Everyone seems to assume that it's harder to learn a novel than the speeches. I studied 5 speeches in depth, Lincoln, Keating, King, Socrates and Pearson and I can assure you that there was a hell of a lot more to study and remember than there was for Ballard's "Empire of the Sun." The thing is that when you're asked to write an essay about a novel, you only really focus on certain bits and techniques, while in speeches they expect you to know just about everything about a given speech. Also, have you seen the speeches booklet? The pages are much bigger than those of a novel, and some of the speeches, Cicero in particular, may as well be novels anyway.
The specification of 3 speeches actually suited me but I can understand that others were unsettled. If a lot of those who studied speeches lost marks because of this, does that mean they'll mark the essay easier? I know in the sciences that if everyone stuffed up a question they go back and consider adjusting the severity of the marking.
I did Adv. English through Distance Ed and my teacher basically told me to know all the speeches reasonably well. It is perhaps a bit ironic that I've been given better advice than that apparently given out by all the selective schools in Sydney.