Yeah I definitely try to start my assignments earlier so I have more time to edit and change things in the week leading up to the due date, but I feel like when its time for me to sit down and do it my mind goes blank on top of assignments my teachers give us a lot of practice extended responses, and because I do almost all essay-based subjects (engl adv, ext1, ext 2, pdhpe, legal and bio), I feel like I'm going to burn out really quick.
I ONLY did essay-based subjects! I know it may seem like a lot right now - but your teachers have the right idea. Getting into the habit of regularly writing practice responses is one of the BEST ways to prepare for the HSC, and in the long run, actually cuts down your workload. Writing practice essays was the only way I studied for most of my subjects, and I didn't just do them before an exam - i'd consistently write them during the "off-period" as well. That meant that I was getting feedback and realising certain problems with my writing well in advance, so that by the time it was 1-2 weeks before an exam, when other people started to hand in responses and realise issues, I had already corrected them, and was focusing on smaller stuff to push my mark into the higher ranges like detail, links, etc. I didn't feel the crazy "rush" during exam times (I did during Trials, but that wasn't really because I had an insane amount of work today, more that I just put too much emphasis on those exams in my head and it freaked me out), because I was already prepared.
In terms dealing with assignments, I used to get writers block a lot in the first term, until I realised what was actually "blocking" my writing. I didn't feel confident when I'd get an assignment task, and automatically assume that I wouldn't be able to do it/understand - almost giving my brain an excuse to not do the work because "it's impossible, i'm not going to get it so why bother" (I had a lot of other friends that felt this way as well). When I kinda forced myself to shift this attitude away from "I can't do it" to "I can try to do it" I saw a lot more progress. I realised that if I can't do something, I probably need firstly talk to my teacher, but also experiment a bit more, and be willing to write a crap draft at the beginning, but work on it until its great
My first draft for most of my assessments was pretty shit, but since I wrote the shit draft quite a few weeks in advance, I had enough time to pick it apart and improve! If your mind still goes blank, try and write out what you DO know about the topic, and start from there. You've been studying the content for how many weeks now - I'm sure you know something, even if you feel like its not that important
Write out what you do know, that work out the gaps that you need to fill in, and work towards doing that my going through your classwork, talking to your teacher, and doing your own research
Hope this helps!
Susie