He made us go to this conference for class but he didn't tell us where the conference is, so more than half the class showed up late. He sent an email reminding us to be on time after but showed up late to the next class. Huge emphasis on speaking - if you don't talk in class you can't make it up with other assignments. Introverts beware!

Wish he was more understanding with students and less strict and rude.

Very rude professor. My TA for this class was absolutely terrible and provided no guidance to assignments that were supposed to be discussed in section. When asked for guidance he laughed in my face. I reached out to Novak and he completely disregarded my concern and said that there was adequate help from the TA. Made me feel in the wrong. F Novak

If you are willing to put effort into a class, Novak is awesome. He's got a cool background and he's a cool guy. Tests and quizzes were very fair. Not a ton of reading. All in all very interesting and one of my favorite classes at UCSB.

Do not take a class with Novak. By far the worst class I have ever taken at UCSB. Reader was 2 in thick and if u don't know every word of it u won't get an A. Many concepts in the reader were completely made up and he doesn't explain well. Doesn't let you use laptops, class is mandatory w no exuses and he doesn't use any visual, just talks at you.

Do not take his classes. Please I am an educated student and person, this class will make you exhausted, unhappy and confused. I could not bare the thought of going to lectures because he was so hostile, rude, pretentious and just mean. Siegel was also just as unhelpful. This class was the biggest mistake of my college career & made me want to drop