diff --git a/src/index.spec.ts b/src/index.spec.ts
index 2f7b78337..d350f7e25 100644
--- a/src/index.spec.ts
+++ b/src/index.spec.ts
@@ -635,27 +635,29 @@ describe('ts-node', function () {
     })
   })
 
-  describe('esm', () => {
-    this.slow(1000)
+  if (semver.gte(process.version, '13.0.0') {
+    describe('esm', () => {
+      this.slow(1000)
 
-    const cmd = `node --loader ../../esm.mjs`
+      const cmd = `node --loader ../../esm.mjs`
 
-    it('should compile and execute as ESM', (done) => {
-      exec(`${cmd} index.ts`, { cwd: join(__dirname, '../tests/esm') }, function (err, stdout) {
-        expect(err).to.equal(null)
-        expect(stdout).to.equal('foo bar baz biff\n')
+      it('should compile and execute as ESM', (done) => {
+        exec(`${cmd} index.ts`, { cwd: join(__dirname, '../tests/esm') }, function (err, stdout) {
+          expect(err).to.equal(null)
+          expect(stdout).to.equal('foo bar baz biff\n')
 
-        return done()
+          return done()
+        })
       })
-    })
-    it('supports --experimental-specifier-resolution=node', (done) => {
-      exec(`${cmd} --experimental-specifier-resolution=node index.ts`, { cwd: join(__dirname, '../tests/esm-node-resolver') }, function (err, stdout) {
-        expect(err).to.equal(null)
-        expect(stdout).to.equal('foo bar baz biff\n')
+      it('supports --experimental-specifier-resolution=node', (done) => {
+        exec(`${cmd} --experimental-specifier-resolution=node index.ts`, { cwd: join(__dirname, '../tests/esm-node-resolver') }, function (err, stdout) {
+          expect(err).to.equal(null)
+          expect(stdout).to.equal('foo bar baz biff\n')
 
-        return done()
-      })
+          return done()
+        })
 
+      })
     })
-  })
+  }
 })