HSK Chu/Zhong 27/4/08

[dncdoor]

My thoughts on today's exam:-

Listening

probably gained a grade 5 in this section as during the first half of the 'ting li' I was a little unsettled. The last section seemed to be the easiest.

Grammar

level 6 at best.

Yue du

The texts used were comparable to practice papers I have used in the run up to this exam. I found the first section a little difficult.

Zong he

The last part of the zong he, write your own character was extremely easy. 5/6. Former part, as usual taxing.

Overall, I found the exam more difficult that any of the practice papers I had written. I guess that this is perhaps because there will be another Chu/Zhong exam this June. I am supposed to be in Gao ji (at Beida) but truly felt like a beginner today. The name 'chu-zhong' is deceiving Oh yes, this is my first HSK.

How did everyone else get on?

[imron]

The name 'chu-zhong' is deceiving

Actually it's the Gaoji at Beida that's deceiving (I used to be in Beida Gaoji once myself).

[dncdoor]

Your right!! Though the workload is pretty intense.

Reading other posters on the topic of HSK test makes me feel really stupid. People saying they studied for one semester and gained a 4. That is amazing. I have studied extremely hard for almost 1.5 years (nothing but Chinese, morning...noon and night) and still seem to be around HSK 5/6.

[imron]

The time it takes to go from 0-4 is far faster than it takes to go from 4 to 8, which is faster again than the time it takes to go from 8 to 11. 1.5 years is just the beginning Who was it that once said "Learning Chinese is a 5 year lesson in patience - at the end of 5 years you still haven't learnt Chinese, but you have learnt patience"

[foodtarget]

This was my first HSK. I studied Chinese in America for one school year (normal introductory language class) and have been in China for about 8 months now, studying Chinese and a couple classes taught in English. That being said, I thought this test was really hard, I felt totally caught off guard. On practice tests, even the ones administered in class, I usually got around a 6. I thought this HSK was much harder than any practice materials I had used. I can't remember my thoughts on specific sections/passages, just that I thought I guessed quite a lot. Now I'm desperately hoping for a 5.

Another thing I noticed (maybe this was just at my test site, Xiamen) was that the test proctors were kind of lax about the rules. When the test was over and we were supposed to stop working, a few Indonesians sitting next to me just kept going, possibly even going back to previous sections, I'm not sure. The proctor came to collect their papers, and they were still filling in answers. The proctor stood next to them for what seemed like a minute, telling them time was up and they needed to turn in their tests, but it was like they weren't listening. Only when they were done answering questions did they hand over the papers. I was so pissed I wanted to yell at them. I can't believe the proctors allowed that!! I'm pretty sure in America, and probably most other Western countries, that would be grounds for having your scores canceled.

Oh yea, and when are we supposed to find out our scores?

[foodtarget]

Oh and about the gaoji thing, I know what you mean about the levels, imron. I think Chinese schools are pretty lax about letting students go to higher levels, as long as they get that 学费。 Last semester I was in 二年级上半, but we were still using textbooks that said 一年级 on the cover. I know a girl who is very studious and currently in 三年级下半, but last semester she only got a 4 on the HSK。

[dncdoor]

Does anyone know when the results are usually published? anyone??

[Toffeeliz]

I did 基础 this morning, I don;t think I did too bad but the reading was pretty hard. The grammer was a bit easier than the practice papers I'd done but maybe I was just getting used to grammer on a whole lol I hope I manange to get the Grade 3!

it was my first HSK too

- they said we'd get oue results posted to us in July

[dncdoor]

Somewhat pleased with gaining a level-6 on the HSK paper. As predicted my ting li was graded as a level 5, zong he level 6 and yue du level 6. The biggest surprise of all was gaining an 8 on the grammar section...maybe I could hoodwink a few people with this LOUD PART - I got a level 8 on the HSK (quiet part) - grammar section

How has everyone else faired on this examination? Thus far, fellow comrades at Beida have been gaining lots of 4s and 5s. I am starting to think that the examiner has mixed up my score card with that of the Japanese student perched beside me.

Level 6, after what is almost 3 semesters of learning mandarin, is tribute to how hard I have studied, though I know the jump to a 7/8 and then on to Gao ji requires a lot more grind as well as a couple more years of living in China.

[renzhe]

Congratulations.

I don't know if I will eventually take this test (I don't really need it for anything), but I'm interested enough that I've bought an exam preparation book.

[roddy]

Well done - not bad after three semesters. Look forward to your report on the October sitting of the advanced :-)

[dncdoor]

October 2010, you're on!

Roddy, do you have any advice as to how to push onto the next stage (past posts are fine)? For example, do you think that taking a break from classroom studying is the best strategy whilst increasing TV-viewing, listening to music, working in Chinese environment?

Oh, this has veered terribly from the topic of HSK

[Sarevok]

You have the results already? Pity I have to wait till Hanban sends them to our Confucius Institute here in Czech Republic (can't look them up online, since we didn't get that piece of paper with your photo on which you usually get when taking the exam in China) and who knows when will that be...

Can't hope for much though, I was aiming for an 8 (which I missed by 4 points last year) but I would be lucky to prove I am worthy of that 7 I already have... I didn't have that much time to study specifically for the test this time (I only did two mock tests), and although I worked hard on my listening skills (and therefore found the tingli part not that difficult) and grammar (which was my weakest part last time), my reading skills seem to have kind of deteriorated...

Anyways, congratulations! Getting 6 after three semesters of study is not bad at all...*envy*

[foodtarget]

I took the HSK in China, so I have that little paper that lets you check it online. But as of this morning, I'm still not getting a score report when I try to check online, just a message that says "no score report found, please check that the info you entered is correct." Is this normal? I'm not a very patient person, I want my scores now!

[foodtarget]

My scores finally showed up online just a few minutes ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Considering how I felt after taking the test, I was desperately hoping for a 5. My results were: tingli (7), yufa (, yuedu (7), zonghe (5). So despite the ass-kicking I got in zonghe, I still managed to get that coveted level 6. What's frustrating is that my overall score was a 300, which is the bare minimum total score for level 7, but I was 2 points away from a 6 in zonghe. But oh well, for my first time I'm not disappointed. Hopefully this means I can scrape up two more points on zonghe and get a 7 on the HSK in June.

[rezaf]

My Vietnamese classmates are amazing. One of them got 6 and two of them got 7 after one semester(4 months)+1 month. Although they seem to be very good at reading and understanding Chinese, they are absolutely not fluent. I think that if HSK is going to show something usefull they should change the exam to show the real language ability of the students.

[renzhe]

A Vietnamese friend of mine picked up fluent spoken Chinese by playing dominoes with a few Chinese people for a few months.

So it's kind of standard, don't worry about it. Their language was strongly influenced by Chinese and they have a lot of loan-words from Chinese. They pick it up in a hurry.

[shuoshuo]

Will be sitting for the exam this weekend. Haven't had the chance to study/prepare for it at all. This is one of those 'keep your fingers crossed' moments so I'm just going to hope for the best. I'm only going to spend 3 days to prepare for it, that's all I can spare.

[yooss]

I'm kinda lucky to be born Korean when I am trying to learn Chinese, more than half of the vocabulary are just the same... learned half a year and I have a 4.

[Gaogao]

I took HSK this month at BLCU and got a 5 (I got a 3 at Jichu after 7 months of non-intensive study). Actually, just one more point and I would have got a 6, because I scored 6 in every part, except for Reading, where I got a 5. Now I want to take it again in November, bought a lot of tests and started studying already now. Do you think I could get that 6 or 7 in November? (I got the 5 after 1.5 yrs of weekend course study plus 4 wks at BLCU in class D)