Grading Woes

Ugh.  One of the absolutely worst parts of teaching math = grading papers :(.

It's one of the worst parts of the job because not only do you have to review the same question anywhere from 20-120 times (sometimes even more) but you also have to relive the same mistakes over and over and over again...

How many times can I write the same comment about negative exponents?  It's obvious to me that you didn't understand it when I taught it, what makes me believe that you will (a) read my comments and (b) actually pay attention to them so that you improve before the summative assessment at the end of the chapter/section/semester/program?

Sometimes (very rarely) I feel like grading can be gratifying.  I feel like when I chunk assessments into little tiny portions then it can actually be ok.  In small chunks I feel like students can be successful, but that's not life.  Life is not going to give you breaks because you feel "bored" (a comment a parent made about their own child!  When they work on something they get "bored" and need 10-15 minute breaks 0_o.  Um... no.).

At least there are some students out there paying attention to what is happening in the classroom, right?

What do you to engage students?  What do you do in order to make sure they pay attention to all the important details and are successful on assessments?  (Not meant to be a discussion on "success" and what that really means, but I'm asking what do you do to help students do better on tests specifically.)

Well, back to my grading pile.  Leave some thoughts/echoes below :).