diff --git a/IPython/testing/iptest.py b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
index d3b5091..654f590 100644
--- a/IPython/testing/iptest.py
+++ b/IPython/testing/iptest.py
@@ -232,6 +232,11 @@ def make_exclude():
                   ipjoin('lib', 'inputhook'),
                   # Config files aren't really importable stand-alone
                   ipjoin('config', 'profile'),
+                  # The notebook 'static' directory contains JS, css and other
+                  # files for web serving.  Occasionally projects may put a .py
+                  # file in there (MathJax ships a conf.py), so we might as
+                  # well play it safe and skip the whole thing.
+                  ipjoin('frontend', 'html', 'notebook', 'static')
                   ]
     if not have['sqlite3']:
         exclusions.append(ipjoin('core', 'tests', 'test_history'))