He is GOATED. If you don't get an A or B in this class it's your fault, he makes it so easy for you.

Quite literally the easiest class I've ever taken but honestly so boring. If you're looking to fill your area F GE this is your class.1 paper and 3 mandatory concerts with a super easy write up after. Cooley was an interesting dude- he didn't really lecture much and would have guests often but when he did it was always a little odd but he is sweet.

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

he was so so boring during lecture. its an easy class due to it just being attendance and an 800 word paper, plus 3 outside concerts. but at the cost of snooze fest lecture. just sit in the back and zone out and attend section and youll be good

Ezz class but he doesnt have a clear rubric and you just gotta ask ur TA to help if you want a guidline. Dont even have to rlly pay attention in class either since its mainly off 3 concerts u attend and an essay at the end and then a section project

Really chill class, lots of guest speakers in lecture, tracked attendance but really light workload, one 800 word paper and final presentation, no tests or quizzes, overall was a good GE experience

Such an easy class. Don't get me wrong, annoying at times, but so simple. The reading notes suck for the first half of the class. Other than that all you have to do are the 2 group presentations and 2 group papers, then just show up to class and act engaged. He primarily grades on completion. Very, very chill prof and class for the most part.

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!

Easiest class I've ever taken at UCSB. Cooley is a simple and fun guy; there's only a two things you need to do to get an A+: 1. Participate. Act Excited. Show you're engaged in some way. He'll love you immediately. 2. Be on top of group work. Every Cooley class is group project heavy. They're super easy, but you have to do them.

Professor Cooley was one of my favorites while at UCSB. Gave me a ton of help in working on my senior thesis. Would absolutely have taken more classes with him given the opportunity.

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

I honestly don't know why the previous reviews for Novak have been so bad; he's fine. He is a little pretentious, but he really appreciates participation and he's done a lot of interesting things. Raise your hand often and give your input and he'll respect you a lot for it. There is a b******* group project. But other than that, decent class.

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

The class is very confusing and he is not helpful. Novak has a condescending attitude towards students and does not answer questions. Look out for group projects, class participation and unclear essay prompts. I could not wait to get out of this class.

He's a terrible professor with a pretentious attitude. Every time a student would ask a question, he would answer condescendingly and not even answer. His lectures are long and dry--boring with absolutely no energy. His voice is even monotonous. Not only is there a LOT of reading material, his tests pick on the tiniest details. Not an easy grader.

He means well, but he's kind of boring, and spends time most lectures going over some personal story related to music. Lots of pop quizzes. Also be warned, this class only spends about the last 2 weeks on more recent pop culture, the class covered pop culture throughout all music history, kinda disappointing.

Great teacher for a small class! He encouraged discussion and was very helpful. The concepts were challenging but the class itself was pretty easy. No tests, and easy essays.

Terrible professor, he was very boring and sometimes a bit creepy... The whole class felt uncomfortable. I was looking forward to a music class, but he now made me have my doubts about enjoying music at all. DO NOT TAKE A CLASS WITH HIM! You can get a good grade, but its going to be a lot of hard, boring work for an overly pompous professor.

I was about to drop this class but a cute girl I knew in the class was there so i stayed. honestly, worst decision. Novak is very unhelpful and very sarcastic when you ask questions. When explaining the midterm and final he was no help. So i beg you even if there is a cute girl stay away from Novak's class.

Stressful because of pop quizzes every 2 weeks but TAs were very helpful. It wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be but it is reasonably eye-opening. I didn't think his sense of humor was as bad as everyone says it is

The class was taught by a different professor previous to my quarter, so I was expecting to sail through the class as my friend had. Novak was overly strict and very unclear with the material that was to be on the midterm and final exams. I had to take this class as a major requirement, otherwise I would not recommend it.

Horrible prof, reads right off of his notes and is really boring. Slides are not very informative, he goes all over the place. 50% of grade is on pop quizzes, which are poorly written. Success in this class is based on quality of TA. Also, he thinks he is really funny but has a horrible sense of humor.