Will my sixth form allow me to take AS levels from September?

Are you taking further maths? Assuming you are, you'd better hope you do full a-level maths in year 12 and then full further in year 13. If you are doing it in that (the superior) order then sitting AS exams wouldn't be a good idea as it would distract you from the exams that actually count for one of your most essential A*s. Ignore what I said if you aren't taking further maths :P.

Yeah, as a matter of fact I'm taking Maths, Further maths, Physics and Chemistry - with Maths being fully taken at the end of year 12, and further maths being taken in year 13. So I guess I would just be able to take only 2 AS levels, considering I would have the full A level for maths anyway (AS in physics and chemistry). Sure, it would be a lot riskier, but I'd still be willing to put in the extra work and concentration I guess.

Don't do it, no uni requires AS's these days, and why do more work than one full A-level in year 12 anyhow. A-levels are the hardest thing you will do, but the AS's these days are just not required.

The only people who can answer this are the administration of your 6th form - some may continue offering the qualification generally, while others may only have it in specific circumstances or not at all. It's likely it will be an option but again, it will vary from school to school so you'll need to ask them directly. It seems the latter case is what your school has taken, and so it's probably that they will offer AS levels for borderline candidates or those they feel won't pass the full A-level - unlikely to be relevant for you.

Not having AS levels will make no difference for a Cambridge application - that's why they have the NatSci Admissions Assessment now (well part of the reason). Conversely, taking the AS levels and doing badly just because you were having an off day is more likely to have a negative impact, as opposed to having no real impact if you have taken them. I would recommend just sticking to your schools planned process and focusing on doing as well as you can on the Maths A-level exams and NSAA

Yeah, as a matter of fact I'm taking Maths, Further maths, Physics and Chemistry - with Maths being fully taken at the end of year 12, and further maths being taken in year 13. So I guess I would just be able to take only 2 AS levels, considering I would have the full A level for maths anyway (AS in physics and chemistry). Sure, it would be a lot riskier, but I'd still be willing to put in the extra work and concentration I guess.

Yeah just focus on your maths to guarantee getting an A*. I did do my as science exams this year but that was alongside old spec A2 maths (c3,4 m1). Do you know if you'll be doing old spec maths, new spec further or new spec both?

I'm doing new spec Edexcel maths and further maths.

Also, is the AS content still the same content taught in linear courses? So are you still taught AS in year 12 of linear (being the same content as old AS), and then A2 being taught in year 13? Or does AS even exist in the linear courses...?

It depends on your school but I would imagine they stick to the year 1 and year 2 content. If they aren't doing AS exams, they'll have internal exams at the end of year 12 that will be old as past papers or a mix of some past paper questions on year 1 topics.

Hmm, I guess it would make sense to still teach AS in the first year, that way they could use AS past papers as mocks. If a school did it that way though (which I suspect mine does), I don't see what the major difference would be if it was an actual AS paper (as in the qualification being taken) or a mock (apart from of course, the AS level being an actual qualification), and therefore what the problem would be with letting candidates sit AS at the end of year 12. Of course I don't want to sound naive though so do correct me if I'm wrong.

It costs them a lot of money to apply for as exams so they don't want anyone who's not dropping the subject after a year to do them basically.

I appreciate that, but surely it's logical/better to take them IF you are academically strong enough to do it, considering Cambridge's view on the matter - "We strongly encourage potential applicants to take AS Level examinations in at least three, and preferably four, subjects, whether reformed or not, at the end of Year 12" (It won't let me post the link to their statement for some reason).

They say it will "provide us with a strong measure of applicants’ recent academic progress, will assist us and the students in judging whether an application to Cambridge is likely to be competitive", which makes sense to me from my POV.

I imagine you can't link it because it doesn't exist (at least, in a current format published for the upcoming application cycle).

http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/entrance-requirements

This indicates no such preference, and specifically states "If you're taking linear qualifications, your teachers will provide us with information about your performance through their UCAS reference". The only reference to your comment I can find is in nearly 4 year old news articles based on a memo sent by a History academic at a single college. Your 6th form administrative staff will be aware if Cambridge has sent any further information about application guidance, and take that into account. If any colleges have any specific requirements of preferences they will no doubt publish them well in advance on their websites.