Does the HSK reuse questions from previous years?

[Bao]

I'm just now noticing that these practice tests repeat a lot of questions word-for-word. For those who have taken the HSK 6, did you notice any questions that you had done before? Or is that only the case in the practice tests? I'd think that would make the real test too easy...

[maggieh]

I didn't notice anything on the real test that I'd seen before - and I did practice with quite a few test papers.    

[滕腾勝]

I used mock exams from the Beijing university press hsk series, then the only 真題 I could find offline, the official hanban 2014 book. I personally thought the difference was huge, and using the 2014 past papers made a massive difference. the vocabulary in the mock exams is repetitive and lacks the wide ranging style of the real exams. again just my opinion, not necessarily fact. the reading portion in particular seems to have fairly detailed scientific parts, sitting next to a literary excerpt. this randomness is not reflected in the mock exam books available from what I've found. my only conclusion: read more, read widely for best preparation.

[roddy]

Which practice tests? I don't know about the HSK, but I think in general exam setters do repeat some questions for benchmarking - if 80% get a question right one year and 70% the next, you might assume teaching standards have fallen. However it's equally likely someone's been lazy when producing the mock tests. 

[maggieh]

@roddyIt's been a few years since I did the test, but I did the paper test - not the computer one - and I remember having some packets of test papers, sort of bundled together in a book form.   I think I printed some off from the internet too.  I don't remember seeing any repeat questions, but in that exam, you are working at quite  a speed...  I might not have noticed. 

[Bao]

Thanks everyone for the input! Best err on the side of caution and assume this test is going to be hard as hell....