Don't worry, my year 10 teacher wasn't much better. Fingers crossed you get someone good for year 12
Regarding essay writing, sometimes that's not the most effective way to learn. It's certainly the best way to apply your knowledge, and it's a major part of studying, but often (especially at the beginning of the year or at the start of a new unit) you're better off reading widely, researching, discussing and
thinking before you go writing essays for the sake of it.
Don't get me wrong, if what you're doing now feels like effective study then go for it, but don't feel you should be performing under year 12 type conditions. That said, a lot of students wait until their last year (or last term) to actually pay attention to english, so it's great that you're putting the effort in early.
My biggest tip would be to read
heaps. It'll give you a massive edge in year 12, and picking up new vocab is always good. My preparation in years 9, 10 and even 11 wasn't really exam-oriented. I didn't fully understand the format of the course or the marking criteria until the start of year 12, but I read a lot, which helped me develop and articulate ideas anyway. If you're looking for inspiration, I've put together a list of helpful tidbits I've come across that tie in well with context studies, but are also just worth reading, watching, or researching anyway:
CONTEXT: EXTERNAL EXAMPLES POST link[/selfpromotion]
Also, in case you're not aware, and for everyone else's benefit, the current VCE English Study Design will end at the end of next year, so class of 2016 will be the first under the
new regime.There are some interesting changes: Language Analysis and Text Response seem largely unchanged, though one of the TR SACS has to be a creative piece. The oral is now worth more, and there are some major differences to the EAL course.
And they've abolished context, replacing it with a sort of literary comparison from what I gather. You're assigned (or choose?) two texts, then write an essay contrasting them in terms of theme, character, values, messages etc.
So while I admire your ambition, don't go learning any context stuff. Hopefully they'll go easy on you for the first year
Re: SAC marks, the actualy number doesn't mean anything, aside from giving you a general indication of where you're at. What matters is your
ranking in relation to everyone else in your cohort. Provided you maintain an A/A+ average and ace the exam, there's little stopping you from getting a 50. Personally, I would have dropped a few marks on the first few SACs, but I fought my way back to rank 1 and was in the very top bunch of 50s in the end (as was the rank 2 in my class). Normally I'd say focus on the content for now anyway, but since context is gone, your TR texts will change, I suppose you could familiarise yourself with LA so you'll have an easier time? But I think concentrating on your own writing style will help the most, and like I keep saying, know where your weakspots are.
All the best