I was a junior and I got a D first semester of the class and a C second semester. Usually, I’m a A and B student. Junior year was really really really bad for me. Also, I did not cheat on the AP exam, I actually studied and did a few practice tests.
AP scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process, and they certainly will not make up for a C/D in the class. GPA and SAT/ACT scores for most colleges are the most important criteria.
If they consider it, they will assume you were very lazy in that class.
Or, on the flip side, they could see it as a sign that the class was very difficult (I don’t know if it was or wasn’t) and that there wasn’t grade inflation, like there sometimes is at schools. The 5 on the AP might help convince them that you do actually understand math- maybe it was the teacher, the other kids in the class, etc. that affected your grade. While skieurope is right in that GPA and standardized tests are the most important criteria, they tend to look at everything, including that 5 on the AP.
A B- in the class could lead an AO to think this. I doubt that an AO would reach that conclusion with a D.
Depending upon the college, they might actually pick up the phone and call your guidance counselor to ask about it. That’s a pretty big discrepancy. The admissions officer at Mount Holyoke, for example, said these discrepancies come up a lot and they call guidance counselors all of the time.
If it’s a big school the chances of this happening are pretty small, I’d guess. But a smaller school with holistic admissions might really want to know if you had a killer teacher who didn’t mind failing half of the class, making your D above average, for example.
Also, your other grades will make a difference. If you’ve got all Ds it’s a much different picture than all As & Bs and one tough class where you struggled.
This is actually one of the very few corner cases in whoch mentioning an AP score in your admissions materials might actually have an impact.
Note: this is cery school specific, and possibly even AO-specific! But it could be a factor. Many (many!) years ago, I got a ‘D’ in a highschool English class. However, I tested so highly that the Admissions officer for the University to which I was applying actually called me up on the phone to ask for my perspective on the discrepancy. He seemed satisfied that the grade in the class was a result of factors other than my interest or aptitude, and I got in.
Again, this was decades ago, and the volume of applications has increased significantly. That type of personal interest simply may not be possible at whatever school you’re applying to. But if that single low grade is an outlier in your record, the AP score may be worth a mention.