Is general chemistry required?

Yes I had to take 2 semesters of it I am a EE major.

in most colleges chem would be a requirement for your major

get a catalog of courses at your school and check your major

it should line out the necessary courses

if you are really in danger of an F and you have the time

it might be a good idea to take it later

in the meantime you should grab a text, probably a HS text would be best as they spend a lot of time on the basics

then memorize a list of ions and charges

this is the basic vocab of chem

practice writing formulas

then writing and balancing equations

take the time to learn the patterns of reactions so you can predict products just knowing reactants

stoichiometry puts the numbers to equations

learn how to do mass-mass, mass-mole, etc.

these topics are the bare minimum that will be more or less assumed as prior knowledge in most college courses

they will review them but so fast that your head will spin

you should also work on gas law problems

and balancing redox equations which is a method of handling complex equations by breaking the process into two parts: balancing electrons and balancing atoms

in short, study up the whole book and pay special attention to the above

Good Luck!

and get busy

it is not all that difficult

it's a matter 'getting comfortable' with the basics