Craziness? Back to Back Tests

[weilian]

Hey guys,

I've checked the mainland HSK schedule and I'm debating whether or not to take both the 高级 and the 中级. I've been scoring a mid to high 7 on all the sections of 中级 and I've heard a few folks say its easier to get a 9 on the HSK 高级 than a perfect score on the 中级. Anyway, it'd be a good kick in the ass and I've got a lot of free time between now and the test time. If anything preparing for the higher level one would help me really kill the middle one. What do you guys think? The two hang ups I have are 1.) the structure and requirements of the 作文 and 口试 portion and 2.) being too exhausted after the first more difficult test to perform well on the second easier test.

Best,

Will

[anonymoose]

I've heard a few folks say its easier to get a 9 on the HSK 高级 than a perfect score on the 中级

I'm not sure what you mean by "a perfect score" on the intermediate, but if you mean it is easier to score a 9 than an 8, from personal experience, I have to disagree. I took the intermediate once and scored a very solid 8, yet in two attempts at the advanced, I have still to get the 9.

[gato]

weilan, I see from a post you made earlier this April that you were at just about the newspaper-reading level and quite the book-reading level. If that's still true, I think the HSK Advanced might still be too difficult for you. The gap between the Advanced and the Intermediate is quite large.

I know the famous wushijiao was reading books regularly already before 2006, yet he wasn't able to get a 9 in his first try in at the Advanced in April 2006, though he did get the 9 on the Oct 2006 test.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=74500#post74500

Anyone Taken the HSK Advanced

But if you are up for a challenge, then go ahead and take it. But it might be too hard, but preparing for it might give you the extra push that you wouldn't have otherwise.

[doraemon]

From past experience, a few weeks before I took the HSK Intermediate exam in Sydney two years ago, applicants were given a free trial by Chinese teachers at the test centre to determine which level would be most suitable for the candidate.

I ended up getting a grade 8 in the actual HSK Intermediate exam, but the teacher who tested me prior to the exam said I could take a stab at the Advanced, but my scores may not be high enough to even award me a pass certificate, let alone a grade 9. Thus, I played safe and went for the easier Intermediate test. This just shows the huge difference in difficulty level between the Intermediate and Advanced exams.

[wushijiao]

I actually had the same question:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/7812-taking-two-hsks-at-the-same-time

I know the famous wushijiao was reading books regularly already before 2006, yet he wasn't able to get a 9 in his first try in at the Advanced in April 2006, though he did get the 9 on the Oct 2006 test.

Yes, on the taking I got a 7 and barely missed a 9 by a few points. You could argue that getting an 8 is harder than getting a 9, but that's mainly because only a very small percent of the people on the curve get an 8, and all of those people could most likely easily pass the Gao. So while it might be technically true that getting an 8 is easier than a 9, the Gao is still a considerably harder test, in my view.

I can say that studying for the Gao did help me with my writing, which helped in the last section of the 初中。To some extent, I think if you can afford the exam fees, then you might as well take both at the same time. At the very least, getting a bad score on the Gao might give you a road map for what to do next time.

However, as the famous Gato mentioned, however, reading speed is a must for doing the Gao, and if that is a weak point, then that's you probably need to work on. Even the 综合，听力 sections require fast reading skills, and the reading section itself is like a high-speed game of Where's Waldo.

[roddy]

How's your writing? If you've been good (I wasn't) about keeping your writing ability in step with your other skills then the transition to Advanced won't be so painful. If you've not picked up a pen since the first bout of '一二三/工王主' enthusiasm then there's quite a chunk of work to be done.

[weilian]

Thanks for the opinions guys, I'm still debating the choice because I'm afraid that getting blow away on the Gao might make it hard for me to do well on the Zhong.

I've kept my writing up this whole time, but I think speed will remain an issue as it will be in all the other sections. I'm going to register and begin preparing for the Gao and determine whether or not I'll take it closer to the test date. Going to be reading reading reading for the next month it looks like.

Thanks again.

Will

[anonymoose]

I'm going to register and begin preparing for the Gao and determine whether or not I'll take it closer to the test date.

So you're going to pay for the exam, and then maybe not take it? If you register, you might as well take it. Even if you fail, at least you'll have a clearer idea of what's involved for the next time.