Assembler:
Kewl. But, I think that the attitude formula covers being academic.
If a guy goes in with the attitude, "I WILL become a doctor, and NOTHING will stop me. I will study for the MCATS so HARD my BRAIN will EXPLODE into CONFETTI", and truly does have that attitude, he would probably study well. It doesn't have to be the psych up directly before the test.
That's why they say you succeed in life with attitude, because attitude controls everything you do.
The counter argument is saying that for academics that one also needs certain skills of memorization and, depending what you're studying, logical and reasoning skills. But I think you could make a strong counter counter argument to that by saying, if someone has the strong attitude and not these skills, his attitude might make him try to hone those skills with books or mental exercises. The attitude argument can go on forever like this.
Which doesn't really matter, since you can probably equally make a similar argument on most traits, like happiness or something.
-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com
