I have received my first course of the second semester of my
Penn Foster College Marketing program. I
was pumped...really excited…to dive right in and plow my way through this
semester. Then, I slammed face-first
into a course called Financial Accounting.
I have to be honest with you: I’ve been working on the same chapter for two
nights now, and I absolutely HATE this course…and I’m still on the first
chapter. Part of the problem is that at
the end of the chapter, there are a bunch of accounting problems you have to
solve. Unfortunately, the text book
doesn’t explain how to solve the problems at the end of the chapter! There was a lot of reading…about 30 pages or
so…which covered the different kinds of financial statements, what they mean
and so forth. However, when you get to
the problems…well, that wasn’t really covered in the textbook. Talk about confusing!
The course forces you to recall things that were covered in
the Math for Business and Finance course…a course I vaguely recall taking about
a year ago. However, even that course
didn’t cover how to determine assets and liabilities.
The worst part is, this is a 13 chapter book. Initially, my goal was to slam through a
chapter a day, so I could finish in about two weeks, including my exams. Now…I’m not so sure. This course is not cool. It’s not cool at all.
During my first semester, I never had to call any of the
instructors at Penn Foster
College. That may very well change with this course,
especially if I keep encountering problems in the study guide not covered by
the text. I must be missing something
here. I’m a reasonably intelligent guy…really!
Looking ahead, I see I have a SECOND accounting course later
in this same semester. I’m not looking
forward to that one at all. Still, it has to be done, and I foresee many
sleepless, TV-free nights ahead.