This article examines pre-service secondary school teachers' responses to a learning situation that presented a student's struggle with determining the area of an irregular hexagon. Responses were analyzed in terms of participants' evoked concept images as related to their knowledge at the mathematical horizon, with attention paid toward the influence of one on the other. Specifically, our analysis attends to common features in participants' understanding of the mathematical task, and explores the interplay between participants' personal solving strategies and approaches and their identified preferences when advising a student. We conclude with implications for mathematics teacher education research and pedagogy.