semi-related tale. when i was in college, there was a snow storm and a bachelor party in the same week... so I missed 2 of 2 classes before the friday quiz. the class was hard already and i wanted to at least show that i cared about the course. so, I showed up to the quiz anyway. i ended up spending 40 mins or so writing about how the rhythmic hip thursts of some historical science person had changed my entire life and the landscape of modern dance. i had zero clue what the quiz was on and deserved to fail. i got a 50 % on the quiz and the professor thanked me, but asked that i never do that again. that was a fucking win over a zero. sometimes people just need a good laugh.
It is failing, but one 50% quiz is better than a 0% quiz when added into your overall grade. Plus OP showing up to class at least shows to the professor that they're trying and might bump their grade up a bit at the end of the term.