HSK 5 to 6

[dementior]

hi there! sorry for not reading the whole thread...

I' ve passed hsk6 within 1 year of full-time study. From hsk5 to hsk6 the gap is big.

 

Read a lot, write essays and upload them to lang-8. do your anki or pleco daily.

and practice mock exams, start practicing at least 2 months before the exam. do the whole thing, do not skip the essay.

Upload the essay to lang-8 and learn from the feedback provided.

 

Leave the "find the erroneous sentence" for the remaining minutes within the reading part.

good luck

[baihua]

Read a lot, write essays and upload them to lang-8. do your anki or pleco daily.

and practice mock exams, start practicing at least 2 months before the exam. do the whole thing, do not skip the essay.

Upload the essay to lang-8 and learn from the feedback provided.

 

Thanks dementior,

 

In terms of reading, is it anything and everything? I have a massive preference for online material I can filter through Pleco's clipboard reader. Online reading suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

In terms of writing, did you aim towards just practicing the exam question? There is something wrong with the sign-up screen for Lang-8 that prevents me from signing-up.

[dementior]

I understand your preference for online material and it is good and useful to acquire new vocab. But you have to get used to superficial reading, browsing a text in a couple of minutes and getting an idea. This is useful in general for HSK and for any advance course you take in Chinese.

 

I suggest you try a mock exam and you will know what I mean when you go through reading section (last exercise 5 passages)

 

I worked mostly with books since I was attending uni courses but you have plenty of news sites you can access through APPs for android or iphone. Sougu news, Xina news, chairmans bao...

 

Writing: I wrote essays for Uni a lot longer and more difficult than the exam. My assignments were 1000 characters and you only need 400 in the exam. So learn to write longer pieces and enjoy writing. The exam will be easy then, since you have to focus only on good memory, names, locations and making sure you make few mistakes. Obviously you have to throw a few 成语 here and there and try to use a few complex sentences but mostly it is making few mistakes and following the same logical structure as the original piece (no need to make up any content).

 

Better get that lang-8 working, you will learn a lot.

 

regards 

[baihua]

Totally agree on the reading part. When I was in exam prep mode for HSK 5 I would read a question three times. Once in the appropriate exam time minus a dictionary (45 questions in 40 minutes, roughly a minute a question), a second time without a time limit, again no dictionary, and finally with a dictionary. Each time keeping a log of my answers.

 

I found this way tested my speed reading accuracy, but also allowed me to gain a deeper reading of the piece and acquire more vocab.