diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 86aedc4e..1ddc6774 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 **v5.3.0 (unreleased):**
 
 * Updated Otter Assign to throw a `ValueError` when invalid Python code is encountered in test cells per [#756](https://github.com/ucbds-infra/otter-grader/issues/756)
+* Fixed an error causing intercell seeding code to be added to cells using cell magic commands which caused syntax errors per [#754](https://github.com/ucbds-infra/otter-grader/issues/754)
 
 **v5.2.2:**
 
diff --git a/otter/execute/preprocessor.py b/otter/execute/preprocessor.py
index 25edf262..9a482058 100644
--- a/otter/execute/preprocessor.py
+++ b/otter/execute/preprocessor.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def add_seeds(self, nb):
 
         cells = nb.cells[1:] if skip_first else nb.cells
         for cell in cells:
-            if cell.cell_type == "code":
+            if cell.cell_type == "code" and not cell.source.startswith("%%"):
                 cell.source = f"{do_seed}\n{cell.source}"
 
     def add_checks(self, nb):