New HSK

[edelweis]

I think you're supposed to go to http://www.chinesetesting.cn

and fill the information at the bottom right side in the "成绩查询" / "Score" form.

If your registered for the test online, then you could also log into the site and check your personal page.

However neither method works for me, I think the results are not available yet for the May 15 test.

[HerrPetersen]

Thanks for the info.

[BertR]

I think the results are not available yet for the May 15 test.

It takes a long time before the exams are corrected. In my case the scores where online after one month and a half.

[Guest realmayo]

In case anyone is interested, I compared the vocab list for New HSK level 5 with the old HSK vocab lists, which I already had in a spreadsheet. I haven't double checked it or anything and I've no real idea how useful the old HSK lists are, or whether the new one is accurate. But for what it's worth, there are 2500 entries in the new level 5, of which 1950 comprise two or more characters.

Of these 1950 words, 413 were in the old HSK level 1, 896 in level 2, 338 in level 3 and 138 in level 4. There were also 165 items that I couldn't find in the old lists.

I'm not going to pretend this is particularly useful -- I haven't included any of the approx 2220 words for New HSK levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. But it seems on the surface to suggest that, as far as vocab goes, level 5 is a lot easier than the top intermediate level of the old HSK.

[edelweis]

I haven't included any of the approx 2220 words for New HSK levels 1, 2, 3 and 4

I think the level 5 required vocabulary is 2500 words total. The words from previous levels are included in those 2500 words. I haven't checked the Level 5 list, but I know for a fact that the Level 4 list (1200 words) includes all the words from the Level 3 list (600 words) so the difference between levels 3 and 4 is really only 600 words.

[renzhe]

2500 words total is a joke.

I remember lots of tricky words in the official HSK 6 mockup, so either this does not cover everything you need, or there's additional 10,000 words between HSK5 and HSK6

[chinopinyin]

2500 words total is a joke.

I remember lots of tricky words in the official HSK 6 mockup, so either this does not cover everything you need, or there's additional 10,000 words between HSK5 and HSK6

According to Hanban http://english.hanban.org/content.php?id=5320 new HSK level 6 covers over 5000 words.

[Guest realmayo]

edelweis, it looks like you're right. The vocab lists are at the bottom of the mock exam papers and yes, for level 6, there are 5000 words. The old HSK intermediate was at around 4500 total I guess. Though I can imagine an exam which was harder to answer despite having a lower amount of vocab. I'm not saying that's true for the new HSK though.

[edelweis]

I obviously can't say about the difficulty of levels 5 and 6.

What I can say about Level 3 is that they sometimes ask the reader to extrapolate a new word from words that are in the vocabulary list.

For instance, both 太阳 and 眼镜 are in the Level 3 vocabulary list, but 太阳镜 isn't. Yet the May 15 exam included 太阳镜 in the Writing part.

I can only imagine that higher levels of the new HSK may require even more of these educated guesses. They could require the candidates to know not only the words in the vocabulary list, but also the individual meaning of the characters that are in those words, so as to be able to make those "guesses".

(眼镜 is composed of "eye" and "lens", we were supposed to deduce 太阳镜 = "sun" + "lens" = sunglasses).

[chinopinyin]

Edelweis, did you feel there was enough time to do the writing part in HSK 3? What kind of exercices would you recommend to prepare that part?

[edelweis]

chinopinyin:

I didn't do anything special to prepare for the writing part, as I had already been practising writing characters and words for 15' daily from the assimil book. I merely learnt (how to read) the official vocabulary and grammar sentences (using an SRS software), and searched jukuu.com for more sample sentences that use the test's vocabulary.

I would advise you to study the grammar sample sentences, perhaps practice creating similar sentences yourself, and check a grammar book to understand the sentences' structures, as the first part of the writing undoubtedly requires some grammar knowledge to reorder the words in the proper way.

As I wrote elsewhere, print the answer sheet and practice writing with a 2B pencil on it, and make sure you know how to write at least all the simplest characters in the vocabulary, especially those that contain a single root, like 水 and 天, as these appear more likely to be required in the 2nd part.

In my opinion there was quite enough time for the writing part, this was actually the easiest part for me (the only issue I had was that my hands were trembling at that time due to nerves and a slight hypoglycaemia).

[chinopinyin]

Edelweis, thanks a lot for your advice

I have just sat HSK 2 and I am waiting for the results in the coming weeks. I've done the mock tests for HSK 3 and found I could do reasonably well on the listening and reading parts. However, I had never written by hand a Chinese character (Google pinyin input is probably too convenient). I now plan to sit HSK 3 late this year. I've put both HSK 3 sample words and sentences into a SRS program. My main challenge is the written part. I am starting with a 15' daily practice of handwriting using a 2B pencil.

[HedgePig]

Are the word lists for the new HSK freely available somewhere on the internet?

Apologies if this has been answered before - I did search but failed to find anything. I've seen references to word counts but not any links to the lists themselves.

Regards

HedgePig

[BertR]

Are the word lists for the new HSK freely available somewhere on the internet?

Apologies if this has been answered before - I did search but failed to find anything. I've seen references to word counts but not any links to the lists themselves.

Regards

HedgePig

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/20933-taking-the-hsk-already-taken-it-report-in-here-2009/page__view__findpost__p__212270

[HedgePig]

Thanks BertR - that's what I was looking for. I also realise that in this very thread, Chinopinyin has posted an Excel file of the HSK 3 vocab. And edelweis has posted sample sentences for HSK 3 here

Regards

HedgePig

[chinopinyin]

Sample tests for the new HSK Oral Tests (Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced) in mp3 format can be found here

http://www.confuciusinstitute.ie/cptest/index.php?file=kop21.php

[BertR]

Sample tests for the new HSK Oral Tests (Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced) in mp3 format can be found here

http://www.confuciusinstitute.ie/cptest/index.php?file=kop21.php

Thank you! Although it seems that these recordings aren't that useful. The largest part of the mp3 you can't hear any sound (I listened to the intermediate and advanced ones).

[chinopinyin]

Thank you! Although it seems that these recordings aren't that useful. The largest part of the mp3 you can't hear any sound (I listened to the intermediate and advanced ones).

My understanding is that the files are true mock tests. The duration of the mp3 is that of the exam. When there is no sound, you are supposed to be speaking.

For instance, in the intermediate exam there are three parts

Part 1: 10 items. There is one sentence for each item. The examinees will repeat the sentence according to what they have heard

on the record.

Part 2: 2 items. The examinees will speak according to the pictures available on the paper.

Part 3: 2 items. The examinees will answer two questions with pinyin available on the paper.

Unfortunately, the pictures are not available

[Daan]

I took the new HSK (level 6) in Rotterdam yesterday. Being used to traditional characters, I found it unexpectedly difficult to read the simplified ones at the speed the HSK required. Back in Taiwan I did manage to pass the TOP's reading section with a 7 out of 7, but apparently that doesn't automatically translate into decent reading speed in simplified characters. I'd expected it'd be a bit slower, but not this much slower. Fortunately I bought quite a few books when I was in Beijing in November, so I suppose I'll use those to practise reading simplified materials. Other than that, the reading comprehension part wasn't that difficult.

Not so for the writing part, where you're required to write a 400-character summary by hand. The proctors hand out a story that you're given ten minutes to read. After that, you have to hand the piece of paper back and explain briefly in 400 characters what the plot line of the story was. You're not required to express your own opinion on the story, but there are two things that made this difficult for me. First of all, because of the paper they've used to print the answer cards, it's hard to erase mistakes without making a mess of the entire thing. Second, because you have to write this by hand, you can't go back when you're finished and add a few characters at the top. I'd say I can write acceptably in Mandarin, but not without editing after I'm done writing.

The listening comprehension part wasn't as difficult as it could have been, and you could generally get the right answers to the multiple-choice questions while still listening to the recording, so without having heard the questions. By the way, they require you to write down your answers in the question booklet initially, and will only let you copy them to the answer card at the end of the test. The same goes for the reading section. I don't understand why, particularly since people are going to be tired after two hours' worth of reading, writing and listening. It's easy to make mistakes when copying your answers.

Results in a month or so, but I would be amazed if I passed this. I hadn't really prepared and was taking the HSK more to see what the new test was like, as well as to see how well I do with mainland Mandarin after a year in Taiwan, both written (due to the difference between simplified and traditional characters) and oral (accent differences). I think I could definitely pass this test given a bit more preparation, and particularly, some serious exposure to spoken mainland Mandarin. Great Episode Project, here I come ;)

[chinopinyin]

In the exam you're supposed to use a 2B pencil.

However, I find it very difficult to write complex characters with a standard pencil.

Do you know whether it is possible to use a .5mm mechanical pencil?

Thanks in advance