diff --git a/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestData.fs b/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestData.fs
index 49db14a7..c53ef789 100644
--- a/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestData.fs
+++ b/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestData.fs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 namespace Tests
 
+open System
 open System.IO
 open NUnit.Framework
 open Furnace
@@ -54,6 +55,10 @@ type TestData () =
         Assert.AreEqual(classesCorrect, classes)
         Assert.AreEqual(classNamesCorrect, classNames)
 
+    // Note: Removed problematic MNIST constructor tests that required network access
+    // The MNIST constructor immediately downloads data, so unit testing its properties 
+    // is not feasible without network access or modifying the implementation
+
     [<Test>]
     member _.TestCIFAR10Dataset () =
         // Note: this test can fail if https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~kriz website goes down or file urls change
diff --git a/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestReferenceUtils.fs b/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestReferenceUtils.fs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76daccd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Furnace.Tests/TestReferenceUtils.fs
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016-     University of Oxford (Atılım Güneş Baydin <gunes@robots.ox.ac.uk>)
+// and other contributors, see LICENSE in root of repository.
+//
+// BSD 2-Clause License. See LICENSE in root of repository.
+
+namespace Tests
+
+open System
+open Furnace
+open Furnace.Backends.Reference
+open NUnit.Framework
+open Tests.TestUtils
+
+[<TestFixture>]
+type TestReferenceUtils () =
+    
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesFloat32() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on float32 tensors
+        let values = [|1.0f; 2.0f; 3.0f; 4.0f|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorFloat32(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<float32>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(1.0f, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(4.0f, extracted.[3])
+    
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesInt32() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on int32 tensors
+        let values = [|10; 20; 30; 40|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorInt32(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<int32>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(10, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(40, extracted.[3])
+    
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesFloat64() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on float64 tensors
+        let values = [|1.5; 2.5; 3.5; 4.5|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|4|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorFloat64(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<float64>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(1.5, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(4.5, extracted.[3])
+    
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesBool() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on bool tensors
+        let values = [|true; false; true; false|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorBool(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<bool>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(true, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(false, extracted.[3])
+    
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesByte() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on byte tensors
+        let values = [|255uy; 128uy; 64uy; 0uy|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|4|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorByte(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<byte>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(255uy, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(0uy, extracted.[3])
+
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesInt8() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on int8 tensors
+        let values = [|127y; -128y; 0y; 42y|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorInt8(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<int8>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(127y, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(42y, extracted.[3])
+
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesInt16() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on int16 tensors
+        let values = [|1000s; -1000s; 0s; 32000s|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|4|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorInt16(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<int16>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(1000s, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(32000s, extracted.[3])
+
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesInt64() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on int64 tensors
+        let values = [|1000000L; -1000000L; 0L; 9223372036854775807L|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorInt64(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<int64>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(values, extracted)
+        Assert.AreEqual(4, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(1000000L, extracted.[0])
+        Assert.AreEqual(9223372036854775807L, extracted.[3])
+
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesWrongType() =
+        // Test that casting to wrong type throws exception
+        let values = [|1.0f; 2.0f; 3.0f; 4.0f|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|2; 2|]
+        let tensor = RawTensorFloat32(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        // This should throw when trying to cast float32 tensor to int32 values
+        isException (fun () -> tensor.GetTypedValues<int32>())
+
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesScalar() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on scalar tensors
+        let values = [|42.0f|]
+        let shape = Shape.create [||]  // scalar shape
+        let tensor = RawTensorFloat32(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<float32>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(1, extracted.Length)
+        Assert.AreEqual(42.0f, extracted.[0])
+        
+    [<Test>]
+    member _.TestGetTypedValuesEmpty() =
+        // Test GetTypedValues extension method on empty tensors
+        let values = [||]
+        let shape = Shape.create [|0|]  // empty tensor
+        let tensor = RawTensorFloat32(values, shape, Device.CPU) :> RawTensor
+        
+        let extracted = tensor.GetTypedValues<float32>()
+        Assert.AreEqual(0, extracted.Length)
\ No newline at end of file