Senior year of college. yet this still frustrates me about the periodic table

An element with a 2+ charge vs. A +2 charge....

I asked my professor whether there's a difference and he said no.

How is it so?

Be^2+ has three electrons in its valence cell, no?
Be is the third element so it have 3 electrons, one in the core shell and 1 in the valence, the two plus shows that 2 electrons were added to the valence shell in this case?

But Be^+2 would have 2 less electrons because its charge has become more positive?

What I'm confused about is that sometimes + means become more positive or lost electron

(-) is sometimes negatively charged or lost an electron.....

You never use the + or - to add or subtract electrons. Use them only to describe the charge. Be is neutrally charged (with 2 valence electrons and 4 total electrons) unless in an ionic compound where it always loses two electrons (+2 charge, 2 total electrons) to gain the noble gas configuration of He.

Electrons are negatively charged. When you lose an electron, you lose a negative charge, and the atom becomes more positive.

Be is element #4. It has 4 protons, mostly 4 neutrons, and 4 electrons. This is neutral because 4 protons with 4+ charge is paired with 4 electrons with 4- charge. +4 (+) -4 = 0.

Be 2+ has 4 protons, mostly 4 neutrons, and 2 electrons. This is +2 because 4 protons with 4+ charge is paired with 2 electrons with 2- charge. +4 (+) -2 = +2.

Hope this makes more sense. :)

Berylium has 2 electrons in it's valence shell not 3

Electrons are negatively charged

A positive charge means electrons have been lost
A negative charge means electrons have been gained

So Be^2+ means a berylium atom has lost 2 electrons, meaning it now has a full outer shell of electrons