diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller.go
index 2a0ae0b2a79..44f6f2f1e9f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller.go
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ func (ctrl *controller) Run(workers int) {
 	}
 
 	for i := 0; i < workers; i++ {
-		go wait.Until(ctrl.sync, 0, stopCh)
+		go wait.Until(func() { ctrl.sync(ctrl.queue) }, 0, stopCh)
 	}
 
 	<-stopCh
@@ -344,12 +344,12 @@ var errRequeue = errors.New("requeue")
 var errPeriodic = errors.New("periodic")
 
 // sync is the main worker.
-func (ctrl *controller) sync() {
-	key, quit := ctrl.queue.Get()
+func (ctrl *controller) sync(queue workqueue.TypedRateLimitingInterface[string]) {
+	key, quit := queue.Get()
 	if quit {
 		return
 	}
-	defer ctrl.queue.Done(key)
+	defer queue.Done(key)
 
 	logger := klog.LoggerWithValues(ctrl.logger, "key", key)
 	ctx := klog.NewContext(ctrl.ctx, logger)
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller_test.go
index a8d2f24748d..4747a6ff348 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/controller_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
@@ -340,16 +341,13 @@ func TestController(t *testing.T) {
 			) {
 				t.Fatal("could not sync caches")
 			}
-			_, err := ctrl.(*controller).syncKey(ctx, test.key)
-			if err != nil && test.expectedError == "" {
-				t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
-			}
-			if err == nil && test.expectedError != "" {
-				t.Fatalf("did not get expected error %q", test.expectedError)
-			}
-			if err != nil && err.Error() != test.expectedError {
-				t.Fatalf("expected error %q, got %q", test.expectedError, err.Error())
+
+			var m Mock[string]
+			m.SyncOne(test.key, ctrl.(*controller).sync)
+			if diff := cmp.Diff(Mock[string]{}, m); diff != "" {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected state of mock work queue after sync (-want, +got):\n%s", diff)
 			}
+			// TODO: replace test.expectError with expectations for the state of the work queue.
 			claims, err := kubeClient.ResourceV1alpha3().ResourceClaims("").List(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
 			require.NoError(t, err, "list claims")
 			var expectedClaims []resourceapi.ResourceClaim
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/mock_queue_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/mock_queue_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..08474b0652c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation/controller/mock_queue_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package controller
+
+import (
+	"slices"
+	"time"
+
+	"k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue"
+)
+
+// TODO (pohly): move this to k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue/workqueue.go
+// if it turns out to be generally useful. Doc comments are already written
+// as if the code was there.
+
+// MockQueue is an implementation of [TypedRateLimitingInterface] which
+// can be used to test a function which pulls work items out of a queue
+// and processes them.
+//
+// A null instance is directly usable. The usual usage is:
+//
+//	var m workqueue.Mock[string]
+//	m.SyncOne("some-item", func(queue workqueue.TypedRateLimitingInterface[string]) { ... } )
+//	if diff := cmp.Diff(workqueue.Mock[string]{}, m); diff != "" {
+//	    t.Errorf("unexpected state of mock work queue after sync (-want, +got):\n%s", diff)
+//	}
+//
+// All slices get reset to nil when they become empty, so there are no spurious
+// differences because of the nil vs. empty slice.
+type Mock[T comparable] struct {
+	// Ready contains the items which are ready for processing.
+	Ready []T
+
+	// InFlight contains the items which are currently being processed (= Get
+	// was called, Done not yet).
+	InFlight []T
+
+	// MismatchedDone contains the items for which Done was called without
+	// a matching Get.
+	MismatchedDone []T
+
+	// Later contains the items which are meant to be added to the queue after
+	// a certain delay (= AddAfter was called for them).
+	Later []MockDelayedItem[T]
+
+	// Failures contains the items and their retry count which failed to be
+	// processed (AddRateLimited called at least once, Forget not yet).
+	// The retry count is always larger than zero.
+	Failures map[T]int
+
+	// ShutDownCalled tracks how often ShutDown got called.
+	ShutDownCalled int
+
+	// ShutDownWithDrainCalled tracks how often ShutDownWithDrain got called.
+	ShutDownWithDrainCalled int
+}
+
+// MockDelayedItem is an item which was queue for later processing.
+type MockDelayedItem[T comparable] struct {
+	Item     T
+	Duration time.Duration
+}
+
+// SyncOne adds the item to the work queue and calls sync.
+// That sync function can pull one or more items from the work
+// queue until the queue is empty. Then it is told that the queue
+// is shutting down, which must cause it to return.
+//
+// The test can then retrieve the state of the queue to check the result.
+func (m *Mock[T]) SyncOne(item T, sync func(workqueue.TypedRateLimitingInterface[T])) {
+	m.Ready = append(m.Ready, item)
+	sync(m)
+}
+
+// Add implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) Add(item T) {
+	m.Ready = append(m.Ready, item)
+}
+
+// Len implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) Len() int {
+	return len(m.Ready)
+}
+
+// Get implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) Get() (item T, shutdown bool) {
+	if len(m.Ready) == 0 {
+		shutdown = true
+		return
+	}
+	item = m.Ready[0]
+	m.Ready = m.Ready[1:]
+	if len(m.Ready) == 0 {
+		m.Ready = nil
+	}
+	m.InFlight = append(m.InFlight, item)
+	return item, false
+}
+
+// Done implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) Done(item T) {
+	index := slices.Index(m.InFlight, item)
+	if index < 0 {
+		m.MismatchedDone = append(m.MismatchedDone, item)
+	}
+	m.InFlight = slices.Delete(m.InFlight, index, index+1)
+	if len(m.InFlight) == 0 {
+		m.InFlight = nil
+	}
+}
+
+// Shutdown implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) ShutDown() {
+	m.ShutDownCalled++
+}
+
+// ShutDownWithDrain implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) ShutDownWithDrain() {
+	m.ShutDownWithDrainCalled++
+}
+
+// Len implements [TypedInterface].
+func (m *Mock[T]) ShuttingDown() bool {
+	return m.ShutDownCalled > 0 || m.ShutDownWithDrainCalled > 0
+}
+
+// AddAfter implements [TypedDelayingInterface.AddAfter]
+func (m *Mock[T]) AddAfter(item T, duration time.Duration) {
+	m.Later = append(m.Later, MockDelayedItem[T]{Item: item, Duration: duration})
+}
+
+// AddRateLimited implements [TypedRateLimitingInterface.AddRateLimited].
+func (m *Mock[T]) AddRateLimited(item T) {
+	if m.Failures == nil {
+		m.Failures = make(map[T]int)
+	}
+	m.Failures[item]++
+}
+
+// Forget implements [TypedRateLimitingInterface.Forget].
+func (m *Mock[T]) Forget(item T) {
+	if m.Failures == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	delete(m.Failures, item)
+}
+
+// NumRequeues implements [TypedRateLimitingInterface.NumRequeues].
+func (m *Mock[T]) NumRequeues(item T) int {
+	return m.Failures[item]
+}