<p>Do the gen Chem professors follow the order of the chapters in the textbook or do they skip around?</p>
<p>For the first semester, they like to start with Quantum, etc, so they do happen to jump around quite a bit. That being said, you don’t really need the textbook that much. You can however use it for supplemental reading and it’s pretty useful because the professors tend to just assign reading passages during the year anyway.</p>
<p>OP instead of reading the book, I would recommend you brush up on some physics topics instead, particularly E&M statics and concepts that deal with energy (potential, kinetic) in mechanics. This will be particularly helpful in first semester General Chemistry I which definitely have some physics concepts that are necessary.</p>