diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_all_metricgroups.sh b/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_all_metricgroups.sh
index cb35e488809a..f3e305649e2c 100755
--- a/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_all_metricgroups.sh
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/shell/stat_all_metricgroups.sh
@@ -4,9 +4,21 @@
 
 set -e
 
-for m in $(perf list --raw-dump metricgroups); do
+function ParanoidAndNotRoot()
+{
+  [ "$(id -u)" != 0 ] && [ "$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid)" -gt $1 ]
+}
+
+system_wide_flag="-a"
+if ParanoidAndNotRoot 0
+then
+  system_wide_flag=""
+fi
+
+for m in $(perf list --raw-dump metricgroups)
+do
   echo "Testing $m"
-  perf stat -M "$m" -a true
+  perf stat -M "$m" $system_wide_flag sleep 0.01
 done
 
 exit 0