diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index a1c0576520..be3223394c 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ def on_start(
             span: The :class:`opentelemetry.trace.Span` that just started.
             parent_context: The parent context of the span that just started.
         """
+        ...
 
     def on_end(self, span: "ReadableSpan") -> None:
         """Called when a :class:`opentelemetry.trace.Span` is ended.
@@ -122,9 +123,11 @@ def on_end(self, span: "ReadableSpan") -> None:
         Args:
             span: The :class:`opentelemetry.trace.Span` that just ended.
         """
+        ...
 
     def shutdown(self) -> None:
         """Called when a :class:`opentelemetry.sdk.trace.TracerProvider` is shutdown."""
+        ...
 
     def force_flush(self, timeout_millis: int = 30000) -> bool:
         """Export all ended spans to the configured Exporter that have not yet
@@ -137,6 +140,7 @@ def force_flush(self, timeout_millis: int = 30000) -> bool:
         Returns:
             False if the timeout is exceeded, True otherwise.
         """
+        ...
 
 
 # Temporary fix until https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint/issues/4098 is resolved
@@ -273,7 +277,7 @@ def force_flush(self, timeout_millis: int = 30000) -> bool:
             timeout, False otherwise.
         """
         futures = []
-        for sp in self._span_processors:  # type: SpanProcessor
+        for sp in self._span_processors:
             future = self._executor.submit(sp.force_flush, timeout_millis)
             futures.append(future)
 
@@ -377,7 +381,7 @@ class ReadableSpan:
     def __init__(
         self,
         name: str,
-        context: Optional[trace_api.SpanContext] = None,
+        context: trace_api.SpanContext,
         parent: Optional[trace_api.SpanContext] = None,
         resource: Optional[Resource] = None,
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
@@ -621,12 +625,12 @@ def __init__(
         max_span_attribute_length: Optional[int] = None,
     ):
         # span events and links count
-        self.max_events = self._from_env_if_absent(
+        self.max_events = self._from_env_if_absent_with_default(
             max_events,
             OTEL_SPAN_EVENT_COUNT_LIMIT,
             _DEFAULT_OTEL_SPAN_EVENT_COUNT_LIMIT,
         )
-        self.max_links = self._from_env_if_absent(
+        self.max_links = self._from_env_if_absent_with_default(
             max_links,
             OTEL_SPAN_LINK_COUNT_LIMIT,
             _DEFAULT_OTEL_SPAN_LINK_COUNT_LIMIT,
@@ -642,7 +646,7 @@ def __init__(
             else _DEFAULT_OTEL_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT
         )
 
-        self.max_span_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent(
+        self.max_span_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent_with_default(
             max_span_attributes,
             OTEL_SPAN_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT,
             (
@@ -651,7 +655,7 @@ def __init__(
                 else _DEFAULT_OTEL_SPAN_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT
             ),
         )
-        self.max_event_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent(
+        self.max_event_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent_with_default(
             max_event_attributes,
             OTEL_EVENT_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT,
             (
@@ -660,7 +664,7 @@ def __init__(
                 else _DEFAULT_OTEL_EVENT_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT
             ),
         )
-        self.max_link_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent(
+        self.max_link_attributes = self._from_env_if_absent_with_default(
             max_link_attributes,
             OTEL_LINK_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT,
             (
@@ -713,6 +717,13 @@ def _from_env_if_absent(
             raise ValueError(err_msg.format(env_var, value))
         return value
 
+    @classmethod
+    def _from_env_if_absent_with_default(
+        cls, value: Optional[int], env_var: str, default: int
+    ) -> int:
+        value_from_env = cls._from_env_if_absent(value, env_var, default)
+        return value_from_env if value_from_env is not None else default
+
 
 _UnsetLimits = SpanLimits(
     max_attributes=SpanLimits.UNSET,
@@ -998,7 +1009,7 @@ def __exit__(
                 self.record_exception(exception=exc_val, escaped=True)
             # Records status if span is used as context manager
             # i.e. with tracer.start_span() as span:
-            if self._set_status_on_exception:
+            if exc_type and self._set_status_on_exception:
                 self.set_status(
                     Status(
                         status_code=StatusCode.ERROR,
@@ -1110,11 +1121,14 @@ def start_span(  # pylint: disable=too-many-locals
         context: Optional[context_api.Context] = None,
         kind: trace_api.SpanKind = trace_api.SpanKind.INTERNAL,
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
-        links: Optional[Sequence[trace_api.Link]] = (),
+        links: Optional[Sequence[trace_api.Link]] = None,
         start_time: Optional[int] = None,
         record_exception: bool = True,
         set_status_on_exception: bool = True,
     ) -> trace_api.Span:
+        if links is None:
+            links = ()
+
         parent_span_context = trace_api.get_current_span(
             context
         ).get_span_context()
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b6970c666d..f4d300fcca 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ exclude = [
   "opentelemetry-sdk/tests",
   "opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/_events",
   "opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/metrics/_internal/",
-  "opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py",
   "opentelemetry-sdk/benchmarks",
   "exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests",
 ]