The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine which strategies students utilize in their essay writing and to find any distinctions in the use of writing strategies by skilled and less skilled student writers. The sample of the current study included eight Croatian EFL undergraduate students enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University, Osijek. The data collected via think aloud protocols, semi-structured interviews and student essays was triangulated in order to reach the results related to the two previously mentioned major areas of concern to this study. The results indicated that the subjects utilized a relatively high level and diverse repertoire of writing strategies. Namely, they employed rhetorical, metacognitive, cognitive, communicative, social/affective and other strategies. The findings also showed that students with higher writing abilities do not remarkably differ in the number of writing strategies used compared to those with lower writing proficiency. However, the former displayed a more frequent and effective strategy usage than the latter. The consideration of these results can raise awareness in teaching and be useful in language classrooms. Finally, the paper ends by setting out directions for additional research and by articulating the limitations of the study.