Ace says that Deuce is “barely staying above a failing grade,” but with Azul’s study guide of Book 3 he earns an 88 on a test, saying, “I never thought l’d see the day I scored over 80.”
Regretting his contract with Azul Deuce says he will never do it again, even if it means failing. Jack responds, “You’re supposed to say you’ll work hard to ensure you stop failin’ altogether.”
Deuce will sometimes reference homework he should be doing, and he fails to formulate a potion during the Latern event despite Crewel’s explicit instructions, saying, “I’m pretty bad at following multi-step processes. I always get the steps mixed up in the middle.” (Jack and Kalim also fail to craft the potion.)
We see Deuce struggle with basic math, taking two hours to solve two problems within thirty pages’ worth of questions.
When Cater asks if he didn’t learn the formulas in middle school, Deuce responds with “I…guess I learned it…at some point”, leading to Ace teasing him for not even knowing what it was that he learned.
Deuce is often teased by the other students for being less academically inclined, such as during Phantom Bride when Ace says that he wants to “buckle down and take my studies seriously. I can’t let romance distract me.”
Deuce agrees, and Jack follows up with “When even a student as bad as Deuce is saying it, you know we’re on to something.”
Deuce struggles with color-changing magic in Book one and Cater observes, “You’re even less competent than I thought,” and Jack repeatedly calls him a dunce.
In a vignette Deuce attempts to resurrect beansprouts by speaking to them, only to be teased by Ruggie and Vil both. Deuce wonders aloud, “Am I really as dense as all that, though…? Ace gets on my case like that a lot, too…”
It seems these comments bother Deuce, as we learn in Book 5 when takes Epel to scream at the ocean and exclaims, “I’m not a smart guy and I constantly miss basic cues! All my old delinquent habits are still there! I’ve got a hair-trigger temper! But I’m trying my best, okay?! You all think you can make fun of me, Ace?! Well, think again! I’m gonna change! You can count on that!”
Deuce says that in the next year he wants to “study hard and be in the top 50-no, top 25 scorers on the next exam!,” with the specific goal of becoming top of the class in defensive magic.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 