Hello again BoS,
I completed my Higher School Certificate in 2014, achieving the following results;
English Advanced: 96/100
English Extension I: 49/50
English Extension II: 46/50
Mathematics: 95/100
Mathematics Extension I: 43/50
Chemistry: 92/100
Biology: 93/100
I received an ATAR of 99.35...
1. Of course, you've only had one assessment task so far
2. Again, yes
3. I try and translate the information I read into notes I understand - which means making notes takes a long time, however I've noticed it improves my recall and understanding significantly. So I'd go with the former.
4...
I'd say the biggest surprise for me (and for a few other people, it seems) was EE2. The best you can do is hope for markers that like your MW I suppose.
Then: I wanted to be an ornithologist or a wildlife photographer. And then for a time I also wanted to be a pathologist/anesthesiologist/plastic surgeon.
Now: I'd like to be some kind of lawyer.
I only got tutoring for 3U maths, which was my worst subject that also ended up not counting. imo it wasn't worth it, though to be fair I always disliked maths and was less likely to try hard than subjects I liked and did better at.
I have to agree, I dropped to 11 because I thought being on 12/13 would drag down my ATAR. My friend doing 13 units ended up with 99.85, which was in the end significantly higher than my ATAR. I think this may have had something to do with the fact I tended to waste the huge amounts of spare...
Just find a few techniques here and there and be all "this stark contrast/poignant symbol/etc. is reflective of the discovery of blah blah blah", seemed to work for me :D