diff --git a/tests/functional/rkt_vcd.py b/tests/functional/rkt_vcd.py
index 1b2cf31e3..f06c2dc27 100644
--- a/tests/functional/rkt_vcd.py
+++ b/tests/functional/rkt_vcd.py
@@ -43,21 +43,37 @@ def write_vcd(filename: Path, signals: SignalStepMap, timescale='1 ns', date='to
                         if change_time == time:
                             f.write(f"{value} {signal_name}\n")
 
-def simulate_rosette(rkt_file_path: Path, vcd_path: Path, num_steps: int, rnd: Random):
+
+def simulate_rosette(
+    rkt_file_path: Path,
+    vcd_path: Path,
+    num_steps: int,
+    rnd: Random,
+    use_assoc_list_helpers: bool = False,
+):
+    """
+    Args:
+      - use_assoc_list_helpers: If True, will use the association list helpers
+        in the Racket file. The file should have been generated with the
+        -assoc-list-helpers flag in the yosys command.
+    """
     signals: dict[str, list[str]] = {}
     inputs: SignalWidthMap = {}
     outputs: SignalWidthMap = {}
 
     current_struct_name: str = ""
-    with open(rkt_file_path, 'r') as rkt_file:
+    with open(rkt_file_path, "r") as rkt_file:
         for line in rkt_file:
-            m = re.search(r'gold_(Inputs|Outputs|State)', line)
+            m = re.search(r"gold_(Inputs|Outputs|State)", line)
             if m:
                 current_struct_name = m.group(1)
-                if current_struct_name == "State": break
-            elif not current_struct_name: continue # skip lines before structs
-            m = re.search(r'; (.+?)\b \(bitvector (\d+)\)', line)
-            if not m: continue # skip non matching lines (probably closing the struct)
+                if current_struct_name == "State":
+                    break
+            elif not current_struct_name:
+                continue  # skip lines before structs
+            m = re.search(r"; (.+?)\b \(bitvector (\d+)\)", line)
+            if not m:
+                continue  # skip non matching lines (probably closing the struct)
             signal = m.group(1)
             width = int(m.group(2))
             if current_struct_name == "Inputs":
@@ -69,43 +85,86 @@ def simulate_rosette(rkt_file_path: Path, vcd_path: Path, num_steps: int, rnd: R
         step_list: list[int] = []
         for step in range(num_steps):
             value = rnd.getrandbits(width)
-            binary_string = format(value, '0{}b'.format(width))
+            binary_string = format(value, "0{}b".format(width))
             step_list.append(binary_string)
         signals[signal] = step_list
 
-    test_rkt_file_path = rkt_file_path.with_suffix('.tst.rkt')
-    with open(test_rkt_file_path, 'w') as test_rkt_file:
-        test_rkt_file.writelines([
-            '#lang rosette\n',
-            f'(require "{rkt_file_path.name}")\n',
-        ])
+    test_rkt_file_path = rkt_file_path.with_suffix(".tst.rkt")
+    with open(test_rkt_file_path, "w") as test_rkt_file:
+        test_rkt_file.writelines(
+            [
+                "#lang rosette\n",
+                f'(require "{rkt_file_path.name}")\n',
+            ]
+        )
 
         for step in range(num_steps):
             this_step = f"step_{step}"
             value_list: list[str] = []
-            for signal, width in inputs.items():
-                value = signals[signal][step]
-                value_list.append(f"(bv #b{value} {width})")
-            gold_Inputs = f"(gold_Inputs {' '.join(value_list)})"
+            if use_assoc_list_helpers:
+                # Generate inputs as a list of cons pairs making up the
+                # association list.
+                for signal, width in inputs.items():
+                    value = signals[signal][step]
+                    value_list.append(f'(cons "{signal}" (bv #b{value} {width}))')
+            else:
+                # Otherwise, we generate the inputs as a list of bitvectors.
+                for signal, width in inputs.items():
+                    value = signals[signal][step]
+                    value_list.append(f"(bv #b{value} {width})")
+            gold_Inputs = (
+                f"(gold_inputs_helper (list {' '.join(value_list)}))"
+                if use_assoc_list_helpers
+                else f"(gold_Inputs {' '.join(value_list)})"
+            )
             gold_State = f"(cdr step_{step-1})" if step else "gold_initial"
-            test_rkt_file.write(f"(define {this_step} (gold {gold_Inputs} {gold_State})) (car {this_step})\n")
+            get_value_expr = (
+                f"(gold_outputs_helper (car {this_step}))"
+                if use_assoc_list_helpers
+                else f"(car {this_step})"
+            )
+            test_rkt_file.write(
+                f"(define {this_step} (gold {gold_Inputs} {gold_State})) {get_value_expr}\n"
+            )
+
 
     cmd = ["racket", test_rkt_file_path]
-    status = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True)
-    assert status.returncode == 0, f"{cmd[0]} failed"
+    try:
+        status = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, check=True)
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Racket simulation failed with command: {cmd}\n"
+            f"Error: {e.stderr.decode()}"
+        ) from e
 
     for signal in outputs.keys():
         signals[signal] = []
 
     for line in status.stdout.decode().splitlines():
-        m = re.match(r'\(gold_Outputs( \(bv \S+ \d+\))+\)', line)
+        m = (
+            re.match(r"\(list( \(cons \"\S+\" \(bv \S+ \d+\)\))+\)", line)
+            if use_assoc_list_helpers
+            else re.match(r"\(gold_Outputs( \(bv \S+ \d+\))+\)", line)
+        )
         assert m, f"Incomplete output definition {line!r}"
-        for output, (value, width) in zip(outputs.keys(), re.findall(r'\(bv (\S+) (\d+)\)', line)):
+        outputs_values_and_widths = (
+            {
+                output: re.findall(
+                    r"\(cons \"" + output + r"\" \(bv (\S+) (\d+)\)\)", line
+                )[0]
+                for output in outputs.keys()
+            }.items()
+            if use_assoc_list_helpers
+            else zip(outputs.keys(), re.findall(r"\(bv (\S+) (\d+)\)", line))
+        )
+        for output, (value, width) in outputs_values_and_widths:
             assert isinstance(value, str), f"Bad value {value!r}"
-            assert value.startswith(('#b', '#x')), f"Non-binary value {value!r}"
-            assert int(width) == outputs[output], f"Width mismatch for output {output!r} (got {width}, expected {outputs[output]})"
-            int_value = int(value[2:], 16 if value.startswith('#x') else 2)
-            binary_string = format(int_value, '0{}b'.format(width))
+            assert value.startswith(("#b", "#x")), f"Non-binary value {value!r}"
+            assert (
+                int(width) == outputs[output]
+            ), f"Width mismatch for output {output!r} (got {width}, expected {outputs[output]})"
+            int_value = int(value[2:], 16 if value.startswith("#x") else 2)
+            binary_string = format(int_value, "0{}b".format(width))
             signals[output].append(binary_string)
 
     vcd_signals: SignalStepMap = {}
diff --git a/tests/functional/simulate_rosette.rkt b/tests/functional/simulate_rosette.rkt
deleted file mode 100644
index aa838a5a0..000000000
--- a/tests/functional/simulate_rosette.rkt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,157 +0,0 @@
-; Utilities for simulating Rosette programs.
-;
-; Tests can be run with `raco test <this file>`.
-#lang racket/base
-
-(provide simulate-rosette)
-
-(require (only-in rosette bv)
-         racket/list)
-
-; Inputs:
-; - function: The function for the module to simulate. This should be a Rosette function generated by
-;   Yosys's `write_fuctional_rosette` backend.
-; - initial-state: The initial state of the module, as generated by Yosys's `write_fuctional_rosette`
-;   backend.
-; - inputs: A list of association lists. The function will be called with each association list as
-;   inputs, and the state will be threaded through each call.
-;
-; Outputs:
-; - A list of outputs, one for each cycle. The outputs are a list of the output objects generated by
-;   `function`.
-(define (simulate-rosette #:function function #:initial-state initial-state #:inputs inputs)
-
-  (define outputs-and-states
-    (drop (reverse (foldl (lambda (input acc)
-                            (let* ([outputs (function input (cdr (car acc)))]) (cons outputs acc)))
-                          (list (cons 'unused initial-state))
-                          inputs))
-          1))
-
-  (define outputs (map car outputs-and-states))
-
-  outputs)
-
-; Inputs:
-; - inputs: association list mapping string name to bitwidth.
-; - num-inputs: number of inputs to generate.
-; TODO(@gussmith23): If `num-inputs` is more than the number of possible values, just enumerate.
-(define (generate-inputs #:inputs inputs #:num-inputs num-inputs)
-  (define (generate-random-input inputs)
-    (map (lambda (pair) (cons (car pair) (bv (random (expt 2 (cdr pair))) (cdr pair)))) inputs))
-  (for/list ([_ (range num-inputs)])
-    (generate-random-input inputs)))
-
-; Generates a clock signal for the given inputs.
-;
-; Given a string of inputs, one per clock cycle, this function generates a clock signal alongside the
-; inputs. It does so by alternating the clock signal between 0 and 1 for each cycle, starting with 0.
-; For example, if the inputs are (list inputs1 inputs2 inputs3), the output will be (list (cons (cons
-; "clk" (bv 0 1)) inputs1) (cons (cons "clk" (bv 1 1)) inputs1) (cons (cons "clk" (bv 0 1)) inputs2)
-; (cons (cons "clk" (bv 1 1)) inputs2) ... ).
-;
-; Inputs:
-; - clock-name: The name of the clock signal.
-; - inputs: A list of inputs in association list form, as output by `generate-inputs`.
-;
-; Outputs:
-; - A list of association lists, each containing a new clock signal. Will be twice the length of the
-;   inputs list.
-(define (generate-clock #:clock-name clock-name #:inputs inputs)
-  (apply append
-         (for/list ([this-cycle-inputs inputs])
-           (list (cons (cons clock-name (bv 0 1)) this-cycle-inputs)
-                 (cons (cons clock-name (bv 1 1)) this-cycle-inputs)))))
-
-; This is what gets executed when the script is run.
-(module main racket/base
-  (require racket/cmdline)
-
-  ; - input-helper, output-helper: association-list-based helpers for input and output struct, generated
-  ;   by Yosys's `write_fuctional_rosette` backend with `-assoc-list-helpers` enabled.
-  )
-
-(module+ test
-  (require rackunit
-           (only-in rosette bv bvadd))
-  (test-case "generate-inputs"
-    (check-equal? (length (generate-inputs #:inputs (list (cons "input1" 4)) #:num-inputs 10)) 10)
-    ; Check that this call generates a list of one-length lists, each containing a single association
-    ; list with the key "input1" and a random value.
-    (check-true (foldl (lambda (input acc)
-                         (and acc (equal? (length input) 1) (equal? (car (first input)) "input1")))
-                       #t
-                       (generate-inputs #:inputs (list (cons "input1" 4)) #:num-inputs 10))))
-
-  (test-case "generate-clock"
-    (define inputs
-      (list (list (cons "input1" (bv 4 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 3 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 2 2)))
-            (list (cons "input1" (bv 3 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 4 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 1 2)))
-            (list (cons "input1" (bv 2 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 5 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 0 2)))))
-
-    (check-equal? (length (generate-clock #:clock-name "clk" #:inputs inputs)) 6)
-
-    (check-equal?
-     (generate-clock #:clock-name "clk" #:inputs inputs)
-     (list (cons (cons "clk" (bv 0 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 4 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 3 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 2 2))))
-           (cons (cons "clk" (bv 1 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 4 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 3 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 2 2))))
-           (cons (cons "clk" (bv 0 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 3 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 4 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 1 2))))
-           (cons (cons "clk" (bv 1 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 3 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 4 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 1 2))))
-           (cons (cons "clk" (bv 0 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 2 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 5 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 0 2))))
-           (cons (cons "clk" (bv 1 1))
-                 (list (cons "input1" (bv 2 4)) (cons "input2" (bv 5 3)) (cons "input3" (bv 0 2)))))))
-  (test-case "simulate-rosette"
-
-    ; This function will take association lists as inputs, so the helper function is simply identity.
-    ; This is not generally true of Yosys-generated code. Similarly, this function uses an association
-    ; list for state, which is not what Yosys generates, but it's easier for testing.
-    ;
-    ; A one-stage adder. Inputs are registered in one clock cycle, and the output is the sum of the
-    ; two registered inputs.
-    (define (module-function inputs state)
-      (let* ([a (cdr (assoc "a" inputs))]
-             [b (cdr (assoc "b" inputs))]
-             [clk (cdr (assoc "clk" inputs))]
-             [old-clk (cdr (assoc "clk" state))]
-             [prev-a (cdr (assoc "prev-a" state))]
-             [prev-b (cdr (assoc "prev-b" state))]
-             [a-reg (cdr (assoc "a-reg" state))]
-             [b-reg (cdr (assoc "b-reg" state))]
-             [clk-ticked (and (equal? clk (bv 1 1)) (equal? old-clk (bv 0 1)))]
-             [new-a-reg (if clk-ticked prev-a a-reg)]
-             [new-b-reg (if clk-ticked prev-b b-reg)]
-             [out (list (cons "o" (bvadd new-a-reg new-b-reg)))]
-             [new-state (list (cons "prev-a" a)
-                              (cons "a-reg" new-a-reg)
-                              (cons "prev-b" b)
-                              (cons "b-reg" new-b-reg)
-                              (cons "clk" clk))])
-        (cons out new-state)))
-
-    (define outputs
-      (simulate-rosette #:function module-function
-                        #:initial-state (list (cons "a-reg" (bv 0 4))
-                                              (cons "b-reg" (bv 0 4))
-                                              (cons "prev-a" (bv 0 4))
-                                              (cons "prev-b" (bv 0 4))
-                                              (cons "clk" (bv 0 1)))
-                        #:inputs
-                        (list (list (cons "clk" (bv 0 1)) (cons "a" (bv 4 4)) (cons "b" (bv 4 4)))
-                              (list (cons "clk" (bv 1 1)) (cons "a" (bv 3 4)) (cons "b" (bv 0 4)))
-                              (list (cons "clk" (bv 0 1)) (cons "a" (bv 10 4)) (cons "b" (bv 9 4)))
-                              (list (cons "clk" (bv 1 1)) (cons "a" (bv 2 4)) (cons "b" (bv -1 4)))
-                              (list (cons "clk" (bv 0 1)) (cons "a" (bv 4 4)) (cons "b" (bv -15 4)))
-                              (list (cons "clk" (bv 1 1)) (cons "a" (bv 0 4)) (cons "b" (bv 0 4))))))
-
-    (check-equal? outputs
-                  (list (list (cons "o" (bv 0 4)))
-                        (list (cons "o" (bv 8 4)))
-                        (list (cons "o" (bv 8 4)))
-                        (list (cons "o" (bv 3 4)))
-                        (list (cons "o" (bv 3 4)))
-                        (list (cons "o" (bv -11 4)))))))
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_functional.py b/tests/functional/test_functional.py
index 7a09966d8..86eabef1e 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_functional.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_functional.py
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ def test_smt(cell, parameters, tmp_path, num_steps, rnd):
     yosys_sim(rtlil_file, vcd_functional_file, vcd_yosys_sim_file, getattr(cell, 'sim_preprocessing', ''))
 
 @pytest.mark.rkt
-def test_rkt(cell, parameters, tmp_path, num_steps, rnd):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("use_assoc_list_helpers", [True, False])
+def test_rkt(cell, parameters, tmp_path, num_steps, rnd, use_assoc_list_helpers):
     import rkt_vcd
 
     rtlil_file = tmp_path / 'rtlil.il'
@@ -83,8 +84,9 @@ def test_rkt(cell, parameters, tmp_path, num_steps, rnd):
     vcd_yosys_sim_file = tmp_path / 'yosys.vcd'
 
     cell.write_rtlil_file(rtlil_file, parameters)
-    yosys(f"read_rtlil {quote(rtlil_file)} ; clk2fflogic ; write_functional_rosette -provides {quote(rkt_file)}")
-    rkt_vcd.simulate_rosette(rkt_file, vcd_functional_file, num_steps, rnd(cell.name + "-rkt"))
+    use_assoc_helpers_flag = '-assoc-list-helpers' if use_assoc_list_helpers else ''
+    yosys(f"read_rtlil {quote(rtlil_file)} ; clk2fflogic ; write_functional_rosette -provides {use_assoc_helpers_flag} {quote(rkt_file)}")
+    rkt_vcd.simulate_rosette(rkt_file, vcd_functional_file, num_steps, rnd(cell.name + "-rkt"), use_assoc_list_helpers=use_assoc_list_helpers)
     yosys_sim(rtlil_file, vcd_functional_file, vcd_yosys_sim_file, getattr(cell, 'sim_preprocessing', ''))
 
 def test_print_graph(tmp_path):