Loding only active_record for rspec model tests

I want to speed up my model tests. After seeing this Testing ActiveRecord in isolation - iain.nl, I thought it could be achieved if i can only require the active_record rather than loading the spec_helper.rb, which loads the whole Rails stack for every test file.

I am using rspec-rails with factory_girl.

But so far its not working for me. Every time i run a single file the whole migrations are getting run, which is not acceptable.And before the whole migrations run i am getting some errors.

Anybody have a better idea?

Don't run rspec command? Use Guard and keep on developing letting it tell you when tests fail and pass rather than caring about the 1 second, it's inefficient to stop and run rspec when you can let Guard do it and backtrack, because at least then you didn't waste the seconds going to the terminal, typing the command, waiting and then crying (not that you cried but I would - actually, I would probably flip a table while crying like a baby because I would be mad I not only had to wait but that a test failed.)

You can also use Guard + Spork or just Spork which will preload your entire Rails app switching up changed pieces making your tests run faster, but note that Spork breaks SimpleCov (by design, probably not by intention as kinda implied by the massive ticket discussion -- at least to me.) To me losing SimpleCov was a big no-no so I developed the aforementioned attitude where I develop and keep on developing backtracking as I need to (because Guard says a test failed) rather than waiting and fixing and wasting time.