IQ very much is innate (though not strictly heritable — see “regression toward the mean”).
Achieving high grades is not exactly the same as having a high IQ, although a sufficiently high IQ is a prerequisite. Someone with an IQ of say, 118, who is disciplined and works hard can achieve the same high grade average or SAT score as someone with an IQ of say, 127, who is less disciplined and does not work as hard.
If you look at the IQ scores of Indian children living in India at early ages, they are lower than whites and East Asians. But if you look at grades and SAT scores in the US, Indians score higher than whites and almost up there with East Asians because, as you correctly pointed out,their parents tend to push them to work hard and achieve (and perhaps also because those who move here tend to have IQs than their average countrymen).
In the end, it’s a combination of IQ and discipline and hard work. See my #22:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4092112/posts?page=22#22
See also this IQ map:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqAShHfUYAQ4SJ-.jpg:large
Is the map mean IQs or median IQs?
I must be blessed with very high IQ because Mechanical engineers are known to be at the high end for IQ. My bachelor’s degree was from India, and masters degree from University of Iowa. In my jobs as a mechanical engineer, I was able to develop expert software to train the brainless but fanastic memory creature known as digital computer to design the machines we built. Those machines are used by auto, appliance & aircraft builders to manufacture large parts such as car bodies, car doors, wheel axels etc. The aoftware designed the entire machine in a few seconds which required many weeks with manual design procedures. After having done the design part, I branched into developing expert software for numerically controlled lathes, drills, flame cutting machines etc. This was all done by me without any guidance on what to do. My company soon drove our both major competitors out of business. It had to be high IQ I was blessed with.
