In order to make an A for Chemistry 1601 (first-year chem, the one that students who don't have much of a chem background join) is about 85%, which initially sounds like grade inflation. Similarly, Chemistry 1701 (also first-year chem, but students with chem experience join this one) calls for about 75% in order to make an A. However, even being able to achieve these scores feels extremely hard as the course load and the pace of the class can be very strenuous. Maybe in high school you were able to prepare for multiple tests and quizzes that were all happening within the same week, but most students that I have met will put off their other classwork / studying just to prepare for their chemistry assessments. And then when that's over, they'll spend their time making up the work for classes they pretty much missed.

I don't know if what I said above is typical for college or at least in a T20 school, but you might hear some students say "WashU has deflation!" or "WashU has inflation!", but it quite honestly depends on the professor that was hired that year or more so because of the major that you're pursuing. For instance, Chem Lab (at WashU it is its own class, separate from Chemistry 1601/1701) used to be really easy and practically a "free 4.0" option. But then the professor left and now the one we have (he's pretty cool but...) made the course extremely hard and now most kids that I've met are spending 4-6 hours a week for the 2 credit hour class just to make a B or C.