RIAM Theory and Harmony help needed!!!

Porcupine98

Hi everyone. I'm hoping to sit my RIAM Theory & Harmony grade 8 exam this November. Up to this point I've been self-taught, I did my grade 1 exam last November and grade 5 exam this May.
Anyway I bought past papers and have learned the paper layout and Ive gone through the "Music Workout" books up to and including grade 8. However I am at a complete loss.

To all those who have taken this exam, I have a few questions. I'd appreciate any advice that anyone can give me at all

1. What is a good chord pattern or rhythm pattern to use for the treble over a given bass/bass under a given treble question? There are so many different variations of chords and inversions I really don't know which ones work and which ones don't.

2. Are there any good patterns to use for the 16 bar melody question? I've basically been doing this: 1-4 are the given bars, 5-8 are the same melody copied, 9-12 are different including a modulation and bars 13-16 are the same melody as bars 1-4 but repeated at a higher or lower pitch. A fairly simple method but extremely boring and I really need to get as many marks as I can in that question. Any tips?

3. Any advice on the instrument transposition question(s) in the Score Analysis section would be appreciated I often get confused by it.

4. Any websites with short detailed summaries of music in the Romantic Era would be very helpful, I have several bits and pieces of summaries but nothing really I can just learn off word for word and write down if needed.

Thanks in advance :-)

Porcupine98

Hate to post again but I really need help :S