Clear, true and reliable info about HSK ?

[Frapunchino]

please people, I going to china specially for the HSK, i cant get the administrative preparation wrong. are those steps correct :

register online

pay them the exam through the internet [ this i dont know at all how to proceed, will they give me a bank a/c number to which i should tranfer X amount of money ?]

then i get a registration number ,

then i only have to show up there on that date ?

questions :

what about the certificate, as i dont reside in china , will they send it to me by post/mail ?

Can i choose myself the examination centre where i want to go ?

is this way safe ? or its better to be in china for real and then register ?

im really worried..the website http://www.hsk.org.cn/ just deserves a lot of swear words, it supposed to be an officla serious site, isnt it ? when i click on register the website just crash ! even the dates , the english version of the website is not up to date !!! what am I gonna do ?

im frustrated...do I have to phone them to arrange my exam ? and how to know if they are not scam ?

please, it gonna be useless all those hours of studies, if i just cant prove my knowledge by an official exam.

[li3wei1]

It should be possible to take the HSK in other countries, perhaps closer to you, where it is administered by people who are better at communicating. You shouldn't have to go all the way to Chna to take the HSK.

[roddy]

OP is in Mauritius, I believe.

[edelweis]

do you mean the new hsk?

you can find test centers and test dates on

http://www.chinesetest.cn/index.do

Most test centers allow you to register online 8 to 4 weeks before the test date I think. Some may have onsite registration.

However I don't think there is online payment. You should contact the test center to get information about how to pay and deadlines.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I registered at http://www.chinesetest.cn and it was no problem at all.

In the registration process you have to choose the location/institution of the exam.

After you register, you will receive an email about what to do/where to pay and all. That email is NOT your admission to the test.

I will copy/paste the mail I got with instructions. Please read carefully as I believe it basically answers all your questions. "..." is where I deleted my personal information.

note: during registration you'll be asked to upload a passport photo.

Good Luck!

~~~~~~~~~ mail I got after registration: ~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Mr. / Ms. [...]

You have successfully registered for the HSK二级 test, to be held at [...] on 2013-05-12.

Please pay the registration fee at [...] before 2013-04-15. If the fee is not received before this date, your registration will be canceled. If you need to confirm or change your personal information, you can logon to the website. After the registration deadline, the information can no longer be changed.

After you pay the registration fee, you will receive a letter confirming your successful registration for the test on around 2013年05月02日. You can either pick up your test admission ticket at the local test authority or print it out yourself.

If you still have not received your confirmation letter 7 days before the test, you can visit our website at http://www.chinesetest.cn to check your registration status or consult with the local test authority.

Please contact with the local test authority regarding obtaining your test certificate 40 days after the test. Good luck on the exam!

Chinese Testing International

[roddy]

What might be a good idea in this case is to contact a private school which is also an HSK test center. The private schools are generally better at communication and international payments than universities - they're more likely to answer emails, have an English speaker, take credit card payments online, etc. Off the top of my head, BICC in Beijing (who have posted in your other topic) and Mandarin House link in Shanghai.

[Frapunchino]

thanks a lot to Roddy and Ruben Von Zwack.

to Ruben : reading your post was a relief, you cant imagine how much ...im gonna do exactly like you. one question , which country you are from ? then you went to take the exam in china ? is it private matter or i may ask why you did not take it in your country itself/why going to china ? how was it ? everything happened smoothly ?

Roddy :

wow, how do you know im from mauritius ?!? when you say " who have posted in your other topic" you do mean the one about my Shanghai trip ? you came across it ?

the problem is that my country is small and isolated in the middle of the indian ocean, there is no institution [except BCLU who claim they are arriving in April] which conduct those exams, else i would fain do them in my country and go to shanghai only for fun and bettering my speaking ability...

on an aside note, i really think that an actual language immersion is needed because i spent all my life in languages with latin roots [ creole, french, spanish] so im quite preocupied whether ill ever achieve fluency one day. Chinese is so so far from every concept i had about languages until now, but at the same time, its what i like the most about it, its a whole new world !

[roddy]

Because in another topic you said so, and even added a Wikipedia link.

It's BICC, not BLCU, that are going to Mauritius in April - different school.

[imron]

you came across it ?

Think of Roddy like the Eye of Sauron.

[Ruben von Zwack]

不謝 or "de nada" Frapunchino, glad it helped, ha ha!

I had no idea you live in Mauritius (that must be amazing !).

I live in Germany, and fortunately for me, there are official "Confucius Institute" here who hold the exam, very convenient.

During the registration process they ask your country. Then they give you a drop-down menu where you have to click on the town to take the exam.

But interesting question what will happen when your residence country is not identical with the country to take the exam. Now I understand your worries!

I didn't take the exam yet - it is in May. I think it won't be so difficult. I downloaded the test exams and they look fine. But exams always make me absolutely nervous.

[Frapunchino]

hi again friends,

thanks for all your responses, now could anyone suggest me a nice test centre in Shanghai ?

if my preference come into plan, i would say i rather select one near the city centre. or one that is highly recognized and professional

[Geiko]

Are you sure that after taking the exam in Shanghai they will send your certificate to your country? I live near Barcelona, where there's a Confucius Institute who holds the exam, and after taking it, I had to wait one or two months until the certificates arrived from China, and they were sent to the Confucius Institute, not to my home address. Once they arrived at the Confucius Institute, we had to go personally to pick them (or authorise somebody else to pick it in our name). I don't know if it works the same way in other countries, but it would be a pity that you went expressly to Shanghai, took the exam, passed it, and then you couldn't have your certificate...

[Frapunchino]

Geiko..i never thought about this .. 2 months in itself is long for pple looking for jobs, im even more worried b/c my country does not even have a confucius institute ! but there do exist a chinese embassy and a chinese cultural centre...do you think that when i will be there i can ask them to mail it to there ?

btw, eres español ? me lo pregunto ya que dices que vives en barcelona

[Frapunchino]

good news for all my forum friends , the CCC [which is btw 10misn from my house] of my country will start to host HSK exams as from september !!!!

this is wonderful, i can then have a relaxed trip to Shanghai, or Shanghai beijing,

are there any threads where you can redirect me to which speak about travelling there ?

any Shanghaiese on this forum who would like to meet up with me ?

[mokushiroku]

We've put a bunch of free info and FAQs about the test on our website, hsktests.com

If you have any questions we don't answer there, please let me know and I'll add it to our site.