Abstract: This study explores teacher candidates’ experiences of grading in higher education. Aphenomenographic approach was adopted and four qualitatively different categories were identified.Grading was experienced as: self-identification, motivation, personal interpretation and academicenculturation. The results indicate that teacher candidates accept existing grading systems but havedifficulty interpreting and explaining them, illustrating areas of importance in teacher educationand argues that if teacher candidates do not perceive genuine differences in the performance ofassessing by grade descriptors, there is a risk that they may develop an insufficient understanding ofgrading practices.Keywords: grading; grade descriptors; phenomenography; teacher education