The paper describes a study revealing a number of factors that influence how Bachelor of Education students perceive assessment. These factors include personal histories, student teacher relationships, opportunities for personalisation and deep learning, notions of relevance, and anxiety issues. "Personal histories", as a term used to describe students' previous experiences, provided participants with an experiential reference point for thinking and talking about aspects of the assessment process. However, the learning and assessment context together with individual motivations, rather than personal histories, seemed to determine the learning approach adopted. The paper is likely to be of interest to those involved in designing assessments for training teachers.