Writing is considered a complex activity, as it involves cognitive, social, psychological and emotional processes. The objective of the study is to establish a characterization of first-year students of three majors at a Chilean public university by identifying their entry written skills and the perception they have of this process within the framework of an initial academic literacy course. The methodology is mixed, exploratory, descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional, non-experimental, through two instruments: a perception questionnaire on writing practices and a diagnostic test. One of the main results of the questionnaire revealed a low knowledge in written production, focused on form, little mastery of the writing phases and incipient experience in said practices of the students in the last years of the school level. The test showed a low performance in written texts (initial basic writer and intermediate basic). This made it possible to characterize a novice writer, with basic performance in terms of writing stages, textual dimensions and writing experience. This information is projected as an opportunity to configure an appropriate pedagogical-didactic strategy proposal for a Literacy course in the first year of university.