So I just remembered I actually did take an AP class once...
Just one class I couldn't just take at my local college.
Anyway, I don't really get why people hype the AP tests as something particularly petrifying or something that you need to spend months and months obsessing over. They're basically a final exam but you know exactly what material can be on it due to the regulated curriculum. By no means am I saying "oh just don't worry about it it's no big deal" but really, if you do well in school, you're doing well on AP. A college course it is not, despite the intent of the program.
I have always felt the AP's test-centric studying routines and general culture promoted an anti-educational method of class taking that doesn't serve you well at all in the future. Having your life, education, and knowledge revolve around a big folded piece of paper that determines whether or not you'll get to skip a class at college, maybe, is taking an AP for the wrong reasons. If you spent the year actually learning material, you'll do fine.
And on that note, I think any student mature enough to actually learn the material of a class is mature enough to make their own decisions, and doesn't need a warning from me or anyone else on the internet about what should be completely obvious to them. Similarly, the people that don't get it and cram at the end are the people that will ignore anything I suggest to them anyway.