This course is an extension of level 1. There was a bit of a gap between level 1 and level 2, therefore, a few weeks prior I had to give myself a refresher by doing some of the statements and trail balance sheets (Quickbooks does this for me, however, I needed to refresh myself on the mechanics).
Arlene was my level 2 instructor. Her methods of teaching and assigning the homework differs than Jennifer's whom I had in level 1. It took me about 2 classes to get used to Arlene's teaching methods, however, over all I find her class a lot easier to navigate.
The assignments aren't as labour intensive as level 1. Most of the assignments in level 2 are what I already did in level 1 with a few exceptions added.
I've been less stressed in this class due to less official homework assigned. This has allowed me to take constructive notes and re-read the chapter during the week at my leisure.
Most of the assignments and additional reading outside class time is about a 6 - 9 hour weekly investment. I don't have any children, marriage or distractions, therefore, I was able to accomplish this during the work week with an entire weekend for myself for extra practice above and beyond what is expected of me. Also studying on the bus helps.
I found it helpful to xerox the chapter summarizes and would read those on the bus (without having to lug the whole text book with me).
Level 1 was very focused on formatting that I missed the methodology. Arlene is very heavy on the "why we do this" rationality which paints a clearer picture of the book keeping process.
The textbook used is the same as Level 1, however, 3 chapters are missing. Arlene gives you the xerox's of these chapters for you on day 1. Only 1/2 a chapter is really used from the original text book recommended. In other words the text book is almost useless after the 2nd class. The reason why Arlene gives you the chapters is 'cause Pearson's makes you pay an additional fee on top of what you already paid for the book just to access these on-line chapters which is not moral (I wrote a separate review on them).
Unlike Jennifer's class, Arlene doesn't publish the answers to the practice questions in the assignment, however, she will advise and lead you in the right direction if errors were made on your hand in assignments. She doesn't mark so heavily on format unlike level 1 but more or less on the understanding of the process. She will grant you a re-do if she notices that you're struggling with the concept of a certain topic.
She is very intuitive and is good about reading people's faces in class to determine if something is being understood or not. She bases this real time assessment in how she explains certain topics/examples.
During the week when I had an assignment question or needed clarification she was good about answering her e-mails within a day or two.
The cost of the class was $255 plus tax. You do not need any additional textbooks as you can use the same one as level 1. The workbooks are useless as there are plenty of templates on google. If you're password is still valid on the Langara site you can access your level 1 templates no problem.
Here is where this class failed. The test. I have no issue with taking tests especially if it's a valid indication & assessment of what I've learned during those 6 weeks.
The majority of the test is on partnerships and corporations which seems irrelevant considering that this has very little to do with the actual book keeping process itself. It's nice to have this information in your back pocket, however, with book keeping it's about the actual fundamentals and extensions of the process itself. More likely a book keeper isn't going to need to know or give a sh*t about the partnership and corporations portion.
I studied a lot by reading the chapters, doing the self quizzes at the end of each chapter, doing the homework twice before handing it in as practice, re-writing my own notes based on the in class lesson(s) and made self quizzes for myself. I felt that the test was too heavily concentrated on something that in the real world would mean very little and left out important topics that needed to be quizzed like more expansion on read more
