Aside from gifted individuals able to perform complex calculations in their head, I'm wondering if proficiency in mathematics, namely calculus and algebra, has really got to do with one's natural inclination towards sciences, if you can put it that way. A number of students in my calculus course pick up material in seemingly no time whereas I, personally, have to spend time thinking about and understanding most concepts. Even then, if a question that requires a bit more 'imagination' comes up I don't always recognize the concepts behind it, as is the case with calculus proofs, for instance. Nevertheless, I refuse to believe that I'm simply not made for it. I do very well in programming and software engineering courses where a lot of students struggle. At first I could not grasp what they found to be so difficult, but eventually I realized that having previous programming experience is a great asset -- once I've seen and made practical use of the programming concepts learning about them in depth in an academic setting became much easier as I have then already seen their use "in the wild". I suppose I'm hoping that something similar happens with mathematics -- perhaps once the practical idea behind a concept (which authors of textbooks sure do a great job of concealing..) is evident, understanding the seemingly dry and symbolic ideas and proofs would be more obvious? I'm really not sure. All I'm sure of is I'd like to get better at calculus, but I don't yet understand why some of us pick it up easily while others have to spend considerable amounts of time on it and still not have complete understanding if an unusual problem is given.