Ralph & Bev Shock  

Introduction to Enriched Chemistry:

Chemistry is the study of matter and its chemical and physical properties.
Chemistry and Physics are often called the central sciences , because the properties, forces, interactions and behavior of all phenomena can be studied, analyzed and modeled through these two disciplines.
Chemical and Physical interactions are at the very foundation of biology, geology, engineering, genetics, ecology, and even psychology. Therefore, it is imperative that every educated and informed person have a basic understanding of these two disciplines.

Being a successful chemistry student:

Just as in mathematics, unless you learn and understand the basics you cannot move on to more advanced topics. For example you cannot be proficient in trigonometry if you do not understand algebra and you cannot be proficient in calculus unless you are proficient in trigonometry and algebra.
As in math you can "pay" now with hard work and discipline to learn the basics so that you will succeed later or you can slack off early and pay later with a poor grade.

What are the basics:

You must learn to write chemical formulas which means memorizing the most common polyatomic ions and their charges.
You must be able to write chemical formulas from chemical names and write chemical names from their formulas.
You must memorize the most common types of chemical reactions.
You must be able to balance chemical reactions.
You must be able to do factor label problems.

Beyond the basics:

Much of chemistry deals with accounting for matter and energy, this is called stoichiometry. Stoichiometry requires average algebra skills.
If you are particularly weak in math you will have a very difficult time in chemistry.