In this edition, Leo Michels continues to offer a review of math concepts and basic chemical principles with an emphasis on the mathematical and conceptual skills needed for preparatory and general chemistry. The book is divided into frames, each of which contains questions and problems with answers that appear on the same page, allowing students to grasp each new idea before proceeding to more difficult material. The book also includes self-evaluation tests, which appear at the end of each unit with the answers appearing in the back of the book. Michels uses SI units and current abbreviations for measurements and addresses the calculator.

This book works as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to a preparatory chemistry text such as Morris Hein and Susan Arena's Foundations of College Chemistry, 10th and 7th Alternate Editions.