Writing an undergraduate thesis is one of the main academic responsibilities for university students, but there are many face significant challenges throughout the process. This study aimed to explore the difficulties experienced by students in writing their theses and to identify the main factors contributing to those difficulties. The research used a qualitative descriptive approach with two instruments: a closed-ended questionnaire distributed online to 132 students, and semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. The participants were English Education students from the 2019 and 2020 cohorts at Indo Global Mandiri University, Sriwijaya University, Raden Fatah Islamic University, and PGRI University. The findings showed that students experienced various difficulties grouped into four main factors: academic ability, psychological, social, and linguistic. Academic ability was found to be the most dominant factor (58.13%), followed by linguistic (22.12%), psychological (11.49%), and social factors (8.26%). Students had difficulty choosing a topic and title, formulating research problems, writing the literature review and findings, and selecting appropriate methods. Further analysis revealed that some difficulties in academic and psychological aspects were influenced by health problems, financial challenges, time management issues, and lack of clear academic guidance from the university. These conditions reduced writing quality, delayed guidance, and increased the risk of thesis postponement. This study highlights the importance of strong academic support, psychological resilience, and improved institutional guidance to help students complete their thesis effectively and on time.

Keywords:student’s difficulties, psychological factor, academic ability factors, social factor, linguistic factor, difficulties writing thesis