SharePoint Designer Approval Workflow

Question

I have 2 level approval workflow.

The workflow starts when a user submits a form. Then an email will be sent to 1st level approver where he/she has to approve or reject.

If accepted, then it will go for the 2nd level approval.

However although it has been accepted, there will be two emails sent. (which is the 1st level approval email and 2nd level approval email. The correct email should only be the 2nd level approval email instead of sending 2 emails.

Question 2:

Another issue, in the task list, when the 1st level has been accepted, I created a column, "approval status" will be changed to accepted. But when it reaches the 2nd level which has been accepted, the approval status also changes to accepted, but the status in the task is still "Not Started"

Why is this so?

Answer 1

If the emails are for approver, then it is definitely mandatory for approval task. Without notification how can the approver knows about the task?
And If the status column is user defined then you can change the status for each level. For example Waiting for approval keep this status until the 2nd level is approved using Update List Item action. Or else you can keep 2 status like Waiting for 1st level approval and Waiting for 2nd level approval