        #     'organizationId={company_identifier}'
-        # ).format(
-        #     platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
-        #     cert_name=expected_cert_name,
-        #     cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe=''),
-        #     company_identifier=config.company_identifier,
-        # )
+        expected_url = (
+            'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
+            'name={platform}+{cert_name}&certUrl={cert_url}&'
+            'organizationId={company_identifier}'
+        ).format(
+            platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
+            cert_name=expected_cert_name,
+            cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe=''),
+            company_identifier=config.company_identifier,
+        )
 
         actual_url = config.add_to_profile_url(self.COURSE_NAME, cert_mode, self.CERT_URL)
 
-        # We can switch to this instead of the assertIn once edx-platform reaches Python 3.8
-        # There was a problem with dict ordering in the add_to_profile_url function that will go away then.
-        # self.assertEqual(actual_url, expected_url)
-
-        assert 'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME' in actual_url
-        assert f'&name={quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode("utf-8"))}+{expected_cert_name}' in actual_url
-        assert '&certUrl={cert_url}'.format(cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe='')) in actual_url
-        assert f'&organizationId={config.company_identifier}' in actual_url
+        self.assertEqual(actual_url, expected_url)
 
     @ddt.data(
         ('honor', 'Honor+Code+Credential+for+Test+Course+%E2%98%83'),
@@ -72,26 +64,18 @@ def test_linked_in_url(self, cert_mode, expected_cert_name):
     def test_linked_in_url_with_cert_name_override(self, cert_mode, expected_cert_name):
         config = LinkedInAddToProfileConfigurationFactory()
 
-        # We can switch to this once edx-platform reaches Python 3.8
-        # expected_url = (
-        #     'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
-        #     'name={platform}+{cert_name}&certUrl={cert_url}&'
-        #     'organizationId={company_identifier}'
-        # ).format(
-        #     platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
-        #     cert_name=expected_cert_name,
-        #     cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe=''),
-        #     company_identifier=config.company_identifier,
-        # )
+        expected_url = (
+            'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
+            'name={platform}+{cert_name}&certUrl={cert_url}&'
+            'organizationId={company_identifier}'
+        ).format(
+            platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
+            cert_name=expected_cert_name,
+            cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe=''),
+            company_identifier=config.company_identifier,
+        )
 
         with with_site_configuration_context(configuration=self.SITE_CONFIGURATION):
             actual_url = config.add_to_profile_url(self.COURSE_NAME, cert_mode, self.CERT_URL)
 
-            # We can switch to this instead of the assertIn once edx-platform reaches Python 3.8
-            # There was a problem with dict ordering in the add_to_profile_url function that will go away then.
-            # self.assertEqual(actual_url, expected_url)
-
-            assert 'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME' in actual_url
-            assert f'&name={quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode("utf-8"))}+{expected_cert_name}' in actual_url
-            assert '&certUrl={cert_url}'.format(cert_url=quote(self.CERT_URL, safe='')) in actual_url
-            assert f'&organizationId={config.company_identifier}' in actual_url
+        self.assertEqual(actual_url, expected_url)
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/tests.py b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/tests.py
index 9e61095260b6..c640462acf10 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/tests.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/tests.py
@@ -440,28 +440,19 @@ def test_linked_in_add_to_profile_btn_with_certificate(self):
         assert response.status_code == 200
         self.assertContains(response, 'Add Certificate to LinkedIn')
 
-        # We can switch to this and the commented out assertContains once edx-platform reaches Python 3.8
-        # expected_url = (
-        #     'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
-        #     'name={platform}+Honor+Code+Certificate+for+Omega&certUrl={cert_url}&'
-        #     'organizationId={company_identifier}'
-        # ).format(
-        #     platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
-        #     cert_url=quote(cert.download_url, safe=''),
-        #     company_identifier=linkedin_config.company_identifier,
-        # )
-
-        # self.assertContains(response, escape(expected_url))
-
-        # These can be removed (in favor of the above) once we are on Python 3.8. Fails in 3.5 because of dict ordering
-        self.assertContains(response, escape('https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME'))
-        self.assertContains(response, escape('&name={platform}+Honor+Code+Certificate+for+Omega'.format(
-            platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8'))
-        )))
-        self.assertContains(response, escape('&certUrl={cert_url}'.format(cert_url=quote(cert.download_url, safe=''))))
-        self.assertContains(response, escape('&organizationId={company_identifier}'.format(
+        expected_url = (
+            'https://www.linkedin.com/profile/add?startTask=CERTIFICATION_NAME&'
+            'name={platform}+Honor+Code+Certificate+for+Omega&'
+            'certUrl={cert_url}&'
+            'organizationId={company_identifier}'
+        ).format(
+            platform=quote(settings.PLATFORM_NAME.encode('utf-8')),
+            cert_url=quote(cert.download_url, safe=''),
             company_identifier=linkedin_config.company_identifier
-        )))
+        )
+
+        # Single assertion for the expected LinkedIn URL
+        self.assertContains(response, escape(expected_url))
 
     @skip_unless_lms
     def test_dashboard_metadata_caching(self):
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/util/cache.py b/common/djangoapps/util/cache.py
index ca2ee2050eae..3ec99efc636d 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/util/cache.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/util/cache.py
@@ -53,13 +53,11 @@ def wrapper(request, *args, **kwargs):
             # specifically the branding index, to do authentication.
             # If that page is cached the authentication doesn't
             # happen, so we disable the cache when that feature is enabled.
-            if (
-                not request.user.is_authenticated
-            ):
+            if not request.user.is_authenticated:
                 # Use the cache. The same view accessed through different domain names may
                 # return different things, so include the domain name in the key.
-                domain = str(request.META.get('HTTP_HOST')) + '.'
-                cache_key = domain + "cache_if_anonymous." + get_language() + '.' + request.path
+                domain = request.META.get('HTTP_HOST', '') + '.'
+                cache_key = f"{domain}cache_if_anonymous.{get_language()}.{request.path}"
 
                 # Include the values of GET parameters in the cache key.
                 for get_parameter in get_parameters:
@@ -67,24 +65,20 @@ def wrapper(request, *args, **kwargs):
                     if parameter_value is not None:
                         # urlencode expects data to be of type str, and doesn't deal well with Unicode data
                         # since it doesn't provide a way to specify an encoding.
-                        cache_key = cache_key + '.' + urlencode({
-                            get_parameter: str(parameter_value).encode('utf-8')
-                        })
+                        cache_key += '.' + urlencode({get_parameter: str(parameter_value).encode('utf-8')})
 
                 response = cache.get(cache_key)
-
                 if response:
-                    # A hack to ensure that the response data is a valid text type for both Python 2 and 3.
-                    response_content = list(response._container)  # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=bad-option-value, protected-access, protected-member
-                    response.content = b''
-                    for item in response_content:
-                        response.write(item)
+                    # Ensure that response content is properly handled for caching
+                    response.content = (
+                        # pylint: disable=protected-access
+                        b''.join(response._container) if hasattr(response, '_container') else response.content
+                    )
                 else:
                     response = view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
                     cache.set(cache_key, response, 60 * 3)
 
                 return response
-
             else:
                 # Don't use the cache.
                 return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/learner_dashboard/tests/test_programs.py b/lms/djangoapps/learner_dashboard/tests/test_programs.py
index c1b699c44afa..0662d09a41ea 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/learner_dashboard/tests/test_programs.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/learner_dashboard/tests/test_programs.py
@@ -86,15 +86,9 @@ def program_sort_key(cls, program):
     def assert_dict_contains_subset(self, superset, subset):
         """
         Verify that the dict superset contains the dict subset.
-
-        Works like assertDictContainsSubset, deprecated since Python 3.2.
-        See: https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/unittest.html#unittest.TestCase.assertDictContainsSubset.
         """
-        superset_keys = set(superset.keys())
-        subset_keys = set(subset.keys())
-        intersection = {key: superset[key] for key in superset_keys & subset_keys}
-
-        assert subset == intersection
+        for key, value in subset.items():
+            assert key in superset and superset[key] == value, f"{key}: {value} not found in superset or does not match"
 
     def test_login_required(self, mock_get_programs):
         """
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/content/search/documents.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/content/search/documents.py
index fb385ccc4503..7e547ca4d889 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/content/search/documents.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/content/search/documents.py
@@ -106,9 +106,12 @@ def meili_id_from_opaque_key(usage_key: UsageKey) -> str:
     we could use PublishableEntity's primary key / UUID instead.
     """
     # The slugified key _may_ not be unique so we append a hashed string to make it unique:
-    key_bin = str(usage_key).encode()
-    suffix = blake2b(key_bin, digest_size=4).hexdigest()  # When we use Python 3.9+, should add usedforsecurity=False
-    return slugify(str(usage_key)) + "-" + suffix
+    key_str = str(usage_key)
+    key_bin = key_str.encode()
+
+    suffix = blake2b(key_bin, digest_size=4, usedforsecurity=False).hexdigest()
+
+    return f"{slugify(key_str)}-{suffix}"
 
 
 def _meili_access_id_from_context_key(context_key: LearningContextKey) -> int:
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/content_libraries/tests/base.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/content_libraries/tests/base.py
index 7f1664e6c7fc..638c053f62c3 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/content_libraries/tests/base.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/content_libraries/tests/base.py
@@ -86,11 +86,10 @@ def assertDictContainsEntries(self, big_dict, subset_dict):
         """
         Assert that the first dict contains at least all of the same entries as
         the second dict.
-
-        Like python 2's assertDictContainsSubset, but with the arguments in the
-        correct order.
         """
-        assert big_dict.items() >= subset_dict.items()
+        for key, value in subset_dict.items():
+            assert key in big_dict, f"Missing key: {key}"
+            assert big_dict[key] == value, f"Value for key {key} does not match: expected {value}, got {big_dict[key]}"
 
     def assertOrderEqual(self, libraries_list, expected_order):
         """
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/cors_csrf/tests/test_middleware.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/cors_csrf/tests/test_middleware.py
index a546cbbcd4bb..4f783fa6890f 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/cors_csrf/tests/test_middleware.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/cors_csrf/tests/test_middleware.py
@@ -270,14 +270,14 @@ def _assert_cookie_sent(self, response, is_set):
         if is_set:
             assert self.COOKIE_NAME in response.cookies
             cookie_header = str(response.cookies[self.COOKIE_NAME])
-            # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=bad-option-value, unicode-format-string
+
             expected = 'Set-Cookie: {name}={value}; Domain={domain};'.format(
                 name=self.COOKIE_NAME,
                 value=self.COOKIE_VALUE,
                 domain=self.COOKIE_DOMAIN
             )
             assert expected in cookie_header
-            # added lower function because in python 3 the value of cookie_header has Secure and secure in python 2
-            assert 'Max-Age=31449600; Path=/; secure'.lower() in cookie_header.lower()
+            # Check for 'Max-Age=31449600; Path=/; secure' in a case-insensitive manner
+            assert 'max-age=31449600; path=/; secure' in cookie_header.lower()
         else:
             assert self.COOKIE_NAME not in response.cookies
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/crawlers/models.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/crawlers/models.py
index b7f9d23d6544..fe0ae3193b0f 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/crawlers/models.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/crawlers/models.py
@@ -42,16 +42,14 @@ def is_crawler(cls, request):
 
         # If there was no user agent detected or no crawler agents configured,
         # then just return False.
-        if (not req_user_agent) or (not crawler_agents):
+        if not req_user_agent or not crawler_agents:
             return False
 
-        # The crawler_agents list we pull from our model always has unicode objects, but the
-        # req_user_agent we get from HTTP headers ultimately comes to us via WSGI. That
-        # value is an ISO-8859-1 encoded byte string in Python 2.7 (and in the HTTP spec), but
-        # it will be a unicode str when we move to Python 3.x. This code should work under
-        # either version.
+        # Decode req_user_agent if it's bytes, so we can work with consistent string types.
         if isinstance(req_user_agent, bytes):
-            crawler_agents = [crawler_agent.encode('iso-8859-1') for crawler_agent in crawler_agents]
+            req_user_agent = req_user_agent.decode('iso-8859-1')
+
+        crawler_agents = [crawler_agent.strip() for crawler_agent in crawler_agents]
 
         # We perform prefix matching of the crawler agent here so that we don't
         # have to worry about version bumps.
diff --git a/openedx/core/lib/cache_utils.py b/openedx/core/lib/cache_utils.py
index c379ab2d961a..a889da6130ee 100644
--- a/openedx/core/lib/cache_utils.py
+++ b/openedx/core/lib/cache_utils.py
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ def decorator(*args, **kwargs):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument,missing-docst
 
 def zpickle(data):
     """Given any data structure, returns a zlib compressed pickled serialization."""
-    return zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(data, 4))  # Keep this constant as we upgrade from python 2 to 3.
+    return zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(data, 4))
 
 
 def zunpickle(zdata):
diff --git a/openedx/core/lib/grade_utils.py b/openedx/core/lib/grade_utils.py
index 2e7073e962dc..af3d12c9e2fd 100644
--- a/openedx/core/lib/grade_utils.py
+++ b/openedx/core/lib/grade_utils.py
@@ -48,11 +48,9 @@ def is_score_higher_or_equal(earned1, possible1, earned2, possible2, treat_undef
 def round_away_from_zero(number, digits=0):
     """
     Round numbers using the 'away from zero' strategy as opposed to the
-    'Banker's rounding strategy.'  The strategy refers to how we round when
-    a number is half way between two numbers.  eg. 0.5, 1.5, etc. In python 2
-    positive numbers in this category would be rounded up and negative numbers
-    would be rounded down. ie. away from zero.  In python 3 numbers round
-    towards even.  So 0.5 would round to 0 but 1.5 would round to 2.
+    'Banker's rounding strategy.' The strategy refers to how we round when
+    a number is half way between two numbers.  eg. 0.5, 1.5, etc. In python 3
+    numbers round towards even. So 0.5 would round to 0 but 1.5 would round to 2.
 
     See here for more on floating point rounding strategies:
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754#Rounding_rules
diff --git a/pavelib/paver_tests/test_timer.py b/pavelib/paver_tests/test_timer.py
index 5ccbf74abcf9..bc9817668347 100644
--- a/pavelib/paver_tests/test_timer.py
+++ b/pavelib/paver_tests/test_timer.py
@@ -77,17 +77,9 @@ def test_times(self):
         messages = self.get_log_messages()
         assert len(messages) == 1
 
-        # I'm not using assertDictContainsSubset because it is
-        # removed in python 3.2 (because the arguments were backwards)
-        # and it wasn't ever replaced by anything *headdesk*
-        assert 'duration' in messages[0]
-        assert 35.6 == messages[0]['duration']
-
-        assert 'started_at' in messages[0]
-        assert start.isoformat(' ') == messages[0]['started_at']
-
-        assert 'ended_at' in messages[0]
-        assert end.isoformat(' ') == messages[0]['ended_at']
+        assert 'duration' in messages[0] and messages[0]['duration'] == 35.6
+        assert 'started_at' in messages[0] and messages[0]['started_at'] == start.isoformat(' ')
+        assert 'ended_at' in messages[0] and messages[0]['ended_at'] == end.isoformat(' ')
 
     @patch.object(timer, 'PAVER_TIMER_LOG', None)
     def test_no_logs(self):
@@ -99,28 +91,18 @@ def test_arguments(self):
         messages = self.get_log_messages(args=(1, 'foo'), kwargs=dict(bar='baz'))
         assert len(messages) == 1
 
-        # I'm not using assertDictContainsSubset because it is
-        # removed in python 3.2 (because the arguments were backwards)
-        # and it wasn't ever replaced by anything *headdesk*
-        assert 'args' in messages[0]
-        assert [repr(1), repr('foo')] == messages[0]['args']
-        assert 'kwargs' in messages[0]
-        assert {'bar': repr('baz')} == messages[0]['kwargs']
+        assert 'args' in messages[0] and messages[0]['args'] == [repr(1), repr('foo')]
+        assert 'kwargs' in messages[0] and messages[0]['kwargs'] == {'bar': repr('baz')}
 
     @patch.object(timer, 'PAVER_TIMER_LOG', '/tmp/some-log')
     def test_task_name(self):
         messages = self.get_log_messages()
         assert len(messages) == 1
 
-        # I'm not using assertDictContainsSubset because it is
-        # removed in python 3.2 (because the arguments were backwards)
-        # and it wasn't ever replaced by anything *headdesk*
-        assert 'task' in messages[0]
-        assert 'pavelib.paver_tests.test_timer.identity' == messages[0]['task']
+        assert 'task' in messages[0] and messages[0]['task'] == 'pavelib.paver_tests.test_timer.identity'
 
     @patch.object(timer, 'PAVER_TIMER_LOG', '/tmp/some-log')
     def test_exceptions(self):
-
         @timer.timed
         def raises():
             """
@@ -131,11 +113,7 @@ def raises():
         messages = self.get_log_messages(task=raises, raises=Exception)
         assert len(messages) == 1
 
-        # I'm not using assertDictContainsSubset because it is
-        # removed in python 3.2 (because the arguments were backwards)
-        # and it wasn't ever replaced by anything *headdesk*
-        assert 'exception' in messages[0]
-        assert 'Exception: The Message!' == messages[0]['exception']
+        assert 'exception' in messages[0] and messages[0]['exception'] == 'Exception: The Message!'
 
     @patch.object(timer, 'PAVER_TIMER_LOG', '/tmp/some-log-%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S.log')
     def test_date_formatting(self):
diff --git a/requirements/constraints.txt b/requirements/constraints.txt
index 1fe478a4b9ae..47614c5a5956 100644
--- a/requirements/constraints.txt
+++ b/requirements/constraints.txt
@@ -19,10 +19,6 @@
 # Ticket: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/issues/35334
 algoliasearch<4.0.0
 
-# Date: 2024-03-14
-# Temporary to Support the python 3.11 Upgrade
-# Issue for unpinning: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/issues/35281
-backports.zoneinfo;python_version<"3.9"  # Newer versions have zoneinfo available in the standard library
 
 # Date: 2020-02-26
 # As it is not clarified what exact breaking changes will be introduced as per
diff --git a/scripts/gha-shards-readme.md b/scripts/gha-shards-readme.md
index 9996a1f3b241..d7a1bd9ef7ab 100644
--- a/scripts/gha-shards-readme.md
+++ b/scripts/gha-shards-readme.md
@@ -32,4 +32,4 @@ You'd have to update the `unit-test-shards.json` file manually to fix this.
 ```
 pytest --collect-only --ds=cms.envs.test cms/
 ```
-For more details on how this check collects and compares the unit tests count please take a look at [verify unit tests count](../.github/workflows/verify-gha-unit-tests-count.yml)
+For more details on how this check collects and compares the unit tests count please take a look at [verify unit tests count](../.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml)
diff --git a/scripts/structures_pruning/README.rst b/scripts/structures_pruning/README.rst
index c16a837a93af..77bc6bfbf0c8 100644
--- a/scripts/structures_pruning/README.rst
+++ b/scripts/structures_pruning/README.rst
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ To download the scripts, you can perform a partial clone of the edx-platform rep
 Create Python Virtual Environment
 ---------------------------------
 
-Create a Python virtual environment using Python 3.8:
+Create a Python virtual environment using Python 3.11:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-    python3.8 -m venv ../venv
+    python3.11 -m venv ../venv
     source ../venv/bin/activate
 
 Install Pip Packages
diff --git a/scripts/user_retirement/README.rst b/scripts/user_retirement/README.rst
index d5417f7f7e75..380a2489108b 100644
--- a/scripts/user_retirement/README.rst
+++ b/scripts/user_retirement/README.rst
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ To download the scripts, you can perform a partial clone of the edx-platform rep
 Create Python Virtual Environment
 ---------------------------------
 
-Create a Python virtual environment using Python 3.8:
+Create a Python virtual environment using Python 3.11:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
-    python3.8 -m venv ../venv
+    python3.11 -m venv ../venv
     source ../venv/bin/activate
 
 Install Pip Packages
diff --git a/scripts/user_retirement/utils/helpers.py b/scripts/user_retirement/utils/helpers.py
index 1bcbadb4b3c4..804852833436 100644
--- a/scripts/user_retirement/utils/helpers.py
+++ b/scripts/user_retirement/utils/helpers.py
@@ -43,12 +43,11 @@ def _fail(kind, code, message):
     """
     _log(kind, message)
 
-    # Try to get a traceback, if there is one. On Python 3.4 this raises an AttributeError
-    # if there is no current exception, so we eat that here.
-    try:
-        _log(kind, traceback.format_exc())
-    except AttributeError:
-        pass
+    # Log the traceback if an exception is currently being handled
+    exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback = sys.exc_info()
+    if exc_type is not None:
+        traceback_str = traceback.format_exception(exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback)
+        _log(kind, ''.join(traceback_str))
 
     sys.exit(code)
 
@@ -66,16 +65,12 @@ def _get_error_str_from_exception(exc):
     """
     Return a string from an exception that may or may not have a .content (Slumber)
     """
-    exc_msg = text_type(exc)
+    exc_msg = str(exc)
 
     if hasattr(exc, 'content'):
-        # Slumber inconveniently discards the decoded .text attribute from the Response object,
-        # and instead gives us the raw encoded .content attribute, so we need to decode it first.
-        # Python 2 needs the decode, Py3 does not have it.
-        try:
-            exc_msg += '\n' + str(exc.content).decode('utf-8')
-        except AttributeError:
-            exc_msg += '\n' + str(exc.content)
+        # Attempt to decode `exc.content` if it's in bytes, otherwise just convert to str
+        exc_content = exc.content.decode('utf-8') if isinstance(exc.content, bytes) else str(exc.content)
+        exc_msg += '\n' + exc_content
 
     return exc_msg
 
diff --git a/xmodule/capa/safe_exec/tests/test_safe_exec.py b/xmodule/capa/safe_exec/tests/test_safe_exec.py
index fa12e4f69903..36d2cc965710 100644
--- a/xmodule/capa/safe_exec/tests/test_safe_exec.py
+++ b/xmodule/capa/safe_exec/tests/test_safe_exec.py
@@ -306,13 +306,6 @@ def equal_but_different_dicts(self):
         """
         d1 = {k: 1 for k in "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"}
         d2 = {k: 1 for k in "bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza"}
-        # TODO: remove the next lines once we are in python3.8
-        # since python3.8 dict preserve the order of insertion
-        # and therefore d2 and d1 keys are already in different order.
-        for i in range(10000):
-            d2[i] = 1
-        for i in range(10000):
-            del d2[i]
 
         # Check that our dicts are equal, but with different key order.
         assert d1 == d2