You get credit for trying…. for now, you did the most you were able to and you’ll get credit. Hopefully next time, you’ll be able to do it without “cheating”. Everything is relative to where you’re coming from.
An example I once heard: if you have someone who watches a movie a day, and then goes down to watching 3 a week – he’s great, and will be rewarded for cutting down. But if someone never watched anything and starts watching 3 a week… that’s a problem. It’s all relative.
You need to know where you were before the nisayon, if you could have done it without cheating, etc.