Look carefully during conversations for a prompt at the top left area of the screen. Quickly press LT when the wings appears for extra Paragon points. Quickly press RT when the star appears for extra Renegade points.
After completing a character's loyalty mission, you can unlock a new skill for use by the main character. To pick or change which skill you are using, simply complete the "Advanced Training" research upgrade on your ship. On your first character, you will need to train to use these skills, but on every character made or imported after unlocking these skills you can pick them immediately upon creation.
Go to the Local Cluster and proceed to survey Uranus. Instead of the usual "Probe Launched," the voice will instead make Uranus jokes such as "Probing Uranus" or "Really Commander?"
Successfully complete the game. You can start a new game session with a cleared saved game file with the following bonuses: choose Loyalty Bonus Skill at the start; retain Skill Points from first session; retain level and experience points from first session; Renegade/Paragon points reset to neutral; +25% experience bonus for all characters; and your previous weapons and armor (but no upgrades); 200,000 Credits, and 50,000 of each resource.
Travel with Tali and Garrus, the recurring party members. Eventually they will have a conversation about the elevators. Garrus will fondly remember the interesting conservations they had about Quarrians. Tali gets very upset about to the point of threatening Garrus with her shotgun to stop.
When scanning a planet, do not hold the LT. Instead, tap LT rapidly until you see a blip on the scanner. Then, go back over the area holding LT to find the best location to send the probe.
Move the pointer to the left or the right of the planet you want to scan. Press the Left Analog-stick and Right Analog-stick in the same direction to double the spin speed of the planet. This allows you to locate resources on the grid line quickly.
Notice after you press Y, the planet information screen on the right will tell you if the scan of planet reveals if it is "Rich", "Moderate", or "Poor". Rich planets typically give about 10+ good scan for ores. Ore yields vary from 1,500 to 3,000. Moderate will give about 8+ good scans, but around 35% to 55% yield compared to rich planets. Poor will give 5+ scans with yields 5% to 25% compared to rich planets. Note: If there is an anomaly on the planet (usually a rich planet) and you land before you scan, typically the Star Map on the Normandy will put you in a strange location away from the anomaly planet. Go back and rescan to get your ores.
Have a saved game file from the original Mass Effect and use that profile in Mass Effect 2 to get the following bonuses: experience points based on your previous level; resources for weapon and armor upgrades; and Paragon and Renegade Points (including a bonus if you have the maximum amount of either Paragon or Renegade points).
To find easy mining planets, go to the Micah system in the Vallhallan Threshold. Look for the three planets hidden in the asteroids. They are all "Rich" planets with a lot of materials to help with upgrades.