Yes im pretty strong at english in terms of essay writing. However i believe what you're doing is the ideal way of getting band 6 and highly respect you for that!!! Memorising essays will only do you trouble!! Since the BOS has started tackling this issue very seriousily and now they're finding every trick to counter this. (Different text type conventions, mandating specific scenes or acts and etc)..
I have pre-pared essays but i also have multiple back up bodies which will counter whatever question they could ask me!! ...
I reckon for paper 1, they might be asking for a feature article this time!! They've been too generous these past years with questions!!!