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

[Geiko]

After reading Edelweis's post I went to check to Chinesetesting.cn and I finally could see my score (I took the exam last 19th May):

My HSK 3 results were:

听力 98/100

阅读 94/100

书写 95/100

总分 287/300

[Flying Pigeon]

Just checked my results for the new HSK 4 that I took at the Bridge School in Beijing last month:

Listening: 92

Reading: 96

Writing: 77

Total: 265

Conclusions: Handwrite a love letter to wife every day. Use a computer to take HSK 5 next year. Maybe check out Skritter.

[Krismussen]

Just checked my result from 19th May 2012

Level 2

Listening: 84

Reading: 99

Total: 183

Level 3

Listening: 72

Reading: 64

Writing: 60

Total: 196

Speaking Beginner : 68

[blandmc]

^{OK... I got my test results back from the May 20, 2012 exams I took in Shanghai and reported on earlier in this topic.}

^{I was surprised at the results:}

^{HSK WRITTEN Test - Level 4}

^{Listening: 89}

^{Reading: 91}

^{Writing: 85}

^{Total: 265 (out of 300 possible)}

^{Status: Pass}

^{My reaction: I am surprised that the listening I missed so many. I felt very confident on that part... I thought I only missed 2 questions maximum if that. Beyond that, I am happy with the results. I am sure if I review all the vocabulary I could pass the Level 5 Test next time I take it maybe in 6 months.}

^{HSK Speaking Test - Intermediate}

^{Total Score: 75 (out of 100 possible)}

^{Status: Pass}

^{My reaction: I really had no idea how this test would be graded. It was so difficult to concentrate with 30+ other people in the room speaking at the same time very loudly. With such horrible conditions I am just happy I passed. I don't think I will take the Advanced Speaking test any time soon... Maybe in another year or two I will be brave enough to try this. I might pass barely... but it would be a real challenge as I know the speak/repeat section is insanely long and I had trouble even doing one sentence in that environment.}

[patphilly]

Congratulations everyone!

I also got my results for the levels 2 and 3 which I took in Paris last month:

HSK level 2:

- Listening: 100

- Reading: 99

TOTAL: 199/200

HSK level 3:

- Listening: 96

- Reading: 94

- Writing: 95

TOTAL: 285/300

As we already noticed, I've been wondering how it is possible that I got 99 at the level 2 reading part when there are only 25 questions there! The Paris test center explained to me that this is because each question (in the 4 parts of the reading section) is weighed differently and I probably just happened to fail on a question that was worth only 1 point. That's pretty weird to me. Assuming that in the first part, questions 36-40 are 1 point each, that would imply that the 20 remaining questions collectively are worth 95 points (that is almost 5 points per question on average). I just don't see how it is possible that some questions are worth 5 times more than others... But I guess their correction method will remain a blurry mystery... ;)

[edelweis]

hmpf

HSK4 results:

听力 90.0 (5 wrong answers out of 45 questions according to my empiric formula)

阅读 94.0 (2 wrong answers out of 40 questions)

写作 82.0

总分 266.0

For some reason I'm not feeling really excited about this. Yes, I have progressed since I took HSK3 two years ago, but it's still a very low level exam. I called myself "lower intermediate" after passing HSK3 .Perhaps I am truly "lower intermediate" now? not even sure about that since my grammar is so poor. Ah well.

[Ezzza]

Hi,

I took the HSK beginner's speaking test on 19 May 2012 and my result still isn't appearing on the chinesetesting.cn website.

I've used the chinesetesting.cn website before when I took the HSK levels 1 and 2 and haven't had a problem before. I've even tried putting in variations on my name but still no joy.

Should I be worried? Is anyone else still waiting after 2 months?

[edelweis]

Hi Ezzza, it seems odd that you still don't have your results on the website...

Since you tried variations of your name, I'm assuming you're using the score+certificate box at the bottom right of the front page.

When you registered for the test, did you login to the website and register yourself, or did you have someone else do it? (school or test center).

If you did it yourself, you should be able to log in again and go to your information center, then click on the test result item.

If someone else did it for you, then you should contact that person or organization so that they check for you.

[DenLee]

HSK五级 2012-06-17

听力 81.0

阅读 88.0

写作 84.0

总分 253.0

I'm concerned about the actual certificate - does anyone know when the certificates from 17th June's test will be available?

[edelweis]

If you mean the paper certificate, you should ask your test center about that. They are responsible for delivering your certificate and result report to you.

[DenLee]

Shouldn't the issue date be written on chinesetesting under the Certificate section after the certificate has been made available? I'm already out of Kunming where I took the exam (my friend would have to collect the paper in my place). Well, I'll at least try to find their telephone number or something.

[edelweis]

I don't know about the issue date on the website.

What I do know is that some test centers close over the summer, so you can only get your certificate after their summer vacation

[DenLee]

OK... Fortunately the friend is in Kunming for a long time. I hope. But, really, they should redo their website...as every other Chinese website on the Internet.

[milin]

In may 2012 I took level 5 of the new HSK. Although everybody here seems to pass the exams, in this case I didn't :-(. In june 2011 I took levels 3 and 4, and even on level 4 my grades were not that bad (7.5 on the average). So I thought, after adding a lot of new words to my vocabulary training and doing about 15 mock exams, I should try level 5, if only to have the experience so I'm better prepared what to expect next time.

However, the mock exams already indicated that the chances of passing the exams would we very small. Of the 15 reading parts and 15 listening parts I tested, I only 3 times scored 6 or higher. What made things worse, was that the exam this time was in my home town (very nice of course, last 2 years I had to travel 250 km), but procedure-wise not everything went flawlessly. For example, they read the instructions just in Chinese. Of course at level 5 I'm supposed to understand that, but I could also pass level 5 by scoring a 10 on reading and a 10 on writing, and a 0 on listening. So I wrote them that my results should not depend in any way on whether I understand the instructions, and some other minor criticisms (they had 3 levels in one room, so people finished sections at different times, and it was all very distracting). They responded very positive, and agreed with me about the instructions, and even about the multiple levels in a room.

So: my scores were 4.1 for listening, 4.1 for reading and 4.4 for writing. In listening and reading I have 2 main problems: I'm much too slow (reading I can finish about half of the material, the rest I have to gamble), and of the 1300 new words (as compared to level 4) there were about 300 which still weren't in my training. So that also delays reading speed and complicates understanding (listening) a lot. Although if I had enough time, I would probably score at least quite high on the reading part. In the 15 mock exams I tried all kinds of strategies, but none of them really improved a lot.

So now I'm gradually adding missing words to my vocabulary, but that still doesn't increase my speed. And I think I need a lot of time (years??) before I will be able to pass the listening part. So perhaps in december I will try again, just to see if there is any improvement, but maybe I will wait until may next year.

Henk Dalmolen

[AdamD]

Just took level 2. I did a load of practice exams and passed them all comfortably, but Q 10–15 sent me in a complete spin, and Q 16–20 were not much better. Seriously not expecting to pass.

[yang zhao]

i took the Hsk 5 twice but couldn't pass. i have still way to go

[edelweis]

@yang zhao: how did you prepare for the test? Did you learn the vocabulary? Did you take practice tests? Did you pass hsk4 and how long ago?

What did you have trouble with when taking hsk5?

Thanks for any details you can think about...

[rmpalpha]

I took the HSK level 4 test at the Confucius Institute in San Francisco this past Sunday. This was a 网考, and similar to my experiences taking the level 3 test back in March of this year. I once again had the transcript of the audio portion of the test (since I'm deaf). My thoughts:

听力: I was quite nervous about this section of the test, as in the Level 3 test, the audio recordings are played twice, but in the level 4 test (and above), the recordings are only played once. I thought that, with only half of the time being available to read the transcript, I would be scrambling for time to read the audio transcript and answer each question before the test moved on to the next question. I didn't really have any problems though, as I had a few seconds to spare at the end of each question, so that was a relief.

阅读: My experiences were similar to my Level 3 test - I didn't really have a problem with time management as reading is my strength, and I had about 5 or 7 minutes left at the end of the alotted 40 minutes. I felt that the texts were similar in difficulty as the Level 3 test, but with new vocabulary, so reviewing the vocabulary list for the test was quite helpful in being able to get through all of the texts.

写作: Again, this was similar to the Level 3 test. The pinyin input was really annoying for me because I'm used to the one on my Mac, and the test was on a PC with its own quirks. For instance, I couldn't type in the whole sentence in Chinese - I had to type in each individual word one at a time. The sentence rearrangement exercise was not too bad, except for one sentence that tripped me up: 被鼓励的孩子 ／ 经常 ／ 往往 ／ (很?)有信心.

For the sentence writing exercise, I remember all of the words: 价格 (woman looking at purse)、汤 (guy eating soup)、圆 (watermelon)、乘坐 (plane)、精彩 (father and son cheering while watching a soccer game on TV). I had to guess at the usage for 精彩 since I didn't really know what it meant (I figured it was related to 精神, since the father and son seemed excited ). So I'm out 14 points already for the two sentences that I'm pretty sure I got wrong.

Overall, I felt that this test was more difficult than the level 3 test because of the large amount of extra vocabulary sprinkled throughout the test, and because of the extra challenge of the sentence-writing exercise (they don't just test on how to use the given word). My studies in Taiwan this past summer really made me feel more comfortable with reading and writing Chinese, and exposed me to about half of the new vocabulary I encountered, so this was tremendously helpful. One gripe I had with the test in general was that the font on the computer screen was small and pixelated (to me, anyway), so it took more effort for me to concentrate on trying to read the characters than if it were a paper test.

I prepared for this test by purchasing and studying from “An Intensive Guide to the New HSK Test - Instruction and Practice (Level 4)", recommended by someone on this forum (can't remember where I saw it). This book has 8 practice tests (including answers), and a very comprehensive section on the vocabulary that is on the test (none of it is in English, unfortunately). It was an outstanding way for me to be exposed to the vocabulary and tested on it, but the practice tests were much much much more difficult than the actual HSK test itself. I felt that this was basically a HSK 5 test, but with HSK 4 vocabulary, since the listening and reading passages are twice as long in the practice tests compared to the passages on the actual test. I suppose that this was a good thing, because it makes the HSK 4 test look like a cakewalk in comparison. I'm definitely buying the level 5 book because the level 4 book prepared me so thoroughly for the test.

Next step: HSK 5 (but only if I get a good enough score for the HSK 4 test)

[AdamD]

Seven weeks on and my results have not been released. Apparently that's normal.

[vgylsen]

I took my HSK Level 2 in May 2012, which was a super exciting experience. I just recommend for people to have as much fun and time as possible for preparing for these exams, because at this point its on such a basic level that you will gain most if you keep it fun until one day you realise how much you have actually improved and hopefully that will give you the confidence to take Chinese study more seriously... I guess I am speaking from the place of someone who's main degree is in a different field so I can only study Chinese in my spare time and work up to a standard that would enable me to become more proficient.

One word of advice is, I know characters can be scary to begin with, but I strongly recommend learning characters from the beginning of your interest, because now I have a huge gap of difference between my levels of Speaking + LIstening vs Reading and Writing.

In preparation for HSK what helped me was to take the amount of words that need to be studies and divide them by the time i have for my goal. For example if I should want to take HSK 3 next year, that will be 600 words divide by let say 30 weeks, so then my target is I must learn 20 characters a week.

I think Skritter is an excellent tool for tablet and iphone users, so make sure you download that, its only like 6$ a month or something.

But seriously, for the real beginners please please learn characters from the very beginnign, again just make it fun, it doesn't have to be serious. Little things like learning stroke orders or a few words here and there can have a huge impact on your development, because now I am preparing for Level 3 HSK so my schedule is much heavier, because I have never properly taken time to learn characters, so not only do I have new volcabulary to learn, but I also have to learn the old from scratch (even though I know about 50 or so).

Anyway, it's all good because I got my results, I got 99/100 for Listening and 92/100 for reading (though on level 2 its still in pin yin) which brings to a total of 191/200, with only a necessary 120 to pass.

I have felt wonderful about this, and it was such an amazing experience to receive my first Certificate from China ever!!!