Just taking them won’t make you stand out. If a student consistently receives high scores on them, it may reflect positively. Key word here is “may.” Think about it like this, the difficulty of an AP Class throughout the US varies. As a result, a student in NY may get an 85 in an AP Class but a 5 on its AP Exam counterpart. On the other hand, a student in Texas could get a 95 in an AP Class while also getting a 5 on the exam. The initial 85 may be a red flag to admissions, especially for a top school, but the 5 could make up for it and display that the material was difficult in the class but it prepared the student well. Of course, we can keep on going with these hypotheticals, but I would still tell the person who started this thread and other students that they should try their best on AP Exams, but of course, other exams such as the SAT/ACT matters more.