I was exaggerating a lot, the high school class emphasis on "copying" was a lot of master studies XD we did do a fair bit plein air and still life as well.
As a child I copied a lot because all my drawings from imagination sucked x_x but I still tried because copying couldn't get me drawing what I wanted and I wanted to be a comic artst so...
I became a 3d artist instead
I think no matter how much you do for how long you're always going to feel underdeveloped in areas XD