The current study discussed the performance of Egyptian EFL freshmen in writing FL composition in terms of the five criteria describe in Jacobs' (1981) practical approach to test ESL composition. These criteria are content and ideas, organization, choice of word, language use, and formality and objectivity. Prior to data collection, an EFL academic writing course was taught to the targeted population. It spanned twenty eight weeks. For the purpose of data collect, a five-criterion checklist was created based on Jacobs' (1981) composition testing approach. Data were analyzed based on the distribution of frequency and percentage to identify the textual difficulties of the Egyptian EFL freshmen's performance in freshmen had various trouble spots in writing FL composition according to the above-mentioned five criteria. The study provided teaching implications to improve the Egyptian EFL freshmen's performance in writing FL composition