Taking the HSK? Already taken it? Report in here!

[edelweis]

  well maybe they added more dates afterwards and forgot to update that list... (which is the official one which currently has a link on the www.chinesetest.cn front page).

Ah well it's Hanban for you

[makochan]

@sean1: I anticipated that there would be many more vocab words beyond the HSK 5 vocab list since I've seen that mentioned before online.  So I actually got up to about half way through the HSK 6 vocab list on Skritter.  I felt like I was pretty prepared.  I got lucky I guess that I knew 亚马逊 since I've ordered stuff on amazon.cn before.  Often the words or characters I couldn't recognize in the practice tests were proper nouns of peoples names, which honestly never got in the way of me being able to comprehend the passage and answer the questions.

 

Btw, how come you chose to take the paper test?

[sean1]

@makochan I took the practice papers on chinesetest.cn and genuinely had no problem with them. When I look back now I really think there is a disparity in the difficulty. So I guess I just was ill prepared for the real thing. 

 

I took the paper test because a friend that took the computer test last month said he would have taken the paper test if he could do it again because he didn't like the input system. He said it was an advantage to be able to copy characters from the rest of the paper. But in hindsight my pinyin input and character recognition is probably better than his so I wouldn't have had a problem with it, plus it would have saved me a lot of time because I spent too long on the reading and then had to rush the writing section. My handwriting was so messy because I was writing so fast I cringe when I think about it! There is a chance I could scrape a pass but I may have to take this one as a practice run. 

[ladyferoz]

I came here September 2014 and wrote my HSK 2-3 weeks ago. I am not sure how much I got in each section, but I got 200/300.

 

I have been studying Chinese (total beginner) for 7 month. I would have gotten more if I was more 认真。

 

I can say that I only seriously studying my characters and HSK tutoring (Hellohsk.com - Lifesavers ) about a month before the test, I had a few issues adjusting to life here and personal + health problems, I hardly studied. I know it all sounds like excuses but if I could meet my old self, I would tell her to study earlier, bit by bit.

I want to write my HSK 5 as a way of keeping me busy, but I have more fun planning my summer and other things.

 

What saved my ass was coming to class everyday and a willpower to actually start studying,finding motivation was difficult. Language classes tend to be extremely boring with the same powerpoint information etc so make it fun for yourself, but some people seem to be sponges learning that way, for me, it was the quickest way to my phone, daydreaming, drawing and thinking about my old college life at home. I despised sitting in class when the sun was out and people were free, it felt like prison.

 

To be honest, all you need for HSK 4 is learning your vocabulary (memorizing like a parrot) and learn to recognize the characters, read more and take a lot of mock tests. 听力 is all practice, in my mock tests I easily got 80 and the 阅读 is quite easy, I quickly skimmed over the answers and read the paragraph to find the answer, only 2-3 were comprehension imo. 书写 needs grammar and practice, the arranging of sentences can be easy if I practiced more and the writing of sentences needs you to know your vocab. Btw I did the computer test which gave me tons of time in 书写。 The last part of making setences was horrible because I recognized the character for bottle water and forgot the pinyin and some other word.

 

I know HSK 5 is when it gets real, and needs you to keep up with newspapers etc.

[ladyferoz]

加油

[Geiko]

(See previous post #295)

 

Well, I finally got my results for HSK 6, and as I expected, I failed. The good news is, I *almost* passed!  

 

听力 49

阅读 62

写作 57

 

168/300

 

I really need to work hard on listening, it's obviously the skill I like the least and the one I postpone if I don't have enough free time. However, since my local Confucius Institute organizes HSK exams once every year, I have twelve months to improve my skills, and hopefully next spring I'll get good marks! 

[makochan]

Sorry to hear that Geiko.  10 months to go from HSK 5 to 6 definitely sounds like a formidable challenge.  

 

I just checked on my HSK 5 scores:

听力 93
阅读 71
写作 67
231/300

 

And I got a 75 on the HSKK oral intermediate test

[sean1]

Just found out I passed my HSK 5 paper test! Totally chuffed as I was convinced I had failed. Hope you all get the scores you want and if not, 不要放弃！

[djandrews70]

Just seen my results:

 

HSK 5:

 

听力 91
阅读 84
写作 76
251/300

 

And I got 70 on the HSKK Advanced (which is an absolute joke as I did terribly on the first section!). I guess they're marking the whole thing subjectively........?

[ladyferoz]

I got my results today, the marks the teacher gave me were general but here are my scores

听力 76

阅读 80

写作 77

Total 233

HSK 4

 

I honestly thought I did worse than that, but yay. 

[Rai]

Hey everyone, I had a few questions relating to the HSK. Have you taken it online or in person? What is the fee for taking it?

 

I'm also having trouble finding material to help me prepare. I've studied Mandarin for over 7 years now, I suppose my Chinese is consider to be advanced at this point but I need to practice. When I was in study abroad in Taiwan, I could understand what everything I was told but my final was suppose to imitate the Taiwan's Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language test which happens to be very similar to the HSK, I'm told.

 

I understand Hanban has official textbooks for preparation, but since I'm outside China I found out the Hanban official book store is unable to ship to me. I feel just like when I was preparing for my SAT I need to practice the test over and over. The problem is, I'm not bombarded with different HSK books like I was with the SAT, so my book textbook selection it relatively small, with content changes I'm afraid a book from 2010 might just be too outdated at this point. If you have any suggestions please let me know~~~

[edelweis]

There is a paper test, and there is a computer based test, but in both cases you have to go to an HSK test center. I think the fee varies from country to country.

 

You had better search for a test center first:

http://www.chinesetest.cn/goKdInfoOrPlan.do

And contact the center for detailed information.

 

The HSK website also has a few sample papers here:

http://www.chinesetest.cn/godownload.do

 

Which level do you want to take?

[Rai]

I think I should take level 6 as it is the highest level,so I prepare to the best of my ability.

[edelweis]

Well, good luck then, and don't hesitate to search the forums using the box in the top right corner.

You can also browse the dedicated subforum, lots of great threads.

[Tomas Tomas]

Passed the May 16, 2015 HSK 6, administered in Dalian, China.

 

241/300.  82/86/74.

 

So glad to get it over with!

[edelweis]

congratz! what have you been doing since your previous post?

[Wurstmann]

I took HSK5 paper test in march and passed with 228 points.

I was surprised because my actual level is more like HSK4. The most difficult part for me was time management.

I ran out of time and had to hurry to finish everything.

Also the day before the test my daughter was born and so I hadn't slept for 2 days xD

[Tomas Tomas]

@edelweis

 

Thanks!

 

I ended up staying in Dalian but leaving a month early on the scholarship.  I'm glad I stayed, as they boosted the scholarship stipend and made it retroactive, so I got a bunch of money by staying on.

 

Now i'm out in Qinghai, traveling, studying, and beginning my job search.  Am looking to move to Beijing in Aug.

 

Am super happy to have finished HSK 6.

 

I've done about 320,000 anki reviews haha... am at about 8,500 words/phrases and 3,500 characters.

 

Now I am not adding any new cards for a while, to let me reviews reduce.

[shuoshuo]

Can someone please tell me if the HSK computer-based test 写作 part exists? I expect it would be easier than the paper-based test because you're only required to input the pinyin, then select the appropriate characters you want to use. Or am I mistaken? That would be too easy though!

[Geiko]

@Shuoshuo, you're right, there's a 写作 section in the HSK computer-based tests and you can choose a pinyin input system, which makes the whole thing easier. Some people even think the computer-based exam "has no value".