This same thing has been going on for many decades. When I was taking pre-engineering courses 30 years ago, my Asian friends had to get higher scores than I did to get accepted into the same schools. They had quotas and the Asians were over represented in engineering programs.
These guys were very smart, very motivated and very dedicated and it had little if anything to do with memorizing questions for entrance exams. People can believe what they want about the reasons why they do so well. My guess is that it is a combination of factors.
guy one goes to all the parties , watches sports and TV all day then the night before the big exam finally studies a few hours.
Guy 2 studies 10 hours every day with full determined focus to pass the exam
who would you bet will get a higher grade? #2 of course.
intelligence means nothing . it's about hard work,determination ,persistence and focus
Well, three that you named, starting with the first!