1. Mainstream
2. Because eng lang didn't appeal to me and lit seemed like a subject I had to put more effort into than mainstream. I was also fairly confident in my English abilities in mainstream.
3. Yeah, I do. I enjoy writing essays and I love analysing novels and poetry, so I naturally enjoyed the subject. It can get boring though, however there are a billion ways to spice it up if you aren't finding it interesting.
4. Analysing. I know this is a key element in all of the English subjects, however in mainstream you analyse articles, novels and poetry, which if you look into deep enough, you will find it very interesting. You also have a sac in year 12 that involves writing a creative piece (pretty sure this is in lit as well though). Another good thing about mainstream is that you don't need to learn anything new to do it. It's basically a harder version of year 10 English, with a few new things (analysing argument) but apart from that you won't find any surprises.
5. It can be quite confining for those who would rather not stick to contemporary essay writing and it can feel quite limiting in how you can structure your essays. It may also bet boring at some points because you already know how to do certain things but you have to do it again anyway (e.g. text response). It's also very hard to figure out if your essay is a 9/10 or a 3/10 if you have a teacher who marks very harshly or very leniently, however, this is probably true for lit as well. You must be familiar with the way VCAA marks essays and tailor your essays to a 10/10 standard (if you are aiming high).