The best possible advice I can give to General English Students (SECTION A SPECIFIC)
Last year, I graduated from a shitty, underfunded public school with a raw 44 in English. Generally, I would consider myself to be pretty unmotivated, and as such, I left a lot of my studying for exams to the last minute, so trust me when I say this is the laziest study method of all time. This was also the only study I did for section A (didn't do any practice pieces but I can't say I recommend that).
This method is so perfect that I didn't end up studying for my section a piece until 5 days (being generous) before my exam!!!!
DISREGARD VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DISCUSSED IN CLASS ABOUT YOUR SECTION A TEXT – THIS IS PARTICULARLY PERTINENT IF YOU GO TO A HISTORICALLY LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOL AS YOUR ENGLISH TEACHERS HAVE TO CATER TO THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATORS-MID RANGED STUDENTS!!!
Instead, I want you to go JSTOR (or Google scholar, project muse, etc) and look up your text. There, you will find the best possible analyses of whatever you're reading/watching. Memorise the ideas discussed in these analyses (not the wording) and simply regurgitate it in your section A piece (you could even copy the structure, how would they ever know???)
VCE is not at all about having unique ideas, however, if you can stand out by incorporating in more complex and holistic thought into your writing, it's likely you will perform well. (I found that anything that discussed Freudian psychoanalysis were heavy hitters). These examiners are soooo bored of reading analyses that simply explain the universe inside the text, they are literally begging you to tie it to the broader world.
*Bear in mind- this requires a baseline proficiency in writing, it might look a bit odd if a student who is making consistent basic grammar mistakes is writing about how marriage is a sublimation of the male death-drive.....
Good luck ! (Also if anyone has any questions about We Have Always Lived in the Castle I'd be happy to answer them) :)