I usually find that its swings and roundabouts to be honest.
You get the youngsters mainly who only need to be shown once how to do something and grasp it then get bored when you practise. Then you get normal people who some things click and others don't but practise makes things better.
But then move on to the Nav side of things its the otherway round. The folk that struggled on the handling side come into thier own and the hot sticks struggle to find the largest loch in the UK.
Everyone is different, worrying about your progression is by far the biggest hand brake on your progression that there is. Go flying have a laugh enjoy yourself. If you muck something up have a laugh, call yourself a pillock and do it again.
O and its not uncommon for a first flight trial flight to pull off a reasonable landing getting talked through it. Then a few lessons on not be able to do it with exactly the same patter. Personally I thinks because with a bit of knowledge they are thinking to much and not doing exactly what they are told. So it sounds to me you are a perfectly normal mature PPL student
