lakers4sho Posted April 11, 2014 at 02:49 PM Report Posted April 11, 2014 at 02:49 PM Hi, what are some recommended books for HSK4-6? Also, for the new HSK, does the actual score matter? Or is it just pass-no pass at this point? Thanks. lakers4sho Quote
ZhangKaiRong Posted April 11, 2014 at 03:31 PM Report Posted April 11, 2014 at 03:31 PM What kind of books are you interested in? There are no specific textbooks for HSK (however, most Peking University Press' and BLCUP's textbooks contains the HSK vocab, grammar, listening, etc. - more or less...) You can buy mock exam books, there are a lot of them on the market. These include approximately 6 to 10 mock exams, same as the actual exam. I can recommend the 新HSK(1-6)级全真模拟测试题集. The book contains ten mock exams, and also contains the necessary (thematic!!!) vocab, which is quite useful when you're preparing for the HSK. Regarding the score, IMO it doesn't really matter. You pass an HSK if you get 60% of the total points. If you want to apply for degree programs in China, there are some universities that can specify what kind of HSK you should hold and what is their required minimum points to apply, but in most cases it is the same as the passing 60% (though, I saw some universities which required 70 or 75%). If you want to work in China, it is possible that some (mostly foreign) companies require you to hold an HSK, but I've never heard about any of them requiring a specific score. Nowadays they are tend to require Chinese conversational skills, because having an HSK5 or 6 doesn't really mean that you know Chinese. It is a necessary, but also an overfetishized and overrated exam. Quote
Geiko Posted April 11, 2014 at 04:31 PM Report Posted April 11, 2014 at 04:31 PM In fact, score is so unimportant that apparently HSK 5 and 6 don't have a passing mark any more (read here). Quote
lakers4sho Posted April 12, 2014 at 04:56 AM Author Report Posted April 12, 2014 at 04:56 AM I guess right now I'm looking for a good vocab book with explanations on usage and hopefully some example sentences. I plan to buy my book(s) from this site (http://www.chinasprout.com/htm/shop.html?section=shop&topic=education&category=chinese-books&subcat=learn-chinese&subsubcat=hskmaterial&mode=listing&filter=&id=unlimited&type=&price=&theme=&agegroup=), being from the US. There seems like there's a whole of the "mock tests" kind of books, does it matter which ones of those I pick? lakers4sho Quote
ChTTay Posted April 12, 2014 at 01:11 PM Report Posted April 12, 2014 at 01:11 PM Actually, this new series of books is designed specifically with the HSK in mind. It is set out like a regular textbook, with texts, grammar explanations, practice questions etc. However, it takes the HSK vocab list and uses it in each text. One lessons vocab list will be 80-90% hsk vocab. Level 1 is HSK4, Level 2 is HSK5 http://www.amazon.cn/北大版专业通用汉语教材-汉语新天地-大学汉语教程2-王际平/dp/B00A63BY9W/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1397307930&sr=8-17&keywords=New+horizon Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted April 12, 2014 at 02:14 PM Report Posted April 12, 2014 at 02:14 PM In fact, score is so unimportant that apparently HSK 5 and 6 don't have a passing mark any more (read here). That's just freaking stupid. There was never anything to stop universities or employers requiring a higher HSK grade than the minimum pass level before they changed it, anyway. The only difference is that now I guess you can legitimately put "HSK6 with a score of 95" on your CV even though that's like 32%. Quote
lakers4sho Posted April 12, 2014 at 05:30 PM Author Report Posted April 12, 2014 at 05:30 PM Thanks for the recommendations! Right now, Im looking at the following sets of books http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLH036 http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLK030 Does anyone have any experience with either of them? lakers4sho Quote
ChTTay Posted April 13, 2014 at 04:54 AM Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 04:54 AM Those books have the pinyin and the characters next to each other which makes them fairly unreadable. They do provide a little sleeve/cover thing so you can cover one or the other... But i would prefer it if they just didn't put the two next to each other. Also, a graded reader isn't targeted at HSK and, depending on the story, there may not be many words that overlap with the HSK vocab. The simulated tests should be okay. I have read on here that certain publishers of practice tests add a lot of works that aren't on the HsK Vocab list. When I did practice tests, I just downloaded them from chinesetest.cn I recommend the book i recommended earlier. Seriously. Get that. If you are working toward level hsk4 then get level 1 of that textbook. You can find it online on other websites, not just amazon china. 1 Quote
lakers4sho Posted April 13, 2014 at 05:59 AM Author Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 05:59 AM Which books have the pinyin next to the characters? The readers? lakers4sho Quote
ChTTay Posted April 13, 2014 at 09:24 AM Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 09:24 AM Yeah, that particular series of reader. Like the below all the way through. 我是英国人 Wo shi ying gui ren Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted April 13, 2014 at 10:15 AM Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 10:15 AM I hope it's not that bad... that's not even remotely correct. Spaced by syllables rather than words... No tone marks... Incorrect capitalisation... "gui" instead of "guó"... Quote
ChTTay Posted April 13, 2014 at 02:23 PM Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 02:23 PM Blame iPads?! I was more going for how the layout is. It's normal, textbook standard in the reader. Quote
lakers4sho Posted April 13, 2014 at 08:56 PM Author Report Posted April 13, 2014 at 08:56 PM So I guess, I'll just get ChTTay's recommended book(s), as well as the mock tests books that I found on China Sprout? Would that be an a-ok combination? lakers4sho Quote
ChTTay Posted April 14, 2014 at 01:15 AM Report Posted April 14, 2014 at 01:15 AM Sounds good to me! Really, it's whatever works for you. If you don't know what that is yet... Then try a combination of things. I know people who just learned all characters with no context, those who just did practice tests and made flashcards, people who used this or that text book... Etc etc Also, even if a graded reader doesn't directly tie into studying for HSK, it does tie into studying and improving your Chinese, so it's still worth doing in the long run! For me at least, graded readers tend to feel less like studying too. I can usually pick them up when I'm not in the mood for "real study". Chinese Breeze or Mandarin Companion are two good publishers of graded readers. I recommend "Cuo Cuo Cuo!" 错！错！错! As a "red/beginner" level Chinese Breeze book. In the blue level, I found the one about a zhong guan cun software company to be very good also. Quote
lakers4sho Posted April 16, 2014 at 03:07 AM Author Report Posted April 16, 2014 at 03:07 AM So my laoshi just gave me a couple of old books of practice tests for the old HSK. Can I use them as prep for the new HSK? lakers4sho 1 Quote
Su Haifeng Posted August 21, 2014 at 01:59 AM Report Posted August 21, 2014 at 01:59 AM HSK is quite similar to CET, an once compulsory test in Chinese universities. According to our experience, the best method to pass an exam is to do as many mock tests as possible and try to memorize the core words. Besides, try the computerized test instead of the traditional one. Quote
mokushiroku Posted August 28, 2014 at 09:35 AM Report Posted August 28, 2014 at 09:35 AM Once you got the grammar down, you really just need to: 1. Memorize vocab 2. Practice For 1, use sound-based memory techniques. For 2, just use mock tests. Quote
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