HSK levels

[Iluvchinese]

Hello,

I am quite confused that all the HSK flashcards posted here on the forums are level 1-4??? I thought the HSK has level 1-11?? I am very confused....can someone tell me what it actually means?

I'm currently studying for the HSK intermediate and what level is that using the "flashcard" scale of 1-4?

Thanks,

Andy

[BertR]

Yes, it is confusing that they use numbers for 2 different things.

There are 4 main levels: basic, elementary, intermediate and advanced. You can give each of these a number, these are the 1-4 numbers.

On the other hand you have 11 HSK levels:

11 Advanced A

10 Advanced B

9 Advanced C*

8 Intermediate A

7 Intermediate B

6 Intermediate C

5 Elementary A

4 Elementary B

3 Elementary C**

3 Basic A

2 Basic B

1 Basic C

So I believe you should be studying the HSK3 flashcards.

Regards,

Bert

[renzhe]

The flashcards are vocabulary levels, not the grades you get on the HSK.

HSK Basic covers HSK grades 1-3

HSK Elementary-Intermediate covers 3-8

HSK Advanced covers 9-11

For HSK Basic, you need the flashcard levels 1-2

For HSK Elementary-Intermediate, you need flashcard levels 1-3

For HSK Advanced, you need flashcard levels 1-4.

These flashcards are a bit dated, and definitely don't cover absolutely everything. Also, there are other things you need to pass the HSK -- listening, grammar, reading skills, etc.

But they are a good gauge of progress and a good gauge of the vocab you need to do well on a given HSK exam.

[Iluvchinese]

I just took a mock test of the HSK intermediate and it was so hard....I'm chinese and my family is chinese too but I haven't done chinese properly for over a year (I didn't take lessons, just read stuff with a pop-up dict, then stopping for 2 weeks when i had school exams) and now I start lessons again (once every sunday).

I got a 187 score....

My listening was the best score, then grammar and the rest was just horrible...

My teacher carries on saying that it's ok, you can still do it....and now she's arranged for me to have the intermediate HSK in early OCTOBER....

What is the fastest way I can study well enough to get a good score by october?

[renzhe]

Don't be discouraged, HSK is a hard exam, especially as you get into the intermediate stages.

Probably the best way to improve is to do a lot of mockup tests and do huge amounts of reading. Get through a 300-400 page book until October and get through 5-10 mock-up tests to increase your speed.

[jiayou]

Does anyone know what percentage/score you need to pass? And is it like you can fail on one section (for example, listening) and have a good score in others?

[xianhua]

According to Wikipedia the revised structure will condense the marking into 6 levels anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSK_test

[gegehuhu]

The simulated test book I bought (published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press) lists the levels on the back of the book.

It lists only three levels: Elementary [初级], Intermediate [中级], and Advanced [高级].

I have the Elementary, the lowest in this series.

So what's the deal with the "Basic", which other posters have suggested is lower than Elementary.

I'm a new Mandarin learner and am looking for the lowest level, which sounds like it should be Basic. But I couldn't find any books designed solely for basic. This Elementary book was the lowest level I could find.

And what's with all the books combining Elementary and Intermediate into one?

Still very confused...

[Normunds]

Can we re-open this topic? I'm confused here.

For HSK Basic, you need the flashcard levels 1-2

For HSK Elementary-Intermediate, you need flashcard levels 1-3

For HSK Advanced, you need flashcard levels 1-4.

We talk about 4 levels of vocabulary. I tried looking on HSK site and I see nothing that describes these, but they might be listed in the Chinese part of the site - I'm not good enough to be able to find much there. Where do these lists come from?

On the other hand I've seen a number of material where the vocabulary has been split up in 6 grades. For example some guys called Lingomi offer lists for download and sell practice tapes for 6 levels claiming that's the 2010 lists: http://lingomi.com/blog/hsk-lists-2010/

MDBG (http://www.mdbg.net/) also uses the Lignomi lists with their CEDICT definitons. ABC dictionary seems to use only 4 levels - ABCD.

What is the credibility behind all these vocabulary lists? In fact within the other 6 grade material I have, there are official looking PDFs that look like a informational booklets and really contain character information. Does it mean that HSK has changed from 4 vocabulary grades to 6? I yes, how do they map to 3 tests (Basic, Elementary-Intermediate, Advanced), 4 certificates (Basic, Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced) and/or 11 proficiency levels of HSK?

Edited: upon further investigation Wiki claims the new score structure is 6 levels, while on HSK site it still seems to be decsribing 11, or maybe it's again only in English part that has not been updated? It seems so. But AFAIK Chinese description also have the same 3 test, 4 certificate and 11 score level description... are they really out of synch with reality? but again their test schedules also seem to provide just 3 level tests.

On the other hand at http://www.confuciusinstitute.qut.edu.au/study/proficiency.jsp they have links to the 6 level booklets AND the schedule for 6 different tests. Or could it be that Confucius are offering "new format" test, while HSK themselves still provide the old one?

Edited 2: but anyway, I think I've answered my own question. 4 levels is the old exam and 6 levels is the new one :-) And it looks the new exam is taking over. And if anything Wenlin still uses ABC with the old test vocabulary grades.

[MandarinRocks]

There are two organizers behind the exams, BLCU (Beijing Language & Culture University) and Hanban ( China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language), both use the name HSK and claim to be the only authoritive one. They had been fighting for years.....

The one organized by BLCU (11 levels) was far more popular in the past and still more popular now, but the new one by Hanban (6 levels) is catching up in recent years and many universities are starting to work with Hanban instead of BLCU.

The real problem is that Chinese ministry of education allows both exams and let each university decide which one to use as standard to enrol foreign students. Some universities aknowledge both. Two months ago, BLCU started to negotiate with Hanban to cooperate on the new HSK, so maybe there will only be new HSK in the future, but it's still in discussion.

Check with the university you want to apply for to see which exam to take.

HSK course is arranged at Mandarin Rocks mandarin school in Shanghai in case you need preparation course for HSK .