I discovered the difference in these two types of students much later than I would have liked: last year of college. I like you, felt like I really needed to understand the material to do well, and I did, but there were so many students at discussion sections and office hours with much shallower understandings who would perform better on exams and assignments. These students often ask questions like, “is it always the case…” looking for a hammer they can apply to all similar problems rather than trying to understand nuances. Learning how to get an A in the course is very different than learning the course material.