This study examines how incoming students as well as educators of an introductory college chemistry course evaluate and describe the level of student preparation. Data collection was based on individual and focus group interviews of 11 undergraduate students as well as two university chemistry educators from California State University Long Beach.

Chemistry educators generally described the incoming students as unprepared in terms of student skills, conceptual understanding, depth versus breadth, and basic chemical and scientific principles. Incoming chemistry students generally described themselves as unprepared for introductory chemistry in terms of academic rigor and laboratory experiences. The findings of this study have implications for primary and secondary science educators in terms of teaching science content and providing laboratory experiences. Further discussion includes aspects of Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.