You are my inspiration omg! I'd really like to achieve a band 6 in standard English, but at the moment I'm coming 4th in the course (equal 4th with like 10 other people because there are 3 people who are equal first) and am only really average. It doesn't help that my teacher doesn't actually teach but I've got a tutor and I felt like I did alright in the half yearly - which is rare because I always feel like I've done terribly. How did you go about studying? How many practice papers and essays did you do in the lead up to exams?
Well at least you have a tutor for english! I didn't
I firstly set myself the goal of being able to write band 6 essays by the time I got to the HSC exam (this happened early year 12). In order to do this, I picked up a couple band 6 essays and started to learn the mechanics and elements of the essay. I did this by critically analysing the piece, involving tasks such as looking at how the top band student started a sentence, finished a sentence, addressed the keywords of the question etc. Once you learn what needs to be done to achieve the top band, you're set.
I created generic essays for all my modules, and learned the skill of adapting the essay to suit the question. The weeks leading up to the HSC exam, I wrote about one practice essay every 2-3 days, and would send it off to my teacher. I would read my teacher's feedback thoroughly to ensure I understood everything. I read the feedback many times to ensure I wouldn't make the same mistake, and while I was middle of the HSC exam I remained very conscious to avoid repeating those mistakes.
Also, when it came to internal exams/assignments for english, I never took any quotes or ideas the teacher supplied to the class unless it was absolutely important. I had to differentiate myself in order to stand out and top my cohort. So that's pretty much it. Just work hard, be unique, don't give up, practice and you'll achieve your goals.