diff --git a/test/karma-test-shim.js b/test/karma-test-shim.js
index 8a69f544e98..b3528b9b3e4 100644
--- a/test/karma-test-shim.js
+++ b/test/karma-test-shim.js
@@ -117,9 +117,15 @@ System.config({
 });
 
 // Configure the Angular test bed and run all specs once configured.
- configureTestBed()
+configureTestBed()
   .then(runMaterialSpecs)
-  .then(__karma__.start, __karma__.error);
+  .then(__karma__.start, function(error) {
+    // Passing in the error object directly to Karma won't log out the stack trace and
+    // passing the `originalErr` doesn't work correctly either. We have to log out the
+    // stack trace so we can actually debug errors before the tests have started.
+    console.error(error.originalErr.stack);
+    __karma__.error(error);
+  });
 
 
 /** Runs the Angular Material specs in Karma. */