Novice members of a Norwegian national rater panel tasked with assessing Year 8 pupils' written texts were studied during three successive preparation sessions (2011-2012). The purpose was to investigate how the raters successfully make use of different decision-making strategies in an assessment situation where pre-set criteria and standards give a rather strict framework. The data sources were the raters' pair assessment dialogues. The analysis shows that the raters use a "shared standards strategy", but when reaching agreement on text quality they also seem to make very good use of assessment strategies related to their work as writing teachers. Moreover, asymmetries in knowledge and participation among raters contribute to creating an image of writing assessment as a challenging hermeneutic practice. It is suggested that future rater preparation would gain from being attentive to the internalised assessment practices teachers bring to the fore when working as raters.