t’s the Sunday before spring break is over; you’ve been binge watching Breaking Bad for the last week and haven’t showered in two days. You’re about to start season 3 when you decide to check the homework page. And low and behold, you have a rough draft of your research paper due. First you go into denial. Then you panic. Then after a few minutes of screaming and punching that stuffed animal from your ex, you finally realize it’s going to be ok. In fact, you’re going to be more than ok.

While most students object to the assignment of any sort of structured written work over a vacation period and deem it to be the devil’s work, there have been studies which have proven otherwise. In a study conducted by Duke University, research showed that who participated in homework against those who did not performed better on examinations. Dr. Harris Cooper combine the results of 12 homework studies to compile data which proved that 77% of students held a positive link between homework completion and results on examinations.

The previous study shows concrete evidence that while that nagging rough draft might interrupt the chronicles of the nefarious Walter White, you’ll actually be doing yourself a favor in the long run. Dr. Cooper’s work has gone on to prove many of the following points regarding the homework dilemma:

—Practice assignments improve scores on class tests at all grade levels

—A little amount of homework may help elementary school students build study habits

—Homework for junior high students appears to reach the point of diminishing returns after about 90 minutes per night

—For high school students, homework is effective until between 90 minutes and 2-1/2 hours of homework a night, after which returns diminish

And to further help comfort your woeful head, the studies have also shown that for high school students, homework is only effective in a range of 90-180 minutes of homework per night. And odds are if you simply closed the Netflix tab, that 180 minutes could easily be 60.

In another study conducted, this time by the national council of teachers of mathematics or the NCTM, they have published a brief on the correlation of homework and it’s yield in examinations. The brief states that “ With only rare exceptions, the relationship between the amount of homework students do and their achievement was found to be positive and generally statistically different than zero.” They have also gone on to find that homework for younger children can improve their test scores simply by enforcing basic mathematical skills which will serve them later as the fundamentals for which they build their skills on.

In conclusion, I urge all students to not see these studies as big brother looking to keep the man down, but rather educators wanting to help give us the best statistical advantage to succeed in the classroom. I believe that while homework can be a bit nagging and un-neccesary at times, the discipline to sit down and trudge through an assignment at the age of 16 will be similar to the emotions felt by any adult trudging through the woes of the modern workplace. So next time you feel tempted to click that play button on season 3, just remember that you’re only doing yourself a disservice.