I have not specifically had my son answer essay questions yet. Perhaps I should think about covering that. However, he writes short essays all the time and lots of 3 paragraph narrations, so I think he has the skills to do it.
As far as notes go, I taught him last year how to take notes as part of writing. So for a while, I had him take notes from something once per week instead of a narration.
I did use Survey of Astronomy to teach study skills. It was the first year he wrote science tests and since they were all scheduled in the daily lesson plans, he knew when they were coming and he studied for them. I also had him follow the syllabus on his own since it’s so nicely laid out, so that was part of learning organizational skills, too.
I don’t know how these things fit in to a CM education, but I figured they were important so I found ways to work them in on my own.