diff --git a/toy-raft/raft/raft.go b/toy-raft/raft/raft.go
index 9f14923..0df0732 100644
--- a/toy-raft/raft/raft.go
+++ b/toy-raft/raft/raft.go
@@ -616,6 +616,14 @@ func (rn *RaftNodeImpl) handleAppendEntriesRequest(appendEntriesRequest *AppendE
 		return
 	}
 
+	// NOTE: optimization to ignore outdated requests below commit index
+	if appendEntriesRequest.PrevLogIdx < rn.commitIndex {
+		// we've matched at least up to the entries we've already achieved quorum on
+		resp.MatchIndex = rn.commitIndex
+		rn.SendMessage(appendEntriesRequest.LeaderId, resp)
+		return
+	}
+
 	// check if log state is consistent with leader
 	if appendEntriesRequest.PrevLogTerm != NoPreviousTerm {
 		// no entry exists
diff --git a/toy-raft/raft/raft_test.go b/toy-raft/raft/raft_test.go
index 21dcc10..c2e9ee1 100644
--- a/toy-raft/raft/raft_test.go
+++ b/toy-raft/raft/raft_test.go
@@ -712,14 +712,14 @@ func TestFollowerHandleAppendEntries(t *testing.T) {
 
 		// TODO: remove these vars and all like it, use req struct instead
 		var (
-			prevLogEntryIdx  uint64 = 2
-			prevLogEntryTerm uint64 = 1
+			prevLogEntryIdx  uint64 = 3
+			prevLogEntryTerm uint64 = 2
 		)
 		reqTerm = 2
 		duplicateAndNewAEReq := &AppendEntriesRequest{
 			Term:            reqTerm,
 			LeaderId:        leaderId,
-			Entries:         []Entry{{Term: 2, Cmd: []byte("baz")}, {Term: 2, Cmd: []byte("faz")}},
+			Entries:         []Entry{{Term: 2, Cmd: []byte("faz")}},
 			PrevLogIdx:      prevLogEntryIdx,
 			PrevLogTerm:     prevLogEntryTerm,
 			LeaderCommitIdx: leaderCommit,