I managed to get good marks with no hard work or study (Heck, I never turned up for like 2-3 months before the exams). My strategy was make stuff up and bullshit. This is what I did in languages, for the technical subjects, (which made up pretty much all of my overall marks) I just figured them out when I got there. Although, due to this strategy, I failed French... They don't like it in higher level French when you make your own words up, even when they do sound like they could be French.
As for bullshitting, I never read my English novels, plays, or watched the film. Sure, I forfeit all the knowledge of medium marks. But I keep all my quality of writing marks and conveying of ideas. So I got a B in the end. :3
TL;DR: Do not listen to, nor try what I did.