diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
index cdeb00be9a426..3bd74c1e4f681 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/lib/schedule.ts
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ export abstract class Schedule {
    * Construct a schedule from an interval and a time unit
    */
   public static rate(duration: Duration): Schedule {
-    const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
-    if (!validDurationUnit.includes(duration.unitLabel())) {
-      throw new Error("Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day' or 'days'");
-    }
     if (duration.isUnresolved()) {
+      const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
+      if (!validDurationUnit.includes(duration.unitLabel())) {
+        throw new Error("Allowed units for scheduling are: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day' or 'days'");
+      }
       return new LiteralSchedule(`rate(${duration.formatTokenToNumber()})`);
     }
     if (duration.toSeconds() === 0) {
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
index ca0fb69812b10..324b2f8243c97 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-applicationautoscaling/test/test.cron.ts
@@ -20,10 +20,16 @@ export = {
     test.done();
   },
 
-  'rate must not be in seconds'(test: Test) {
+  'rate can be in seconds'(test: Test) {
+    const duration = appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(120));
+    test.equal('rate(2 minutes)', duration.expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate must not be in seconds when specified as a token'(test: Test) {
     test.throws(() => {
-      appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(1));
-    }, /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day' or 'days'/);
+      appscaling.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 })));
+    }, /Allowed units for scheduling/);
     test.done();
   },
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
index c12afde30aa01..a3fcbaf399283 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/lib/schedule.ts
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ export abstract class Schedule {
    * Construct a schedule from an interval and a time unit
    */
   public static rate(duration: Duration): Schedule {
-    const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
-    if (validDurationUnit.indexOf(duration.unitLabel()) === -1) {
-      throw new Error('Allowed unit for scheduling is: \'minute\', \'minutes\', \'hour\', \'hours\', \'day\', \'days\'');
-    }
     if (duration.isUnresolved()) {
+      const validDurationUnit = ['minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'];
+      if (validDurationUnit.indexOf(duration.unitLabel()) === -1) {
+        throw new Error("Allowed units for scheduling are: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'");
+      }
       return new LiteralSchedule(`rate(${duration.formatTokenToNumber()})`);
     }
     if (duration.toSeconds() === 0) {
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
index 72fe340242924..23fe7e2a2ce3e 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.rule.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ export = {
 
   'Seconds is not an allowed value for Schedule rate'(test: Test) {
     const lazyDuration = cdk.Duration.seconds(cdk.Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
-    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'/);
+    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed units for scheduling/i);
     test.done();
   },
 
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export = {
     const lazyDuration = cdk.Duration.millis(cdk.Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 }));
 
     // THEN
-    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed unit for scheduling is: 'minute', 'minutes', 'hour', 'hours', 'day', 'days'/);
+    test.throws(() => Schedule.rate(lazyDuration), /Allowed units for scheduling/i);
     test.done();
   },
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
index e9c24a51c92b2..2d9728e743202 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-events/test/test.schedule.ts
@@ -80,4 +80,18 @@ export = {
         .expressionString);
     test.done();
   },
+
+  'rate can be in seconds'(test: Test) {
+    test.equal('rate(2 minutes)',
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(120))
+        .expressionString);
+    test.done();
+  },
+
+  'rate must not be in seconds when specified as a token'(test: Test) {
+    test.throws(() => {
+      events.Schedule.rate(Duration.seconds(Lazy.number({ produce: () => 5 })));
+    }, /Allowed units for scheduling/);
+    test.done();
+  },
 };