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Unless you're one of the few really, really, smart people, studying/working hard is required for the 4.0.
As said before, the best way to study isn't necessarly just memorizing for hours. I've found in math that if I take my own notes from the book, I will understand the subject at hand much better than if I just copied lecture notes. I can usually reverse engineer any of the odd problems I have trouble with to understand the concept.
Studying trends/methods is a great way to improve in math/history. Two weeks prior to taking the AP Chemistry test, I unplugged my computer and had my parents hide the cord so I would get some studying done (although I sorta replaced it with tv~). I found that if I sat down and really analyzed step by step how to do things and work it out myself, it retains much better. Develop a system for problems and make sure to get the basics down.
History is a breeze for me. Except for the first month, I pretty much never read our history book in my AP U.S. history class. I still managed to get an A all three trimesters though. It's probably mostly due to being able to memorize historical facts well, but I think it also has a lot to do with just the way I approach history. Look at everything from a prespective of themes/trends, then you will be able to guess what is going on in a specific time period even if you don't know what happened.
English is my most difficult subject. I really think that there is only one thing that will really improve english writing and comprehension skills -- read, read, read, and read more. Go up to the people who got As on their essays, ask them when they started the essay and how much time they spent on it, and then ask them how often they read/read as a child. If anybody says they just wrote the essay the night before it was due they probably read very often. Unfortunately, I can count the amount of books I've read outside of classes in the past few years with both my hands -- and I'm usuaslly too lazy to make drafts for my essays.
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