Academic writing skills have become an essential aspect that Indonesian students must focus on,  especially for those planning or pursuing their postgraduate studies abroad. The current research investigates the difficulties Indonesian students face who currently pursue or recently completed their postgraduate studies in seven countries with different majors. The subject was seven Indonesian students who studied in India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Poland. The researcher used the qualitative research method under the phenomenology procedure to collect the data. Two questionnaires in the form of open-ended questions were distributed and fulfilled by all research participants. The findings indicate that Indonesian students who pursued postgraduate study abroad faced difficulties in academic writing practice, for instance, paraphrasing the sentence, assuring coherence, formulating cohesion, and expressing their voice. Besides, some also faced problems choosing appropriate words and relevant topics in their writing. The main factors contributing to the difficulties are less academic writing practice, lack of vocabulary, and unfamiliarity with academic writing structure. Even though the students pursued different majors and countries, they had common difficulties writing academic writing. Moreover, cultural differences also influence students’ difficulties.

Since the IELTS test demands high English proficiency, it has become a challenge for Indonesian learners who are non-native English speakers. IELTS requires a thorough knowledge of English grammar to make the test takers able to gain high scores. The test-takers, who are mostly graduate students from various backgrounds, frequently join IELTS preparation classes. The previous research mainly focused on how teaching grammar is essential for students who want to take IELTS. Yet, the research about developing the syllabus for IELTS preparation classes has not been discussed much in Indonesia, making the information limited. Therefore, developing the syllabus for IELTS-based grammar is critically important since it assists the teacher in fulfilling students’ expectations and increases the student’s understanding of mastering English language skills. The current study aims at developing an IELTS-based syllabus for grammar to equip both students and teachers. The study adopted the developmental research proposed by Borg and Gall (2003). The syllabus was designed based on environment and need analysis obtained through interviews, placement tests, IELTS simulations, and questionnaires. The outcome is a three-part syllabus equipped with various learning activities to motivate and facilitate students to improve their grammar and ability to achieve higher IELTS scores.