Academic writing is an essential skill for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students, especially in writing essays and scientific papers. However, many students experience challenges in developing effective academic writing. To overcome these challenges, students apply various writing strategies. This study aims to, firstly to explain at the academic writing strategies used by EFL students, secondly, to analyze the academic writing strategies that frequently used by EFL students. This study used a qualitative method with the Narrative Inquiry research design. The participants were five students of the English Education Department, UIN Walisongo Semarang, especially class A class of 2021 in academic year 2024/25 who had passed the essay writing course were selected as the subjects of this study. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews and analyzed using Thematic Analysis to identify patterns of writing strategies used. The findings revealed that the students used four types of writing strategies: cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies. Among the four strategies, metacognitive strategies emerged as the most frequently used strategy. These strategies include planning, drafting, and revising during the writing process. The results show that metacognitive awareness plays an important role in improving students' academic writing ability.