When I plan for practice questions, I find it hard to apply the plans to questions in the real exam because they're not exactly the same. How can I help this?

Rather than planning for different exam-style questions, focus on planning for a topic. A topic can be defined as either a theme, character or plot-thread that is easily identifiable. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, you can seperate topics by themes (such as love, mortality, youth, family); characters (such as Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt); or plot-threads (such as the death of Mercutio, the secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet, the fake suicide of Juliet).  Within these, you should plan by focusing on important literary techniques and how the author uses these techniques n order to create an effect related specifically to the chosen topic:  For example (theme of 'love'): "love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs" (A1S1) - Shakespeare uses the dichotomous extended metaphor to portray love as both a fragrant perfume and a toxic poison filling the air with each breath. This highlights love's contradictory nature and foreshadows how it will result in both the uplifting and fatal experience of the protagonists of the play. When planning, avoid being overly specific and it will make it easier for you to adapt your plans to different styles of exam questions.