AbstractThe purpose of this comprehensive review is to discuss the issues that pre-university students often face when writing essays and to propose an alternative approach to implementing the teaching of essay writing such as the use of thinking maps. The focus of this study is to look at the writing status of pre-university in Malaysia as well as the suggestions proposed by researchers through the articles highlighted. Highlights of the study found that one of the key issues that hindered pre-university students from writing essays was the failure of students to master the writing skills and the choice of teacher teaching strategies. In addition, it also indicated that both of these issues have caused students failure to perform well in essay writing. The study also suggests the use of thinking maps in the teaching and learning process of writing essays. Thinking maps are also effective in helping and enhancing students ‘achievement in essay writing. The implications of the study indicate .....