I'm a Ph.D student who needs to take coursework each semester and also (obviously) do research. I find some of the coursework assignments particularly interesting and I end up spending a lot more time than necessary, sometimes doing extra bits that are not really required to get a full grade. The assignment problems do have this small statement at the end that says something to the effect of -"you are encouraged to provide additional observations", giving a small open-ended dimension to each problem.
I tend to go the extra-mile route often as I am a bit inquisitive by nature and provide extra observations/validations to claims.
My concern is if this practice is healthy or harmful. One school of thought goes along the line of - "Just do bare minimum on coursework and focus more on your research", which I agree makes sense, since the amount of research work in itself is a massive chunk. I do feel that my assignment has taken up a lot of my time which I could have otherwise devoted for research.
The counter reasoning from my side has has been - grad school/Ph.D programs are what provide the setting to think and do beyond what is asked, and thus I should do the extra-bits if I am compelled to.
May be I am too idealistic, I am not sure. Some perspective and advice on this inner conflict would be helpful.