Three chapters of “Fahrenheit 451” to read, 35 Spanish verbs to memorize, 25 algebra problems to calculate, one paper to write, and a science lab to finish. Like nearly always, I’ve got myself a seemingly impossible workload for the night.

We teens get too much homework and not enough time to complete it. With nearly seven hours of school each day, countless extracurriculars, and two to four hours of homework each night, we find ourselves scrambling to get everything done.

My teachers often assign work lavishly, forgetting that we have homework assignments in several other classes. Much too often, I come home with enough work to keep me up way too late.

A month or so ago, nearing the end of the quarter, my teachers crammed in tests to get more assignments for our grades. Working from the minute I got home to the instant my head hit the pillow, I was fortunate to get six hours of sleep. The next morning, I woke bleary-eyed and tired.

But the last day of the quarter was the limit for me. With a test in practically every subject piled on top of creeping exhaustion, I skipped school, sleeping 14 hours straight until the sun was high in the sky.

A Duke University study showed that there is almost no connection between massive amounts of homework and academic achievement. In fact, some of the higher-scoring countries, such as Singapore, Finland and China assign little homework while we Americans get the opposite.

Homework has no academic benefit after an hour and a half for middle schoolers and two hours for high school students. Yet we end up doing anywhere from two to four hours a night!

Oftentimes, when I’m assigned tremendous amounts of homework, I tend to focus on getting it all done as soon as possible, rather than attempting to understand and process the information. Not only is the amount of homework questionable, but it can defeat the actual intent: to help us learn.

Despite all the frustration that homework causes in my life, I know that homework is beneficial. I know all teachers want to help us learn. Properly assigned, homework can reinforce important concepts, teach us new ones, and evaluate our understanding of topics.

Nearly every student in the class of one of my favorite teachers has an ‘A’ average. How? He does not assign irrational amounts of homework, nor does he succumb to the pressure of measuring his teaching ability by a test.

He assigns small, yet effective, amounts of only necessary homework. And, get this, you can retake a quiz to improve a grade!

Now that makes sense.

Most of us would do our best on one or two worksheets. But too often the unbearable amounts of homework lead to stress, depression and anxiety.

One rule I can agree on is this: Multiply your grade level by 10, and you get the recommended amount of homework. This allows us to have sufficient time to understand material without having so much homework that we rush to get it done.

And when it comes to studying for a test as homework, Mrs. B., my math teacher, has the right idea. She asks us whether we have a test in another class before assigning a test in her class. She will even move her test to accommodate another teacher’s test!

A teacher can tell if a student understands a concept in five, not 25, problems, so teachers, please let up. More is not better.

Maria Proulx of Ledyard is a student at St. Bernard School in Montville.