Actually A Levels are my plan B, which's most likely what's going to happen since Indian Pre-University has proven useless (I'm in India currently, came from the US recently) I'm used to the conceptual, reasoning, and analytical type of learning I used to get in the US, unlike the ancient rote system in India. Universities all over the world require an 85% average for admission, which's nearly impossible (only 1.7% of students who write the Pre-University exams get above 85, and only about 40% of them pass). The AP curriculum was about half of the Indian Pre-University curriculum, its a joke in comparison.
I've already seen the CIE syllabus and past papers, they look quite similar to the way AP question are asked. But looking at those alone won't tell what the experience will be like.
I'm still not taking this easy, and I'm quite paranoid. Some of my friends say that they study only about 6 hours a week, they are quite bright and get A*'s, and say that I am easily capable to doing so too. But on the other hand, some people say the A Levels are a lot of work. I don't know, that cold be the people who are average, those who don't grasp and understand things easily and quickly. When I was in the US, I never studied and was an honors student with a GPA of about 3.8.