<p>Aptitude and committment are both needed (I’m not sure about what Ksmarand was getting all huffy about).</p>
<p>For example, if you put me in a Physics course, I’d probably do poorly. Maybe not fail, but definitly not excel. Because, admittedly, I do not have the aptitude for the material in physics. So even if I tried really, really hard - I’d probably still do mediocre.</p>
<p>On the other side of the coin, you could put me in a history or Poli Sci course and I could probably grasp the material pretty quickly without much problem. But, if I wasn’t committed to the course, missed classes, didn’t do assignments, didn’t pay attention, didn’t do assign readings - then I’d still do poorly, regardless of my aptitude for the material.</p>