This.
The really significant thing that the top universities like USyd and UNSW have going for them are the elite undergraduate students they have. I.e. More competition = More Improvement.
I agree with you in regards to random people who go around trying to get sex but friendship is not really something linear personally anyway - it can be spontaneous and natural at the same time. All it takes is just one off-the-cuff comment.
Well personally, I only wrote a handful of essays during the HSC - the vast majority of my time was spent just thinking about the different texts and what ideas I could construct from them. Fortunately, I had an awesome teacher with whom I had several deep discussions over the course of the year...
Yeah I suppose so but teachers still know about Advanced/Standard prescribed texts though but you're probably right.
You can never go wrong with NGE but Absolutezero has a good point too - good films are probably a bit better than good anime; at least to the mind of a 50-something marker.
I think the general consensus, for Advanced anyway, is to try and avoid films altogether if possible. My teacher encouraged me to use novels, poetry and even websites or artwork ahead of film but it's really up to you I guess.
Now also selling detailed 20+ page dot-point summaries for specific topics covered in Ancient History, Biology & Chemistry:
http://community.boredofstudies.org/...d.php?t=253937