shadowspawn

I find going to the pool/beach and submerging your legs underwater and practicing various kicks helps increase your leg strength. Plus the slowing effect the water has on your leg allows you to better see whether you're using proper technique or not. I would assume the same idea would work for pretty much everything else but, if you do decide to do this, don't try to swim after you work out. You will be too fatigued to do anything, even tread water, effectively and you could drown. Alternatively, if you have no pool/beach near you, you could do squat kicks which (when done properly) seem to help me improve/maintain my technique. Just make sure you keep your back straight and you don't touch your knees.

Pretty much this. I wouldn't "drop" any kata if I had a choice. I'd keep them all in the back of my mind and devote my study time to 4 or 5 kata.

1. No 2. No 3. Yes In the school I trained in before migrating to my current, we did have exams etc. to determine rank. I never liked it one bit and never came forward to take the exam (whether it be written, kata, etc.). In fact, I was a blue belt for years until my sensei finally approached me and told me to take the promotion exam. Because of this, I was likely performing on a black belt level while still a blue belt (7th kyu in the school I was attending at the time) but rank was never something that concerned me. That said, I agree with the above. It is the training that one should be primarily concerned with.

if you contract before the start of your technique then all it does is slowing your technique , kia should be short at the end of the techniqe into the opponent for maximum effect. Really depends on what the intent of the kiai is. If you're using it to wake your opponent up/startle them, a kiai before the technique could work to unsettle their nerves just long enough to deliver a blow. The same effect can be used if you catch them right before they're going to throw a strike of their own. The kiai has a wide variety of uses from focusing energy to taking a hit. The timing of the kiai is entirely dependent on what you're kiaing for.

Never been hit in the throat though I have received a mae geri to the groin before. It really drives home the fact that you don't really need to swing your arm all the way around from the outside as hard as you can to hurt someone if you hit in the right places.

In our style, rank is determined simply by how active you are and how long you've been a member. It determines nothing more than seniority and isn't really a gauge of how good you are in kata, sparring, etc. In my former school though, rank was determined by how well you did in tournaments with prerequisites for everything from shodan and above regarding kata and kumite. IIRC, you must place (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in an open tournament for both kata and kumite at least once in order to advance passed godan (5th degree). It really depends on the school, but one thing that remains consistent from what I've seen is that those who are of higher rank generally have more experience in the style than those of a lower rank.