The educational value of portfolios as assessments has been widely acknowledged across the higher education sector and literature as providing a platform to promote student-centred and reflective learning (Brown, 1997; Snadden & Thomas, 1998; Karlowicz, 2000). While there is plentiful research investigating the benefits of providing portfolios at undergraduate level, little has focused on the role of assessment from a students' perspective. This study sought to examine how students from an Academic English course at a UK university perceive assessments in comparison to the intention of the assessment, as designed for the course. A correlation can be seen between the questionnaire results measuring students' perceptions and scores on the assessments. Students who, as intended by the course creator, "related the portfolio tasks to the essay" and "consciously thought about the link between the two assessments" received a higher grade in both assessments; whereas, those who disagreed with these statements, unaligned to the course aims, generally received lower grades in both their portfolio and essay. These results suggest that the intentions of an assessment should be made explicitly clear to the cohort, developing their understanding and thus potentially the importance they assign to the task and the benefits and skills they gain.