Perhaps people can relate to wishing to be a competent, if not very good, pianist, and getting onto a exams conveyor belt and feeling somewhat 1D. I took my grade 1 in November, and am taking grade 4 in a few days (and took grade 5 theory last week). I don't wish to keep chasing grades; I want exams to highlight my abilities, rather than define them! Howwever, I'm not sure how best to focus my practice for the better of my playing. Ideally, I could improve to the extent that I could bypass grade 5, and take grade 6 in the future. However, I simply don't know what to do in the absence of preparing for the exams. I've only been playing for six months, so, undoubtedly, there are gaps in my technical abilities. For instance, in terms of dexterity. And, in terms of musical knowledge, I've played nothing but Chopin preludes of my own volition, and don't know where to look. Any advice would be appreciated!

The only really difference about working for exams and not working for exams is that if you're working for exams you will probably be lot more focussed on just 3 pieces, whereas if you're not, you can play whatever you like whenever you like. Stuff like scales, sight reading and aural, you should practice regardless of exams.

My advice would be to find a competent teacher - assumimg you don't already have one.

If you do, then he/she is the best person to advise you on this. Honestly, it's next to impossible to say anything useful online in this situation. Also, a teacher will be able to advise you on all-important technical aspects, which it's all too easy to ignore if you're going ahead too quickly.

That makes sense. If only I could find a teacher!!

If you want to broaden your repertoire, perhaps you could look at some of the anthologies published by AB and others - there are several graded series, covering various different styles of music - Baroque (Bach, Handel etc) Classical (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert etc) Romantic (Chopin, Brahms, Liszt) and Modern. have a browse at you local music shop or go online - Musicroom.com.
Good luck with your exam. THere are several threads on here about how to find a teacher. You need one!