equivalence between UK GCSE Chinese and HSK

[li3wei1]

I've been trying to find some way of comparing the UK Chinese GCSE with anything else, such as the HSK or the . Word lists, I've found vocab lists that look like there are around 2000-2500 words, but they're not numbered, and as they're classified lists there's probably some overlap. A character list would be helpful,

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages

lists four kinds of GCSE, but I'm not sure which kind the Chinese is, and the relationship between the new HSK and the CEFR is disputed.

[ChTTay]

I don't have an answer but this thread overlaps with yours kinda...

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/7706-hsk-basic-level/

[alanmd]

If you can get a list of the characters or words used at GCSE level, you can paste them into the little analyser tool I wrote and see exactly how much overlap there is with HSK: http://hskhsk.pythonanywhere.com/hanzi

 

If you get a copy of the GCSE lists to me I could write something like this, which compares the 2010 and 2012 HSK: http://hskhsk.pythonanywhere.com/hskwords20102012

 

There are up-to-date HSK Word and HSK Character lists as well on my little site. The HSK character lists are not published by Hanban, but they show the level that a given character is first used in one of the HSK words.

[roddy]

The entire GCSE exam specification is online (for that exam board, at least, I'm not sure how the system works), complete with grammar and vocab lists. I couldn't spot any direct reference to CEFR or other standards, but it's got to be a pointer in the right direction. There's also past papers and sample answers, etc. 

[li3wei1]

Thanks, Roddy, your Google must be better than mine, I should upgrade.

So it looks like about 1200-1300 words, possibly equivalent to HSK 4?

[dnevets]

Just comparing how many characters may give a false impression. You'd also need to take into account the difficulty of the sentences/grammar used, length of written texts, speed/length of the audio, and also the different types of question tasks and their relative difficulty.

[roddy]

Why is this in General Study Advice? We have an exams forum.

I'm going to stick a topic up inviting recent HSK takers to have a shot at a GCSE practice exam, should be an interesting exercise.

[li3wei1]

This site suggests that a GCSE grade of A or B is equivalent to one year of university study.