Questions about studying (Foreigner)

[chocomel]

Hello,

I'm from Europe and I've been intrigued by the fact that America has such a good work ethic. In europe(Holland) we dont have any prestige schools and these big tests(LSAT/SAT/GMAT) that determine your life do not exist. We go to high school(3 different tiers).
1 -> university,
2-> HBO (less then university)
3 -> MBO(hand work).
Thats it, nothing to it. About 13% of the population does university, and they dont even look at your grades when you apply.

Now I browse these forums and people are studying for months at for this test. I was wondering the following;

Assume a person gets a 140 LSAT score by nature(learned for 3 days). After that he decides to put all his effort into it (drills the type of questions asked) and gets a 165 LSAT after 4 months of work every day.

Does this actually make you smarter? Example in my class; There are few students(Students A) who put in alot of work and get A's. Why? They learn learn learn and learn. Good for them, they managed to get an A on the course. The thing is; when you ask anything THATS NOT in the material, they shut down. They know certain concepts, drilled the questions of the prepariation material and understood that. But when new material arrives they dont have the "intelligence?" to understand it right of the bat while other students do(Students B).

Good grades show motivation, which is a good thing for an employer. The problem I'm having though is; how will Student A perform in a business which requires him to learn new concepts/material at a relatively fast pace? Will he crack? How will he perform compared to students B?

How will someone perform at a Top 5 law school (because he got a LSAT 178) while his initial LSAT score was 140? And more importantly how will he function as a lawyer itself?

Or is there not much difference in difficulty level between a school in a top 5 and a top 100 school except the prestige?

This has been mind boggling me for quiet some time. I remember reading an article that your raw intelligence doesnt improve after you're 20 +/-. If all you do is memorize/drill material, will it even be worth it concidering you're fighting over a job with all those smart kids? You'll have a good work ethic, but needing 200hours+ for a job that can be done in 20 hours wont benefit anyone.

I'd love to hear your opinions about this!

Cheers.