AP Chemistry Reviews for Class Taught by Peter Moskaluk

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AP Chemistry posted by Melissa Ciandella on July 30 2008 at 24:51:14

I'd have to say that this course was one of the best that I've ever taken, and I don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone considering the AP Chemistry exam. While the material itself is definitely challenging, Mr. Moskaluk is VERY helpful and will walk you through any tough areas. He also gives very quick feedback; I usually received an answer to whatever question I had within the hour!

However, this class is certainly a considerable time committment. I usually spent about 2-3 hours a day reading through the textbook, and working on the online problems. This makes it difficult to catch up once you fall behind. Having a dangerously overloaded schedule myself (due to some unexpected situations mid-year), I faced frequent days of cramming before deadlines, and several times realized that I needed extra help finishing an assignment...just hours before it was due! If you do decide to take this course, do yourself a favor and put aside 2-3 hours per day for this class. You'll get SO much more out of this class if you give yourself ample time to read through the chapter, and complete the assignments. As long as you keep that in mind throughout the year, you can look forward to a challenging, rewarding experience. The labs that Mr. Moskaluk assigns are fun and interesting, and daily quizzes posted on the site check your comprehension as you work through each section of the chapter. Anyone willing to spend a sufficient amount of time on this course will do well in it, and enjoy it too!

Superb prep for the exam! posted by Thomas Atmer on July 30 2008 at 16:06:13

This is one hefty course. Don't take AP Chem if you don't want to work hard. It is serious college stuff, but if you want to do it, I can't think of a better way to prepare for the exam than taking this course. Dr. Moskaluk even makes it fun, with cartoons and cool comments. I made the mistake of falling behind from time to time, don't do that. You end up having a ton to do if you don't do everything on time. Also, if you are stuck, shoot an email to Dr. Moskaluk, he is very accessible and helpful. I probably put in 6 hours/week, but I had more chem going into the course than probably most, so budget 10 hours/week or more. I am thinking of chem as major in college, so yes, it did enhance my interest. (I got a 5 on the exam) The course wasn't set up with communications with other students, it was very well structured assignments and truly helpful feedback on all questions from the teacher.

AP Chemistry Review posted by Meg Robertson on May 20 2008 at 16:21:18

Did you feel the course prepared you for the AP exam?

Absolutely! I don't think I could have been any more prepared. We practiced multiple choice tests and free response questions from past tests all throughout the year. The AP test was just like any other we had taken and I feel very confident about my score.

How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into the course?

Usually around 12 hours each week.

Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable?

The labs were very good and really helped me understand the material. The WebAssignments were also wonderful! I can't imagine a better way to work chemistry problems out.

Did the course enhance your interest in the subject?

Yes. I'm much more interested in chemistry, and science in general, now.

Did you find your communications with other students to be interesting or valuable?

There was very little discussion but I don't feel it hindered the course.

What sort of student would do well in this course? Would you recommend this course to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)?

I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants an excellent advanced chemistry class! The workload is very heavy so you need to be organized and responsible about committing time to each assignment. You also need to be conscientious when doing the labs which often involve working with delicate equipment or hazardous chemicals. Finally, it’s very important to ask for help when you need it. Mr. Moskaluk was a wonderful teacher and he not only answered my questions within a day or two but he also explained his answers in detail to ensure I understood the material.

AP Chem with Mr. Moskaluk posted by Carla Atwi on May 19 2008 at 15:35:04

Dear Prospective AP Chemistry Students,

I highly recommend Mr. Moskaluk's class - it is the most thorough online AP Chemistry prep course you can find! Mr. Moskaluk is an excellent teacher. His course is well-organized, and he responds quickly to questions. I really enjoyed performing some of the labs, especially the Alkaline Earth Reactions lab. This is a difficult course, but if you are willing to work hard, and certainly if you have a passion for the sciences, go for this course!

Carla Atwi

A Excellent Class! posted by Madeline Dowling on May 18 2008 at 19:47:32

The AP Chemistry Course by Mr. Moskaluk is excellent. Mr. Moskaluk is an awesome teacher who is very helpful with any questions that I ask, and usually answers questions within the day. The Webassigns are my favorite part of the course. They always contain pictures that relate to the questions, and Mr. Moskaluk usually adds something funny or cool to make them more interesting. This class has definitely enhanced my interest in chemistry. I'm going to minor or major in it now; before it wasn't even on my top ten school subjects list! While my class didn't communicate with each other too frequently, the classroom situation was a new and very good experience to have, and I knew that I could discuss the assignments with very intelligent classmates if I needed to. It was also motivating to me to be working in a class with such bright and accomplished students. A student will do well in this course if he is prepared to work hard, to study hard, and to like chemistry. I would DEFINITELY recommend this class to other students. It has been the best class that I ever took.

Time consuming, but extremely good posted by Ian Sturdy on June 21 2007 at 21:27:15

The course took me the most time of any of my PA homeschoolers classes, but not sizeably more than stated. I would estimate 2-3 hours a day, but it varied strongly based on the assignment for the week.

Most of the work was done through online assignments that could be completed at leisure, often open book, and often with multiple submissions. I found this an ideal way to learn the material as you learned by doing, rather than trying to memorize procedures and then test your memory on quizzes. Backing this up were many quizzes, mostly sections from past AP exams. Consequently, when I got to the AP exam I had seen all of the question formats and topic areas many times before.

Labs were also very well done--even though this is a home course, Mr. Moskaluk managed to get some very interesting labs into it, without stressing the availability of space or using unusual materials or equipment not included with the course. Even though we were working with dangerous chemicals, I felt that the safety instructions given where sufficient to avoid danger if followed properly.

There was little off-topic communication with other students, but I did not feel that this hindered the course as a whole.

I would recommend this course to all students, especially if they prefer to memorize by doing. There is a lot of memorization to AP Chemistry, but little of it will need to be memorized strictly by memorizing it off a page.

Excellent Class posted by David Bales on June 16 2007 at 02:06:28

Mr. Moskaluk’s AP Chemistry course was exceptional. I found the work challenging, though not frustratingly difficult, and spent about 1-2 hours per day reading, writing notes, and doing assignments. The assignments were structured very well, and because most homework was graded instantly I was able to learn from my mistakes easily. Mr. Moskaluk responded very quickly to my questions, and always gave detailed explanations. I feel that this course prepared me for this exam very well, as I had covered all the topics on the test. And also, though not a purely academic note, Mr. Moskaluk always tried to bring humor and other interesting facts into the lessons, which was a nice break when doing problems. I would advise any student who is willing to work hard to take this course.

My experience in AP Chemistry posted by Alexander Knecht on June 05 2007 at 23:14:59

This year, my sophomore year, I took AP Chemistry from PA Homeschoolers. I felt very well prepared by the end of this course, which I was not at all at the beginning. The AP exam was objectively pretty difficult, but I did quite well on it.

The students in the class were very bright, and we got to know each other on the online forum. It was quite active throughout the whole year, and we discussed various things, the majority of which were chemistry-related. We also asked the teacher questions on the forum, and in private, through a feature in the website. He was very good about answering our questions.

At the beginning of the year, we worked very hard to cover the basic concepts, and did a ton of problems on stoichiometry, gas laws, and basic calorimetry (Hess's Law). I spent over 15 hours a week.

Then we covered atomic and molecular structure, bonding, and hybridization. That was the foundation of everything we studied, and it was good to get a basic understanding of why the rest of the things we learned in the course were true. That was not as labor intensive, but it still took about 15 hours a week.

We also covered freezing and boiling point changes in solutions (road salt), vapor pressure, and some similar things in the first semester.

There was a break for Thanksgiving during the first semester, and a longer one for Christmas. After Christmas, we studied reaction rates and then reviewed for the semester exam (mostly on our own, of course).

The rest of the course from then on was mostly about chemical equilibrium (most of our work on acids and bases was just an application of this). This could be tedious at times, but at least we covered it thoroughly. There are always lots of questions on it in the AP exam.

I probably spent at least 12 hours a week in this part of the course, not counting the lab experiments, which took several hours per week. However, towards the end of the course the workload got lighter and lighter. I'm a very slow, thorough, and thoughtful worker, so I'm sure I took longer than most people to get through everything. It probably only took most people about 12 hours a week, as an estimate.

At the end, we covered some basic stuff about electrochemistry (gold plating, for example). It was only early April when we finished, and we had a month until the exam. By then, the work was essentially over, and it was just a few simple lab experiments and some review. We were thoroughly prepared for the AP exam. The AP exam on May 15 was objectively pretty hard, but I sailed through it.

There was a huge amount of work. We did lots and lots of problems on everything, and at times the work could seem endless, especially on chemical equilibrium, stoichiometry, and gas laws. There may have been some overkill, although all the problems did help to solidify things. The web program where we did most of our assignments could be a pain sometimes, since it would mark some answers as wrong with small rounding errors or when an answer was case-sensitive. It also had two little bugs that sometimes erased the answers I was trying to submit. However, it was simple and efficient, and usually worked pretty well.

The teacher was helpful, and always answered questions, although occasionally the style of his explanations was a little different than what I was looking for. The teacher was helpful, but since this is an online course, the ability to teach oneself was very important. I actually learned most of the stuff in the course from the textbook, rather than from the outlines he gave us for everything.

After we had covered some basic material, we got our lab equipment kits mailed to us later in the first semester. We did lots of interesting lab experiments. Some were tedious, but they were all fun, and it was a valuable part of the course. Some of them were things that I had done before as homeschool science projects, but it was all real chemistry. It wasn't safety-paranoid, baking-soda-and-vinegar chemistry for kids. We did a lot of real, quantitative experiments.

The most elaborate one was where we decomposed hydrogen peroxide and collected the oxygen gas from it to measure the rate of reaction. Then we laboriously analyzed the data to determine the rate constant, and even the activation energy. We worked with a lot of toxic or unhealthful substances, and used strong acids and bases extensively. In another experiment we collected gas from a cigarette lighter (I bought it, since I don't smoke), determined its molecular formula, and burned it in a spectacular explosion. It was actually quite safe, but still fun.

In summary, it was a very comprehensive course that covered everything thoroughly in a timely manner and prepared me well for the AP exam. The teacher was quite competent and experienced, and the students were bright. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get college credit for General Chemistry, is a self-learner, and is a hard worker.

This is an absolutely fabulous course! posted by Natalie Webb on June 04 2007 at 18:53:24

The class was very thorough and I felt very well prepared for the exam without any outside material. It is a very challenging course that makes the exam feel like a breeze. It was also very helpful that Mr. Moskaluk included lots of practice tests so I was very comfortable with both the multiple choice section and the free-response section. Mr. Moskaluk was extremely helpful in answering my many questions, often getting back to me within the hour. Once he even made a spreadsheet to help me on one of the assignments! He has a very funny sense of humor, often including chemistry poems, cartoons, and pictures in the weekly assignments. The lab component was great! Mr. Moskaluk sent us huge boxes of all sorts of lab equipment and chemicals. He gave us very detailed instructions on how to use the lab equipment accurately (or was that precisely?) and was careful to give us advice in using the chemicals safely. It is such fun to look back in my lab notebook and see how much we did. One day when I was working on a lab, my dad picked up my lab notebook and was glancing through it. He said it was so much better than anything he ever had in college. He got good grades in chemistry because he could remember things for the test, but he was always lost in labs! Mr. Moskaluk's labs always made perfect sense after I had "chewed" on them for awhile, and they illustrated well the material we were learning in the textbook. All in all, if you're willing to work hard, this is a really fun course! Natalie Webb, Junior, Oklahoma

Excellent class! (lots of work) posted by Brittani Russell on June 04 2007 at 18:33:46

I really enjoyed the AP Chemistry class taught by Peter Moskaluk. I learned far more chemistry than I ever thought possible in one year, and felt very prepared for the AP test weeks in advance. The material was presented in an interesting way. Most of the assignments were online, so you can know immediate whethere or not you were doing the problems correctly and have a chance to find the holes in your knowledge of the material and correct them. Also, everything was assigned well in advance, so I always could fit the work into my busy life of college visits, work, and other activities.

The class was definitely intence, there were many days when I spent three or four hours on this class. However, if you are ready for this and feel confident that you can grasp the material after reading a textbook I strongly recommend the course! (I have always taught myself science, so this was not much different than usual, but it definitely is a must!!!) Peter Moskaluk is an excellent teacher; he really knows what he is talking about. He responds extremely quickly to any questions you might have on any of the assignments, no matter what time of day. This class not only prepared me well for the AP test, but also for any other chemistry classes I might be taking in college.

ooeey gooey goodness posted by Lillian Johnson on June 03 2007 at 23:47:03

This class is excellent. I have a couple of special praises, a caveat, and one displeasing thing to report. I felt that it was very easy to get help from Mr Moskaluk despite the online format, which was a little surprising for me. He explained things very clearly and the online assignments were usually just enough practice without becoming too long; it seemed like some of the AP-exclusive topics really weren't too difficult after we covered the topics in this class. A warning: it is easy to get behind in this class, and the coarse-load can very to the extremes from week to week, so be aware that slacking off any one week will come back to haunt you later on. And, my one problem with the class... it seems like we waited too long to start on the labs (several months) and had to crunch some of them in at the end. Also, several of the experiments are quite tricky to figure out without a teacher physically in the room. Overall, I highly recommend this class and feel that it is good for AP preparation.

Exceptional Teacher and Course posted by Michael Dowling on June 03 2007 at 23:40:11

* Did you feel the course prepared you for the AP exam?

Absolutely. I felt like I received a VERY thorough knowledge of Chemistry. Mr. Moskaluk uses actual AP tests from previous years to prepare you for the AP, and I feel very confident that I scored very well on the AP exam. * How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into the course?

Typically 12-14 hours per week depending on the difficulty of the week's assignments. (Labs for me took anywhere from 2-4 hours apiece, and there was approximately one lab per week.) * Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable?

I loved the labs. They really worked, and I was able to learn many fundamental lab techniques, having fun at the same time. * Did the course enhance your interest in the subject?

Absolutely yes. I had previously been only interested in the Physics/Engineering side of science, but now, I am seriously considering Chemistry or Chemical Engineering (or double majoring). I absolutely loved this course! * Did you find your communications with other students to be interesting or valuable?

Interesting, yes. Valuable, no. However, since my main communication was with my fantastic teacher (Mr. Moskaluk), this was not a drawback whatsoever. * What sort of student would do well in this course? Would you recommend this course to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)?

I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone who:

1. Wants one-on-one personal attention and a teacher who genuinely wants to see them succeed. 2. Wants the best lab situation I believe is currently available in home-school chemistry. 3. Wants to learn chemistry out of a very well written and interesting textbook supplemented by very fun, interesting exercises provided by an excellent teacher, Mr. Moskaluk.

Anyone who does not take Mr. Moskaluk's chemistry has really missed out on one of the best courses available anywhere. I know that you will enjoy it!

Outstanding course posted by Jenny R. on June 03 2007 at 20:31:04

* Did you feel the course prepared you for the AP exam?

YES. And at the same time I was prepared to ace the AP Chemistry exam, I received an excellent college-level chemistry education.

* How many hours of work per day or per week did you generally put into the course? 10.

* Are there any particularly favorite assignments that you found especially valuable? All the Webassigns (online worksheets!) were absolutely invaluable, and especially the Free Response Questions from past AP exams. Also, this course has a LIVE lab component, instead of "virtual" labs that many other online Chemistry courses use. Mr. Moskaluk provides students with the chemicals and equipment (which is returned at the end of the school year) to perform the labs that I might not have been able to obtain working on my own.

* Did the course enhance your interest in the subject? Absolutely. I went in expecting boring lessons about atoms and electrons... and while I DID learn about these things, there was so much more!

* Did you find your communications with other students to be interesting or valuable? Yes. While I did not communicate directly with the other students, I frequently browsed the class forum when I had a question about an assignment. Often another student had asked the same question and I was able to learn from the responses.

* What sort of student would do well in this course? Would you recommend this course to other students (if they are willing to work hard!)? You must be willing to stick with it even when the going gets tough and put in the time for daily study and memorization. I highly recommend this course to any student who wishes to take an AP Chemistry course.

Finally, Mr. Moskaluk is an excellent teacher who always responded promptly and thoroughly to my many (and sometimes kind of blonde) questions.

Parent Review AP Chemistry posted by David Campbell on July 03 2006 at 14:30:42

Peter Moskaluk did an excellent job preparing his students for the AP Chemistry exam. They worked hard, but were very well prepared for the exam. What made this class most exciting was that Mr. Moskaluk included many applications of the concepts in the class to real world applications. For a subject like Chemistry it is difficult to make the subject matter fun, but he was able to include some "chemistry" cartons, poems, and fun facts. I would highly recommend this class to college bound high schoolers.

Parent Review AP Chemistry posted by David Campbell on July 03 2006 at 14:30:06

Peter Moskaluk did an excellent job preparing his students for the AP Chemistry exam. They worked hard, but were very well prepared for the exam. What made this class most exciting was that Mr. Moskaluk included many applications of the concepts in the class to real world applications. For a subject like Chemistry it is difficult to make the subject matter fun, but he was able to include some "chemistry" cartons, poems, a fun facts. I would highly recommend this class to college bound high schoolers.

Great preparation! posted by Joann Boston on June 09 2006 at 16:12:39

This was my toughest course all year, yet one of the best. I highly recommend that interested students have a good basic chemistry course first, and good math skills. I had to spend about the recommended amount of time for the course each week, and students should plan accordingly.

That being said, this course is perfectly suited to the AP exam. Throughout the entire year, Mr. Moskaluk distributed old exams, practice questions similar to the exam, and even two full actual AP Chemistry exams. By the time May arrived, I knew exactly what I was doing and felt confident that I would receive a good score. Sometimes you may feel as if you have no idea where you're going or how something is applicable, but if you have the courage to keep going, everything eventually falls into place and you will gain a good understanding.

Even if you are having trouble, Mr. Moskaluk is always willing to help and accommodate your needs. Whenever I had a question, it would almost always be answered within the same day.

In addition to the AP preparation, I found the lab parts of the course very valuable, especially for homeschooled students with limited resources to equipment. Though it's not exactly a real lab, you receive some basic tools and equipment and get a good idea of how they work and how to perform good experiments.

All in all, this course definitely got me ready for the exam, and though it was hard at times, it could also be enjoyable and interesting. If you feel ready to take on the challenge, this course will be perfect for you!

AP Chem posted by James Pang on May 28 2006 at 19:10:14

Mr. Moskaluk was a fine teacher, and the course and his teaching definitely helped me to feel prepared for the exam. There is, however, a lot of work involved, and it takes alot of organization in order to take the course itself, let alone prepare for the test. In the beginning of the year, I had quite a hard time with handing in work on time because I did not organize the workload during the week. But as the class went on, the course became much easier, just because I organized better.

As mentioned before, the type of student that should take this course is one who enjoys chemistry and organizes schoolwork well. He/she must be willing to work really hard, because this is one of the harder AP courses I've taken.

Excellent Course! posted by Elizabeth K on May 28 2006 at 17:51:47

This class was a great look at advanced chemistry. Even though a lot of people think of chemistry as a dull subject, Mr. Moskaluk made the class very fun and actually kept us laughing enough to absorb all of the information we needed for the test. Mr. Moskaluk always responded to my questions quickly and the Web Assign portion of the assignments worked very well. I want to study chemistry in college, so I enjoyed the subject already, but this class was thoroughly enjoyable and very rigorous. I self studied one other advanced chemistry course last year, and this one was far more in depth. Great explanations, lots of laughs, and excellent assignments--I can't imagine a better chemistry course.

Excellent Course posted by Elizabeth K on May 28 2006 at 17:48:01

posted by Jessica LeClair on May 24 2006 at 12:35:09

Dear Brave Souls,

(The length of my comments is a reflection of my deep attachment to this course.)

I embarked on my AP Chemistry adventure with trepidation. However, my concerns were unfounded. While I admit the material was challenging, I found a very supportive and helpful guide in Mr. Moskaluk (and his lovely wife). Mr. Moskaluk always made himself available to answer my countless questions and often went above and beyond his normal responsibilities as teacher. One morning I asked him how he would recommend making flash cards for a particular subject and he answered that afternoon with a complete set of flashcards he had created himself. His enthusiasm and quirky personality made the class (which could have been pure drudgery, as I learned from my previous chemistry class) one of my favorite courses. I was actually excited in the morning to wake up and tackle my problem set for chemistry.

That isn’t to say you won’t have to work hard. AP Chemistry requires a serious commitment of time and energy. The material is difficult and often the concepts are hard to grasp. To really get the most out of the course, you have to be willing to pursue other sources beyond your textbook and keep working problems until you really understand the material.

Although one student and I worked together on occasion on homework assignments via AIM, I had little other contact with the students in the course. While there was a message board on the site, rarely was a forum open where we could discuss problems or just chat. It was disappointing to know so little of my fellow students tackling the course alongside me. In Mr. Moskaluk’s defense, this was the first time he had offered this course. So, some of the kinks were still being worked out. Though, I was impressed at how few kinks there were given the circumstances. Also, in numerous other AP courses, I have also been disappointed by the lack of interaction between students.

Finally, on the topic of course preparation, I think the course prepared me well for the exam. Mr. Moskaluk thoughtfully concluded much of our course work several weeks before the test, giving us extra time to review. His insistence on doing countless practice tests, while a pain, in the end proved helpful. The strength of this course is in its excellent preparation for the FRQ (Free Response Question) section of the test. In this section, you are required to work various problems and show your work. The majority of our homework assignments were structured this way and we were further exposed to the format through the many, many, many practice tests we took. I didn’t feel as well prepared for the multiple-choice section. The multiple-choice questions require you to understand a concept and apply it to a new situation. Again, in Mr. Moskaluk’s defense, applying concepts has always been a difficult area for me.

Overall, the course is excellent. You will have to work hard, but Mr. Moskaluk is always there to encourage, support, and guide you. As a previously chemistry-phobic individual, I can speak to all of those who might shy away from this course. If you are willing to apply yourself and take advantage of Mr. Moskaluk’s expertise, this course is nothing to be afraid of!

Jessy LeClair