Doubts about following ABRSM curriculums

I am writing to ask for some advice because I am having doubts about the way I am learning piano.

I started ~3 years ago with a different teacher who moved away and I’ve been with my current teacher for about a year.

My current teacher is following ABRSM curriculums quite closely and all her students are doing exams. I also did the Grade 5 piano performance one, as I trusted her suggestion that doing an exam would be a useful learning experience. I got a Merit and was satisfied with that.

However, we drilled those 4 pieces for some ~5 months and I got quite sick of them by the end. I also didn’t really learn anything else during that time.

It felt very inefficient to learn like that and it just doesn’t feel right. I haven’t studied any other subject like this, by just drilling a few things to death.

After the performance grade I also said I want to improve my aural skills, so we have been doing some of that, but still she mainly focuses on the ABRSM syllabus. It feels not very useful because it doesn’t have interval training — eventually I would like to be able to identify intervals to the point where I can play a melody by ear.

I feel like there are many practical things missing from ABRSM: no ensemble training, no improvisation training, no interval training for aural. I got a distinction in the Grade 5 theory exam but still feel like I don’t know enough to do basic improvisation from a lead sheet.

Do those things come later, and is there something I am missing by dismissing these exams? Or should I just take control and focus on these skills above in particular in our classes? The problem there is that I don’t quite know where to start covering those areas.

As for my long term goal: eventually I would like to be able to play in a small group with other hobbyists. I play from sheet music, almost never from lead sheets.