HSK Build-up - Now with Post-Exam Report

[roddy]

Who else is taking the HSK this Sunday then?

I am. Been doing quite a lot of study for the last few days, to make up for the study I haven't done in the last few months.

I did it last year and got a 6 (low intermediate) and considering that I've only worked full-time for 6 of the last 12 months, I really should be able to get an 8 (high-int) this time round. However, I reckon my characters might trip me up - if I can't do well in the final 综合 section, it'll drag me down overall, and I could easily wind up with a 7. A 7 is fine, but it'll be annoying as I know my other skills are fine - been getting 8's or high 7's on practice tests for the other three sections. My own fault for not learning how to write properly - my current 'revise 1600 characters in a week' scheme is hardly ideal.

On the up-side, I've found a few good new textbooks - I'll try and find time to post about them after the exam (or maybe before if anyone begs)

What about the rest of you? I know there are a couple of members taking the exam, at least.

Roddy

[bokane]

I'm going for the July one. I've a ton of review books lying around here, and most of them haven't been cracked in ages...

[Konglong]

What resources are available on the net for this test? What are your suggestions in preparation of the HSK?

Kong

[Konglong]

Nevermind....found the answers in another post.

Kong

[akdn]

Best of luck!

[roddy]

Just me then? Oh well . . .

Did a practice exam today, not particularly encouraging. As suspected, my characters are dragging me down in the final 综合填空 section. If I get lucky and they ask me to write characters I know ( ie. 个, 三, 好) then I'll be fine. If there are too many 赛, 系 and 参's I'm in trouble (don't know why those three characters always elude me.

I'll report back once my celebrations have ended . . .

Roddy

[Quest]

good luck roddy

[Tsunku]

Yes, it's almost Sunday, so good luck roddy, and anyone else out there taking it.

[roddy]

Ok, well that's over with . . .

Seemed to be ok, apart from having to be up and dressed for 9am - only the first time I've had to do that in about 3 months.

The first three parts I wasn't really expecting too much trouble with - they're the areas I've done plenty of work on lately.

Listening - No problems. There were a few where I was guessing, but they were educated guesses - 'Well, it's not A or B. . .' type stuff.

Grammar - can't even remember this one, it's only twenty minutes long. Basically I just read the sentence with each of the four possible answers and see which one sounds least stupid.

Reading. First parts generally ok unless they're testing an idiom / colloquialism you're not familiar with. In that case you just guess. Second part is the longer readings - needed to slow myself down here and make sure I was understanding rather than just skimming.

General. I hate this part. I really do. Did better than I thought on the characters though, even though I now know I made some daft mistakes.

Best part was after the exam, when half the classroom ignored the 'wait till we collect everything' instructions and left. The invigilators then discovered an exam paper was missing and tried to keep everyone on campus. Unfortunately they did this by closing only one gate . . .

Roddy