This study focuses on writing difficulties of CHC students in pre-sessional course in the UK. 10 CHC students at X university in London and two lecturers in the same course were interviewed in 2011. Two lecturers described the importance of preplanning, critical reading and peer review. It seems necessary for both teachers and CHC students to be able to reach an agreement on how students in the pre-sessional course should learn writing strategies in Anglo-American institutions. First of all, this research indicates academic writing difficulties are related to different learning styles of CHC students and those of Anglo-American students. CHC students tend to seek a single explicit answer from teachers while teachers encourage students to be independent learners. Second, CHC students have trouble in explaining their ideas in their writing. However, through the process of critical reading students would enrich their vocabulary. Thirdly, the notion of critical thinking is difficult to be understood by CHC students. To encourage students fully understand the concept, teachers should teach it in explicit way. Fourthly, there are big differences between rhetorical patterns of CHC students’ home countries and that of Anglophone countries. Therefore, peer review should not be conducted between CHC students.