It’s curious how different the schools are.
In my S’s school freshmen can’t even take any APs or H courses and while those courses are weighted (+1), many kids decide to take those courses mainly on the “difficulty” basis. Everyone knows that APs and Hs require considerably more work and are generally much harder than “regular” courses so the main question is usually “can I handle this load?” rather than “do I want that extra virtual point in my GPA?”. Especially considering that it’s usually way harder to get an A in those courses than to get a 5 on the AP test. The system is quite clearly explained by GCs from the start and kids have no illusions regarding the grades.
I guess colleges know the difference anyway so one cannot really “game” the system.