new HSK oral test

[dnevets]

I'll be taking new HSK level 5 this month, including the oral test. Has anyone done the new HSK oral test before?

This page http://www.confuciusbcit.com/hsk_faq.asp tells me that a level 5 oral test includes 3 different sections; Listening and repeating, answering questions, and reading aloud.

Does anyone have any details of exactly what I can expect? For example...

Listening and repeating: Are we talking about single words, short phrases, whole sentences? I guess any sentences can't be *too* long since that's more of a memory test than a speaking test... right? Any idea how fast the voice will be, and how difficult the language is likely to be?

Answering questions: Is this likely to be a simple conversation-style situation, asking me questions about my myself, my hobbies etc? Or... something more difficult? I'm guessing that at level 5 I won't be asked about current events or anything that difficult.

Reading aloud: Again, will this be words, phrases, sentences, whole paragraphs?

Cheers

[elliott50]

Please find attached an example exam paper from http://www.chinesetesting.cn/userfiles/file/HSK-gaoji.pdf which should answer your questions. I downloaded it some time ago but can't see a link to it from the main website anymore. There is also a 36Mb MP3 file to go with the PDF, which is still available from http://www.chinesetesting.cn/userfiles/file/HSK-gaoji.mp3.

HSK-gaoji.pdf

[dnevets]

Excellent, thanks for that!

So judging from that mp3, I guess that as far as 'listen and repeat' is concerned it means listen to the short monologue, and then repeat what I hear *in my own words* since they're rather too long to remember word for word.

The Q+A questions are slightly more difficult (well, more 'open-ended') than I expected, but after all the test is for both levels 5 and 6 (right?) so I suppose it has to offer an opportunity for the more advanced level 6 speakers to show off what they know.

The reading part seems fair enough.

Thanks again!

[xiaoxiaocao]

Just for anyone who wants it - This is the official HSK handbook that we were provided when registering our students for the test. Had to split it up into three parts because of the upload limits.

mods - any chance of passing the complete file over to you for upload? even when broken down the smaller chunks are still to big and there is more to come. The complete file size is 3.5mb

Admin says: Of course. 3.5MB pdf is available to download here. There's English and Chinese.

[dnevets]

Ok, so just back from taking the new HSK oral test (advanced level), so for anyone that's going to take it, here's what you can expect:

Part 1: 3 questions, each was a ~1 minute monologue which I was meant to retell in my own words. I found all three of them to be really fast, perhaps even slightly faster than people's normal talking speed. Perhaps more like TV news reporter speed, if that makes sense. I tried to scribble down some notes as I was listening but I simply couldn't write fast enough. This was way more difficult than I expected - at one point I found myself chuckling away to myself because it seemed stupidly hard... I was wondering what the devil I was even doing there! This is definitely more a test of listening skill and memory, as opposed to speaking.

The questions for parts 2 and 3 are read from the exam paper. You get 10(?) minutes to prepare before they begin.

Part 2: Reading a text out loud. There weren't any particularly difficult characters so I read through the whole thing without too many problems. (Plus, with 10 mins to prepare, I went through and put the tone marks above any of the more difficult character combinations to help stop me stumbling.)

Part 3: Respond to 2 different questions. Not massively difficult, anyone who is taking new HSK 5 should understand and be able to respond to these without too many problems.

Assuming that these parts are split equally, 33.3% each, then I'm not too confident that I've even passed this - since I found the first part so tough (can't imagine I've scored more than a few percent on it)... well, not a great start :-( Parts 2 and 3 are *much* easier... but did I do enough to pull the average up? Suppose I'll find out in a few weeks.

[lanzhoumian]

so, did you pass? ;)

[dnevets]

I have to wait about 3 weeks to get the results but when I find out, I'll report back here. Honestly, I don't expect that the result will be good. The passing mark is 60% but it'll be a miracle if I managed even 50% :-/ In my mind I've already written this off, which is a shame because the other part that I took earlier in the day (new HSK 5 listening, reading, writing) was much better - I'm 99% sure that I've sailed past the 60% mark.

[dnevets]

Well, just found out I passed my new HSK level 5 exam. Scored 214 (81 listening, 67 reading, 66 writing. Thought I'd score higher in the writing section...

As for this speaking exam - results not ready yet, I'll keep checking (although still certain that I've failed miserably).

[jimmy_p]

Congrats on passing! Fingers crossed for the oral!

Can I ask about your Chinese learning background? Especially, how long did you spend to prepare for the HSK 5? I'm taking the HSK 4 very soon and am wondering how soon I should prepare for the HSK 5 (assuming I pass the 4, of course!)

[dnevets]

I lived and worked in China from summer 2007 until autumn 2010. For the first year I didn't really study much, though knew the basics (numbers, ordering food, directions etc). For the past 2 and a half-ish years I've been studying much harder. I did Chinese Made Easier books 2-5 (skipped book 1 since I already knew most of it), then moved onto New Practical Chinese Readers --> workbook 3, then textbook and workbook 4, then textbook 5 (still haven't finished this one ^_^ ) The NPCR workbooks were very important for widening my vocabulary. Also, very importantly, I've used Anki every single day for just over 2 years. I started using it with the pre-made Chinese Made Easier deck, though I've added tons of my own stuff to it - the deck now has more than 11,000 facts, and the stats tell me that I've covered 2450 unique hanzi so far.

In the 2.5-ish years of 'good' studying, I spent perhaps 1.5 - 2 years doing about 15 hours each week. Though this was me studying almost entirely on my own, I've never been to a proper Chinese class before. Just me, my textbook, my dictionary, a cup of coffee, and the comfy seats in Xi'an Starbucks :-) Using Anki is an additional 30-50 minutes each day. Since Oct 2010 I've been back in the UK and studying *much* less. Most of my 'study' now consists of keeping up with my Anki-ing (still don't miss any days!) and watching an episode of Chinese TV, perhaps 4 or 5 times a week.

Does that answer your question? Perhaps more info than you really wanted! Anyway, good luck with your test!

EDIT: Sorry, just to clarify, I meant I have more than 11,000 cards. Since I do the cards 'both ways', then that means I've got more than 5,500 facts.

[dnevets]

I cannot explain how, but I seem to have passed the new HSK 高级 oral test. Scored 67. I'm genuinely confused by this. I'd love to know how the test is scored. I'm told my pronunciation is good, so I'm guessing that helped pull my score up. But considering I barely managed to utter a couple of sentences to answer the questions in part 1... wow. Really surprised. Happy, but surprised! And it makes me think that there should be exams at a higher level than this, for people that really are advanced speakers - because I certainly am not one of those. That's not modesty, that's honesty.

Really - if anyone has any idea how the scoring system works, I'd love to know. Not just division of points between questions, but marks for vocabulary, grammatical accuracy, how appropriate the response is, pronunciation, general fluency...? :mellow:

[DBH1983]

@dnevets

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am enrolled via a CSC scholarship to study for one year at BLCU this September in order to do a masters in 2012 in Music for 3 years. I was wondering, do you think I can possibly get to a new HSK level 5 in one year of study, with the corresponding advanced oral test? I can do 4 or 6 hour classes each day. I have absolutely no Chinese right now.

Thanks,

Daragh

[sarahkatemunro]

Hi dnevets!

I just wanted to say thanks for posting re the new HSK written and oral exams, esp re the oral, your info was really useful. I took level 5 last weekend and it was fine, and plan to now move onto level 6 and perhaps take early next year. I'm worjing at the same time, so it's always a struggle to find the time and the discipline to study independently. I originally signed up to take intermediate oral test, but based on what you posted, I think I'll change to the advanced level and take in October. So thanks for your inspiration! Glad also to know there's another UK friend out there struggling to get to grips with Chinese - well done on your perseverance! I live in Beijing at the moment, and am from Northern Ireland. I've lived, worked and studied in China for a total of 5 and half years now.