diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/AndroidGradleProjectTests.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/AndroidGradleProjectTests.cs
index 7ac1aeefb41..28eeecd4d57 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/AndroidGradleProjectTests.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/AndroidGradleProjectTests.cs
@@ -582,10 +582,11 @@ public void TestFacebook () {{
 		static IEnumerable<object[]> GetAgpGradleVersionTestData ()
 		{
 			// AGP 8.5.0 with Gradle 8.7 - baseline, tests existing behavior
-			yield return new object[] { "8.5.0", "8.7" };
+			// AGP 8.5.0 only supports up to compileSdk 34
+			yield return new object[] { "8.5.0", "8.7", 34 };
 			// AGP 9.0.0 with Gradle 9.1.0 - tests the Gradle 9.x stricter Kotlin type checking fix
 			// Note: Full version "9.1.0" is required for the download URL to work correctly
-			yield return new object[] { "9.0.0", "9.1.0" };
+			yield return new object[] { "9.0.0", "9.1.0", XABuildConfig.AndroidDefaultTargetDotnetApiLevel.Major };
 		}
 
 		/// <summary>
@@ -595,9 +596,9 @@ static IEnumerable<object[]> GetAgpGradleVersionTestData ()
 		/// </summary>
 		[Test]
 		[TestCaseSource (nameof (GetAgpGradleVersionTestData))]
-		public void BindLibraryWithMultipleGradleVersions (string agpVersion, string gradleVersion)
+		public void BindLibraryWithMultipleGradleVersions (string agpVersion, string gradleVersion, int compileSdk)
 		{
-			var gradleProject = AndroidGradleProject.CreateDefault (GradleTestProjectDir, agpVersion, gradleVersion);
+			var gradleProject = AndroidGradleProject.CreateDefault (GradleTestProjectDir, agpVersion, gradleVersion, compileSdk: compileSdk);
 			var gradleModule = gradleProject.Modules.First ();
 			var moduleName = gradleModule.Name;
 
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleModule.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleModule.cs
index 47fad254fa3..ac1d2f246b3 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleModule.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleModule.cs
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {{
 			});
 			AndroidManifestContent = $@"
   <application android:label=""App"">
-    <activity android:name="".TestActivity"">
+    <activity android:name="".TestActivity"" android:exported=""true"">
       <intent-filter>
         <action android:name=""android.intent.action.MAIN"" />
         <category android:name=""android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"" />
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleProject.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleProject.cs
index 8f1454bebdb..cefda07e799 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleProject.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.ProjectTools/Android/AndroidGradleProject.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 
+using Xamarin.Android.Tools;
 
 namespace Xamarin.ProjectTools
 {
@@ -16,13 +17,13 @@ public class AndroidGradleProject
 		/// <summary>
 		/// Android Gradle Plugin version (e.g., "8.5.0", "9.0.0")
 		/// </summary>
-		public string AgpVersion { get; set; } = "8.5.0";
+		public string AgpVersion { get; set; } = "9.1.0";
 
 		/// <summary>
 		/// Gradle wrapper version to use (e.g., "8.12", "9.0").
-		/// If null or empty, the Gradle wrapper version generated by gradle init is used.
+		/// Defaults to "9.3.1" (minimum required by AGP 9.1.0). If set to null or empty, the Gradle wrapper version generated by gradle init is used.
 		/// </summary>
-		public string? GradleVersion { get; set; }
+		public string? GradleVersion { get; set; } = "9.3.1";
 
 		GradleCLI gradleCLI = new GradleCLI ();
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ public static AndroidGradleProject CreateDefault (string projectDir, bool isAppl
 		/// <summary>
 		/// Creates a default Gradle project with specified AGP and Gradle versions.
 		/// </summary>
-		public static AndroidGradleProject CreateDefault (string projectDir, string agpVersion, string? gradleVersion, bool isApplication = false)
+		public static AndroidGradleProject CreateDefault (string projectDir, string agpVersion, string? gradleVersion, bool isApplication = false, int? compileSdk = null)
 		{
 			var proj = new AndroidGradleProject (projectDir) {
 				AgpVersion = agpVersion,
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ public static AndroidGradleProject CreateDefault (string projectDir, string agpV
 				Modules = {
 					new AndroidGradleModule (Path.Combine (projectDir, "TestModule")) {
 						IsApplication = isApplication,
+						CompileSdk = compileSdk ?? XABuildConfig.AndroidDefaultTargetDotnetApiLevel.Major,
 					},
 				},
 			};