This research study involved nine senior high school students who had high achievement in the study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) - five of SMA Negeri 1 and four of SMK Negeri 3 in the town of Purwokerto Central Java.The primary aim of this research was to identify the learning strategies used commonly by the better performing learners of EFL. Through retrospective interviews the nine partcipaty students were asked to report special things they did special ways they used in acquiring English. the interviews were tape-recorded and abbreviated transcripts were made of the tapes in order that the data was easier to analyze. Data on learning strategy was identified and classified adopting O Malley s psychology-oriented taxonomy. In addition to informant feedback data validation was also done through peer discussions. This survey study discovered some twenty-one or so strategies. Of the strategies listed ten were used commonly by the two groups of students including the commonest used strategies of practice seeking learning environment and resourcing.