diff --git a/IPython/config/loader.py b/IPython/config/loader.py
index 743e0b5..c528fa8 100644
--- a/IPython/config/loader.py
+++ b/IPython/config/loader.py
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ class CommandLineConfigLoader(ConfigLoader):
             # This case happens if the rhs is a string.
             value = rhs
 
-        exec u'self.config.%s = value' % lhs
+        exec(u'self.config.%s = value' % lhs)
 
     def _load_flag(self, cfg):
         """update self.config from a flag, which can be a dict or Config"""
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ class ArgParseConfigLoader(CommandLineConfigLoader):
     def _convert_to_config(self):
         """self.parsed_data->self.config"""
         for k, v in vars(self.parsed_data).iteritems():
-            exec "self.config.%s = v"%k in locals(), globals()
+            exec("self.config.%s = v"%k, locals(), globals())
 
 class KVArgParseConfigLoader(ArgParseConfigLoader):
     """A config loader that loads aliases and flags with argparse,
diff --git a/IPython/config/tests/test_loader.py b/IPython/config/tests/test_loader.py
index e5fac3e..fe9638a 100644
--- a/IPython/config/tests/test_loader.py
+++ b/IPython/config/tests/test_loader.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class TestConfig(TestCase):
 
     def test_builtin(self):
         c1 = Config()
-        exec 'foo = True' in c1
+        exec('foo = True', c1)
         self.assertEqual(c1.foo, True)
         c1.format = "json"
     
diff --git a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
index 095da68..a24b1f3 100644
--- a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
@@ -2461,7 +2461,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):
     def ex(self, cmd):
         """Execute a normal python statement in user namespace."""
         with self.builtin_trap:
-            exec cmd in self.user_global_ns, self.user_ns
+            exec(cmd, self.user_global_ns, self.user_ns)
 
     def ev(self, expr):
         """Evaluate python expression expr in user namespace.
@@ -2842,7 +2842,7 @@ class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):
             try:
                 self.hooks.pre_run_code_hook()
                 #rprint('Running code', repr(code_obj)) # dbg
-                exec code_obj in self.user_global_ns, self.user_ns
+                exec(code_obj, self.user_global_ns, self.user_ns)
             finally:
                 # Reset our crash handler in place
                 sys.excepthook = old_excepthook
diff --git a/IPython/core/magics/config.py b/IPython/core/magics/config.py
index 39a493f..6a3fb89 100644
--- a/IPython/core/magics/config.py
+++ b/IPython/core/magics/config.py
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class ConfigMagics(Magics):
         # leave quotes on args when splitting, because we want
         # unquoted args to eval in user_ns
         cfg = Config()
-        exec "cfg."+line in locals(), self.shell.user_ns
+        exec("cfg."+line, locals(), self.shell.user_ns)
 
         for configurable in configurables:
             try:
diff --git a/IPython/core/magics/execution.py b/IPython/core/magics/execution.py
index 692519f..75e16f2 100644
--- a/IPython/core/magics/execution.py
+++ b/IPython/core/magics/execution.py
@@ -977,7 +977,7 @@ python-profiler package from non-free.""")
         tc = clock()-t0
 
         ns = {}
-        exec code in self.shell.user_ns, ns
+        exec(code, self.shell.user_ns, ns)
         timer.inner = ns["inner"]
 
         if number == 0:
@@ -1100,7 +1100,7 @@ python-profiler package from non-free.""")
             end = clock2()
         else:
             st = clock2()
-            exec code in glob, local_ns
+            exec(code, glob, local_ns)
             end = clock2()
             out = None
         wall_end = wtime()
diff --git a/IPython/core/pylabtools.py b/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
index f1bc1ee..c500106 100644
--- a/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
+++ b/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
@@ -275,12 +275,12 @@ def import_pylab(user_ns, import_all=True):
           "np = numpy\n"
           "plt = pyplot\n"
           )
-    exec s in user_ns
+    exec(s, user_ns)
     
     if import_all:
         s = ("from matplotlib.pylab import *\n"
              "from numpy import *\n")
-        exec s in user_ns
+        exec(s, user_ns)
     
     # IPython symbols to add
     user_ns['figsize'] = figsize
diff --git a/IPython/core/tests/test_inputsplitter.py b/IPython/core/tests/test_inputsplitter.py
index 526475b..9957d8c 100644
--- a/IPython/core/tests/test_inputsplitter.py
+++ b/IPython/core/tests/test_inputsplitter.py
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ class InteractiveLoopTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         """
         src = mini_interactive_loop(pseudo_input(lines))
         test_ns = {}
-        exec src in test_ns
+        exec(src, test_ns)
         # We can't check that the provided ns is identical to the test_ns,
         # because Python fills test_ns with extra keys (copyright, etc).  But
         # we can check that the given dict is *contained* in test_ns
diff --git a/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py b/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
index 7e68570..5f71559 100644
--- a/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
+++ b/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class FakeShell(object):
             self.auto_magics.pre_run_code_hook(self)
         except TryNext:
             pass
-        exec code in self.ns
+        exec(code, self.ns)
 
     def push(self, items):
         self.ns.update(items)
diff --git a/IPython/external/decorator/_decorator.py b/IPython/external/decorator/_decorator.py
index e01c5a4..b1f0233 100644
--- a/IPython/external/decorator/_decorator.py
+++ b/IPython/external/decorator/_decorator.py
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ class FunctionMaker(object):
         try:
             code = compile(src, '<string>', 'single')
             # print >> sys.stderr, 'Compiling %s' % src
-            exec code in evaldict
+            exec(code, evaldict)
         except:
             print('Error in generated code:', file=sys.stderr)
             print(src, file=sys.stderr)
diff --git a/IPython/kernel/zmq/ipkernel.py b/IPython/kernel/zmq/ipkernel.py
index 7dc6fcc..0977f3f 100755
--- a/IPython/kernel/zmq/ipkernel.py
+++ b/IPython/kernel/zmq/ipkernel.py
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ class Kernel(Configurable):
             working.update(ns)
             code = "%s = %s(*%s,**%s)" % (resultname, fname, argname, kwargname)
             try:
-                exec code in shell.user_global_ns, shell.user_ns
+                exec(code, shell.user_global_ns, shell.user_ns)
                 result = working.get(resultname)
             finally:
                 for key in ns.iterkeys():
diff --git a/IPython/lib/demo.py b/IPython/lib/demo.py
index 0c1fa8e..c0b4787 100644
--- a/IPython/lib/demo.py
+++ b/IPython/lib/demo.py
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ class Demo(object):
     def run_cell(self,source):
         """Execute a string with one or more lines of code"""
 
-        exec source in self.user_ns
+        exec(source, self.user_ns)
 
     def __call__(self,index=None):
         """run a block of the demo.
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
index 275c406..4b16f58 100755
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ class IPControllerApp(BaseParallelApplication):
         for s in statements:
             try:
                 self.log.msg("Executing statement: '%s'" % s)
-                exec s in globals(), locals()
+                exec(s, globals(), locals())
             except:
                 self.log.msg("Error running statement: %s" % s)
 
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
index 4bc5719..5906b9e 100755
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ class IPEngineApp(BaseParallelApplication):
             try:
                 self.log.info("Initializing MPI:")
                 self.log.info(mpi_import_statement)
-                exec mpi_import_statement in globals()
+                exec(mpi_import_statement, globals())
             except:
                 mpi = None
         else:
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/controller/dependency.py b/IPython/parallel/controller/dependency.py
index 02ee8fa..8d07d43 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/controller/dependency.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/controller/dependency.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def _require(*modules, **mapping):
     user_ns = globals()
     for name in modules:
         try:
-            exec 'import %s' % name in user_ns
+            exec('import %s' % name, user_ns)
         except ImportError:
             raise UnmetDependency(name)
             
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/util.py b/IPython/parallel/util.py
index cf0824a..f36eaa6 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/util.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/util.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def _push(**ns):
     try:
         for name, value in ns.iteritems():
             user_ns[tmp] = value
-            exec "%s = %s" % (name, tmp) in user_ns
+            exec("%s = %s" % (name, tmp), user_ns)
     finally:
         user_ns.pop(tmp, None)
 
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ def _pull(keys):
 @interactive
 def _execute(code):
     """helper method for implementing `client.execute` via `client.apply`"""
-    exec code in globals()
+    exec(code, globals())
 
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # extra process management utilities
diff --git a/IPython/utils/py3compat.py b/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
index 91d5ec7..a2bca3c 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/py3compat.py
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
     def execfile(fname, glob, loc=None):
         loc = loc if (loc is not None) else glob
         with open(fname, 'rb') as f:
-            exec compile(f.read(), fname, 'exec') in glob, loc
+            exec(compile(f.read(), fname, 'exec'), glob, loc)
     
     # Refactor print statements in doctests.
     _print_statement_re = re.compile(r"\bprint (?P<expr>.*)$", re.MULTILINE)
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ else:
                 filename = unicode_to_str(fname)
             else:
                 filename = fname
-            exec compile(scripttext, filename, 'exec') in glob, loc
+            exec(compile(scripttext, filename, 'exec'), glob, loc)
     else:
         def execfile(fname, *where):
             if isinstance(fname, unicode):