It really depends on the person. I would do better in a class where I could show my understanding of the material by writing about it or using it in a project, rather than by taking exams. However, I would also need to put more effort into a class like that.
There are some of us who are good at memorizing lots of facts. Others are good at seeing patterns. I'm one of the pattern people, so I do well when my classes ask me to draw connections between ideas, understand the reasons behind things, and generally integrate facts into a network of related ideas. But if you're one of the memorizers, you might do better if you are simply memorizing the material and the connections wholesale, and then proving you've learned them by reproducing them on an exam.
If you know your own abilities and learning style, then you can probably answer this question for yourself way better than I could.
One thing I wish I could tell my younger self about classes is that I need to remember to take only as much as I can do--not theoretically on my best days, but in a realistic day full of stress, procrastination, and disorganization. So, even if I could do a lot of difficult work, it's better to take classes that demand less than my theoretical best effort. Otherwise, when I can't do the maximum possible, I would fall behind, and that would lead to more trouble.