diff --git a/evaluate.py b/evaluate.py
index 4cda4523..56b7562d 100755
--- a/evaluate.py
+++ b/evaluate.py
@@ -85,12 +85,14 @@ def evaluate(test_csvs, create_model, try_loading):
 
     with tfv1.Session(config=Config.session_config) as session:
         # Restore variables from training checkpoint
-        loaded = try_loading(session, saver, 'best_dev_checkpoint', 'best validation')
-        if not loaded:
+        loaded = False
+        if not loaded and FLAGS.load in ['auto', 'best']:
+            loaded = try_loading(session, saver, 'best_dev_checkpoint', 'best validation')
+        if not loaded and FLAGS.load in ['auto', 'last']:
             loaded = try_loading(session, saver, 'checkpoint', 'most recent')
         if not loaded:
-            log_error('Checkpoint directory ({}) does not contain a valid checkpoint state.'.format(FLAGS.checkpoint_dir))
-            exit(1)
+            print('Could not load checkpoint from {}'.format(FLAGS.checkpoint_dir))
+            sys.exit(1)
 
         def run_test(init_op, dataset):
             wav_filenames = []
@@ -159,7 +161,7 @@ def main(_):
     if not FLAGS.test_files:
         log_error('You need to specify what files to use for evaluation via '
                   'the --test_files flag.')
-        exit(1)
+        sys.exit(1)
 
     from DeepSpeech import create_model, try_loading # pylint: disable=cyclic-import
     samples = evaluate(FLAGS.test_files.split(','), create_model, try_loading)