Academic renewal vs Retake

Hello all!
I have no idea what my grade for History will end up this semester and I am a little concerned. Therefore, I somehow convinced myself to derive answers for the worst case scenario. Anyways, everyone has there way of dealing with the stress of finals week right? haha

Well let me tell you about my workload so far… over the summer I took 3 classes over the course of 6 weeks and this semester I am taking 5 classes totaling 18 units. Its not bad, but my mistake was choosing a class I’m not particularly good at and to make things worse, the professor has a tendency to get off topic:(

Worst case scenario is that I will end up a D (finals can bring down my grade by 2 letters). My question is, what looks better on a transcript for UC’s, Academic Renewal or a class retake? I am aware that both with cases wont get rid of the grade… Also, when you retake a class, does it have to be the same course?

Thankssss for reading!

You may want to withdraw it to get W to save your GPA if it’s still possible and retake later.