I think it was Thomas Edison who said, Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In other words, success (in any field) requires a lot of hard work. (True also of preparing for Scholarship exams.) Now here's another science-relevant quote…
Science isn't one success after another. It's really one success in a desert of failure (Dr Judah Folkman). Which may sound a bit harsh, but it's accurate – often, the results of the lab work you do, to test a particular hypothesis, come out negative. They don't give the predicted outcome; the experiment may not work at all. That's life. Unfortunately, that doesn't always fit well with the popular view of science, where the scientist does the experiments & Finds The Answers. (And it can be exacerbated by science publications – positive outcomes do seem more likely to get published.) I know I've said it before, but this really is an important aspect of the nature of science and it needs to be more widely recognised.