Evergreen- the bottom line is evaluating a kid in the context of the HS. If a guidance counselor is ready to state that the kid took the most rigorous course of study available- then that’s the datapoint. There can be variations in scheduling (perhaps the kid finishing precalc is in an uber demanding foreign language sequence, plus AP history, plus a DE lit program?).
Too many individual variations to say. My own kids HS actively discouraged loading up on AP’s- they were tough and time consuming. So when a GC stated that a kid with 4 AP’s was taking the most challenging courseload- that was it. The fact that schools up the road allow 12 AP’s (plus some significant grade inflation, a la 12 Vals and 15 Sals) wasn’t relevant.