Charming Brogan:wave:
I think natural talent helps. But I think the HSC is more a measure of how much effort one puts in, rather than intelligence. I'll give you my own example;
I pretty much suck at maths. (band 4 - eek!) I didn't care in SC, but I've since put an enormous amount of effort in and got ranked 4th last year in 2U. (Not sure what im coming this year - rankings haven't been finalised) which meant, my ranking was higher than one of the students selected for extension 2.
I think this proves that effort > intelligence.
That being said, while I may have the ability to do 3U, never could I do 4. I don't have that intelligence.