IMO, an AP test is like a final exam in a college course. Can pull material from anywhere from the whole course, and potentially is the majority of the grade.
If a student gets a 2 in an AP course that just means they aren’t ready to skip the material in college, for whatever the reason (and been there done that with a new teacher who didn’t know what they were doing). Failing a DE course can follow the student into grad school depending on what they want to do.