I did separate in the HSC got a 97 HSC mark, some other people have done integrated and done well too. English teachers in some schools are really teaching poorly and therefore students are wasting time on pointless things like finding the perfect set out of an essay (which doesn't exist as there are many different approaches, as unlike maths English is a subject about interpretation rather than one answer being the correct one). Instead of putting an emphasis on the analysis, the originality of the ideas, writing flow, vocabulary etc. basically all the important things HSC markers look for, they stress on small things that are largely meaningless such as forcing their students to do integrated paragraphs, write a certain amount of words for the intro, making them do a set amount of body paragraphs, basically telling them if you don't write 1200+ you will get a poor mark. These things at the end I mentioned all play some part in your final mark but for the most part not really anything that is going to change an essay from a 14 to 18, like the first list of things I stated that teachers and by extension HSC students should be focusing on.