Is this for Chem 101/General Chemistry I or the second semester too?

Both. First-semester material (stoichiometry, atomic structure, bonding, gases) and second-semester material (thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, acids and bases, electrochemistry) are covered.

Can it help with lab reports and error analysis?

It can talk through the calculations behind a lab — percent yield, standardisation of a titrant, calorimeter constants, propagating uncertainty — and help you explain why your result deviated. It does not write the report.

I passed high school chemistry but I'm drowning in college chem. What changed?

Usually the pace and the shift to multi-step quantitative problems with no scaffolding. Sessions focus on the decision-making — which relationship applies here — rather than re-teaching definitions you already know.

How is this different from an organic chemistry session?

General Chemistry is quantitative and covers the whole periodic table: moles, energy, equilibrium, and electron behaviour. Organic chemistry is mechanism- and structure-focused on carbon compounds and is handled as a separate topic.

General Chemistry

College Intro · Science

General Chemistry is the two-semester sequence most science, engineering, and pre-health majors take first. It runs from atomic structure and stoichiometry through bonding and gas behaviour in the first term, then thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, acid-base chemistry, and electrochemistry in the second. The difficulty is rarely the individual concepts — it is that problems arrive as multi-step word problems where you must decide what quantity is being asked for, convert everything to moles, and track units and significant figures without losing the chemical reasoning underneath. Evelyn Tutor works through these problems out loud with you, asking what your next step is rather than showing you a worked solution to copy.

Start a session on General Chemistry

What this covers

Stoichiometry with limiting reagents, percent yield, empirical vs. molecular formulas, and solution molarity dilutions
Electron configuration, quantum numbers, and using periodic trends (ionization energy, atomic radius, electronegativity) to predict behaviour
Lewis structures, formal charge, resonance, VSEPR geometry, hybridisation, and molecular polarity
Thermochemistry: enthalpy of reaction via Hess's law and formation enthalpies, calorimetry calculations, and the sign conventions for q and w
Equilibrium and acid-base work: ICE tables, Ka/Kb, pH of weak acids and buffers, Henderson-Hasselbalch, and titration curve regions
Kinetics and electrochemistry: rate laws from initial-rate data, integrated rate laws and half-life, balancing redox half-reactions, and cell potentials with the Nernst equation

Where learners get stuck

Treating the mole as a mass unit rather than a counting unit, so balanced-equation coefficients get applied to grams instead of moles: Molar mass is introduced as a conversion factor at the same time as the mole itself, and students memorise the arithmetic pattern without internalising that coefficients are particle ratios. It surfaces as wrong answers in limiting-reagent and titration problems specifically.
Assuming a strong acid and a weak acid at the same concentration give the same pH, or that 'weak' means 'dilute': Concentration and dissociation extent are two independent variables, but both are described in class with the vague word 'strength'. Students then skip the ICE table entirely and use pH = -log[HA] for acetic acid.
Believing Le Chatelier's principle changes the value of K when pressure or concentration shifts: Shifts and K-values are taught in adjacent lectures, and 'the equilibrium moves' sounds like the constant moved too. Only temperature changes K — everything else changes Q on the way back to the same K.
Confusing spontaneity with speed when interpreting a negative ΔG: Everyday use of 'spontaneous' implies 'fast'. Thermodynamics says nothing about rate, so students conclude a reaction with a large negative ΔG must have a small activation energy.

What a session looks like

Sessions are spoken, one-on-one, and problem-driven. You bring a problem set, a lab calculation, or a topic you are behind on, and Evelyn asks what the question is actually asking before any numbers are used. Expect to be stopped and asked to justify a step — why moles here, why that half-reaction is the oxidation, why the ICE table starts with those values. Multi-part problems get broken into stages so you can see where your own reasoning diverged. You can also ask for a quick verbal check of periodic trends, polyatomic ions, or sign conventions before a quiz.

Helpful to know first

Comfort with algebra: solving for an unknown, manipulating logarithms, and using the quadratic formula
Scientific notation, unit conversion, and significant-figure rules
Familiarity with the periodic table layout and common element symbols
High school chemistry helps but is not assumed — the sequence restarts from atomic structure

Questions

Is this for Chem 101/General Chemistry I or the second semester too?: Both. First-semester material (stoichiometry, atomic structure, bonding, gases) and second-semester material (thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, acids and bases, electrochemistry) are covered.
Can it help with lab reports and error analysis?: It can talk through the calculations behind a lab — percent yield, standardisation of a titrant, calorimeter constants, propagating uncertainty — and help you explain why your result deviated. It does not write the report.
I passed high school chemistry but I'm drowning in college chem. What changed?: Usually the pace and the shift to multi-step quantitative problems with no scaffolding. Sessions focus on the decision-making — which relationship applies here — rather than re-teaching definitions you already know.
How is this different from an organic chemistry session?: General Chemistry is quantitative and covers the whole periodic table: moles, energy, equilibrium, and electron behaviour. Organic chemistry is mechanism- and structure-focused on carbon compounds and is handled as a separate topic.