HSK Level 3 - Writing Section

January 20, 2018 at 09:04 PM

I took the HSK LV3 exam this morning.I had a rather strange experience towards the end.

First, I was given a score report (195, 180 was cutoff) right after and told that I passed... is this normal? Is the writing graded by algorithm? Or is the score temporary.

Second, I feel that I missed something in the writing section. My score was really really low, and I feel that I might have missed something. All I had to do with rearrange the characters into a coherent sentence right? Did it matter if I added extra characters to make the sentence make sense?

January 21, 2018 at 02:48 PM

17 hours ago, Drew Chen said:

All I had to do with rearrange the characters into a coherent sentence right? Did it matter if I added extra characters to make the sentence make sense?

I would think that unless specified, you were expected to make the sentence using only what you were given and if you could not make a sensible sentence from the given characters then yes I would say you had missed something and maybe this is why your mark was low.

I have not taken this exam but in others I have taken adding characters was not expected, but I may be wrong in this case.

January 21, 2018 at 03:48 PM

I had never received a score report right after taking any of the HSK tests, but it's true that now that in many places they're computer-based, and that from level 1 to 3 there's no composition to be corrected by a human being, it's not that strange that you were given the score report so fast. Out of curiosity, where did you take it, in China?

In the writing part of HSK 3 you have to rearrange the words to form a sentence that is grammatically correct by itself, if you added words then your sentence was wrong, and you didn't receive any point for your answer.

January 21, 2018 at 04:04 PM

Thank you for your feedback Shelley and Geiko. I think your assessment of what went wrong is accurate . I did most of my research regarding the test format online in a haphazard way and maybe should have gotten a real guide or used this forum instead.

Geiko, I took the test here in the US at a local university, and it was computer based. They were nice folks... so I won't say which University in case it wasn't the official process . Also, there was another guy in the room taking the level 1, and he got his results immediately after as well.

Also the pinyin input method was kind of strange. I have been practicing on WeChat and I'm able to string a large number of characters together with ease, but not so with the input interface provided for the exam. Perhaps my pinyin was not 100% accurate, but I eventually figured out what I wanted to write by doing 1 or 2 characters at a time.

I think my ego demands that I give this another try in February.

January 22, 2018 at 10:01 AM

17 hours ago, Drew Chen said:

I think my ego demands that I give this another try in February.

You've got nothing to lose except the small fee. Worth it just to force yourself to study.

January 23, 2018 at 04:32 AM

Deleted. Wrong thread

February 12, 2018 at 10:09 AM

Since there is a computer-based version of the test, are there any on-line or computer-based mock tests?

It seems unfair that you might practice on paper-based mock tests but then be confused by the format of the computer-based version.

Also, as a Mac user I'm very familiar with the OSX pinyin input method, but have never used the windows equivalent.

Does the test run in a browser or is it a custom program?

February 12, 2018 at 11:33 AM

1 hour ago, mungouk said:

Since there is a computer-based version of the test, are there any on-line or computer-based mock tests?

It seems unfair that you might practice on paper-based mock tests but then be confused by the format of the computer-based version.

Also, as a Mac user I'm very familiar with the OSX pinyin input method, but have never used the windows equivalent.

Does the test run in a browser or is it a custom program?

I can only speak for the internet-based HSK 4 (but assume it's the same for 3), but the format is the same as the paper based test. Only that instead of seeing a whole page (with several questions) in front of you, you see one question at a time. You are free to browse between all questions of the section you are currently working on. So in the listening part, for example, you may jump to the next question as soon as the current one has been answered, and start reading the answer alternatives before the audio for this question begins (as you would in the paper based test).

It think whatever lack of fairness one could find in the lack of a online test sample ia more than made up for by the benefit of not having to be able to handwrite, btw :p.

As for the pinyin input, I've read somewhere that it is up to each centre to choose. The test I took used the Sogou-input. In any case, all pinyin input programs are similar enough that this is unlikely to be a problem no matter what you're used to. If you want to be sure, you could always contact the center in question and ask them. That way you could familiarize yourself with the system in advance.

The test seemed to run in a custom program, although for all I know it could be running in a browser in full screen mode. I'm curious, why do you wonder about this?

February 12, 2018 at 12:09 PM

33 minutes ago, Balthazar said:

t think whatever lack of fairness one could find in the lack of a online test sample ia more than made up for by the benefit of not having to be able to handwrite, btw :p.

Good point! For HSK 3 paper version do you really need to be able write characters or are the questions only about re-arranging them? Although I was doing some Skritter a while ago, I stopped because I needed to speed up my vocabulary learning. (I can barely write in English with a pen these days!)

34 minutes ago, Balthazar said:

The test seemed to run in a custom program, although for all I know it could be running in a browser in full screen mode. I'm curious, why do you wonder about this?

Well if it's browser-based then maybe there could be online mock tests somewhere. If it's a custom program then I guess not.

April 21, 2018 at 09:34 AM

I finally stumbled upon mock computer-based tests for HSK 1－6:
http://mnks.chinesebridge.com.cn/Mnks/Simulate/DefaultNew.aspx

(After clicking on the link there's a login screen that looks like it's waiting for a password, but hitting the blue "我要考试" button takes you in as an anonymous user.)

It appears to be official since the test has the Hanban logo on the top.

At the end it gives you a downloadable report showing which questions you got right and how many marks they are worth. For some reason they don't bother to add up your score for for you.

I''ll attach some screen shots from the Level 3 test I just did. For the last section where you have to "write" (type) the correct character this is ridiculously easy, and I got them all right, but it didn't award me the points. Possibly a character encoding thing?