A Level Mathematics... why does so many say it's so difficult?

I am an A* GCSE Maths Student, and really enjoy mathematics. You hear all these horror stories of A* Maths students doing A-Level and struggling a lot with it. Now I've heard that C1 is supposedly easy anyway (which I think I confirmed when I taught myself the basics of differential & integral calculus to see whether I'd enjoy Maths A-Level), but the other content and the content in further maths don't look exceptionally challenging.

Now I'm not trying to be arrogant, but get an understanding for what it is people find so challenging. My guess is that at GCSE you just learn facts and how to do things, but at A-Level you're required to have a deep understanding, and perhaps this abstract thinking that people aren't used to is what they find challenging? Am I completely wrong or is my guess along the right lines?

I am an A* GCSE Maths Student, and really enjoy mathematics. You hear all these horror stories of A* Maths students doing A-Level and struggling a lot with it. Now I've heard that C1 is supposedly easy anyway (which I think I confirmed when I taught myself the basics of differential & integral calculus to see whether I'd enjoy Maths A-Level), but the other content and the content in further maths don't look exceptionally challenging.

Now I'm not trying to be arrogant, but get an understanding for what it is people find so challenging. My guess is that at GCSE you just learn facts and how to do things, but at A-Level you're required to have a deep understanding, and perhaps this abstract thinking that people aren't used to is what they find challenging? Am I completely wrong or is my guess along the right lines?

I am an A* GCSE Maths Student, and really enjoy mathematics. You hear all these horror stories of A* Maths students doing A-Level and struggling a lot with it. Now I've heard that C1 is supposedly easy anyway (which I think I confirmed when I taught myself the basics of differential & integral calculus to see whether I'd enjoy Maths A-Level), but the other content and the content in further maths don't look exceptionally challenging.

Now I'm not trying to be arrogant, but get an understanding for what it is people find so challenging. My guess is that at GCSE you just learn facts and how to do things, but at A-Level you're required to have a deep understanding, and perhaps this abstract thinking that people aren't used to is what they find challenging? Am I completely wrong or is my guess along the right lines?

I am an A* GCSE Maths Student, and really enjoy mathematics. You hear all these horror stories of A* Maths students doing A-Level and struggling a lot with it. Now I've heard that C1 is supposedly easy anyway (which I think I confirmed when I taught myself the basics of differential & integral calculus to see whether I'd enjoy Maths A-Level), but the other content and the content in further maths don't look exceptionally challenging.

Now I'm not trying to be arrogant, but get an understanding for what it is people find so challenging. My guess is that at GCSE you just learn facts and how to do things, but at A-Level you're required to have a deep understanding, and perhaps this abstract thinking that people aren't used to is what they find challenging? Am I completely wrong or is my guess along the right lines?

At AS, it's all about doing past questions. You don't even have to understand what you're doing as long as you get the method down.
At A2 it becomes more challenging, you actually have to understand why and what you are doing, and some of the questions can be a bit abstract. As long as you maintain a good work ethic though you will be fine.

Really?