This qualitative study indicates that Chinese origin students completing their pre-university education in a British school have particular difficulties related to sociocultural change, pedagogical differences, affective aspects, cognitive demand and language learning. These are discussed. The use of a pre-laboratory software resource to support pre-university practical work in chemistry offers considerable benefits a number of the challenges faced by these students in studying in an English setting, most notably in building confidence and cognition through the use of videos of techniques, simulations and glossaries.