diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/assertions/response.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/assertions/response.rb
index 13a72220b334bc9475ed304dd9eeee1fdbb3ba49..b6e21b0d2895debe9b1914e691c3c64a95ebeb5d 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/assertions/response.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/assertions/response.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@ module ActionDispatch
   module Assertions
     # A small suite of assertions that test responses from \Rails applications.
     module ResponseAssertions
+      RESPONSE_PREDICATES = { # :nodoc:
+        success:  :successful?,
+        missing:  :not_found?,
+        redirect: :redirection?,
+        error:    :server_error?,
+      }
+
       # Asserts that the response is one of the following types:
       #
       # * <tt>:success</tt>   - Status code was in the 200-299 range
@@ -20,11 +27,9 @@ module ResponseAssertions
       #   # assert that the response code was status code 401 (unauthorized)
       #   assert_response 401
       def assert_response(type, message = nil)
-        message ||= "Expected response to be a <#{type}>, but was <#{@response.response_code}>"
-
         if Symbol === type
           if [:success, :missing, :redirect, :error].include?(type)
-            assert @response.send("#{type}?"), message
+            assert_predicate @response, RESPONSE_PREDICATES[type], message
           else
             code = Rack::Utils::SYMBOL_TO_STATUS_CODE[type]
             if code.nil?
diff --git a/actionpack/test/assertions/response_assertions_test.rb b/actionpack/test/assertions/response_assertions_test.rb
index 5e64cae7e22d47f71432a4be2ef952df1abf43b4..82c747680d29be95fc03a4240f1e4791b5037cb7 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/assertions/response_assertions_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/assertions/response_assertions_test.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class ResponseAssertionsTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       include ResponseAssertions
 
       FakeResponse = Struct.new(:response_code) do
-        [:success, :missing, :redirect, :error].each do |sym|
+        [:successful, :not_found, :redirection, :server_error].each do |sym|
           define_method("#{sym}?") do
             sym == response_code
           end
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class ResponseAssertionsTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
       def test_assert_response_predicate_methods
         [:success, :missing, :redirect, :error].each do |sym|
-          @response = FakeResponse.new sym
+          @response = FakeResponse.new RESPONSE_PREDICATES[sym].to_s.sub(/\?/, '').to_sym
           assert_response sym
 
           assert_raises(Minitest::Assertion) {