Just gonna chime in because finance sucks
Yeah i was kinda confused with the rote learning vs understanding thing for a while as well because i am in a similar situation with matcha where if i read stuff then i would generally understand/remember the stuff i was reading. Like what's stopping me from just remembering the process on how to derive simpson's formula/whatnot etc etc. Anyway I think the main difference is that with rote learning, you kinda just accept what you have read as true, without knowing why it is true (this is why in subjects like business studies/legal studies they have stuff like case studies and contemporary issues, so that people could kinda understand why/how a concept holds in irl situations).
Obviously maths would probably be the most understanding intensive subject, because if you don't understand why those concepts hold true then you're gonna get wrecked (well, for mx2 at least). Also for English sure you can go in with a memorised essay and hope for the best, but by understanding why a technique affects the audience in a certain (idk i forgot how to english so that probs isnt a good example) then you are able to better adapt to the question or just spout out a fresh answer which will probs make a pre-prepared essay with no adapting look like a potato
I guess you can even apply this to HSIE subjects like business. Like although short answers probs won't test your understanding too much (you could even say section 4 because you can basically memorise which concepts are effective in achieving business success), I'd say some multiple choice questions which give scenarios and section 3 require understanding. So yeah because i rote learned everything when i did business i kinda got steamrolled in section 3 (i think it was 13/20 or so) and in some multiple choice questions.
Probs a semi decent example of this is this forum saying that Maths in Focus is trash. An example of memorising would be just thinking MiF is shit because other people say so. Understanding would be knowing why MiF is shit and why it's questions/examples/whatever aren't as effective as Cambridge's ones.
well im done with this 5-10 min contemplation fuck finance ugh exams suck ugh
tl;dr try not to just accept that a concept is true and see why it holds true/works/how it's applied (textbooks already do a decent job in providing you and understanding that you can just memorise in the hsc anyway so lol) and hsc is great reach for the stars etc swag