HSK 3 writing section query-

[mulanhill]

Hi! I'm hoping someone can clarify my concerns about the HSK 3 writing section.

 

Do all the missing gap questions give the potential answers for you to copy or do you actually need to be able to fully write the character from your own memory?

 

Also, if you take the computer based exam.. how do you type in Chinese? Is it like on the phone when you use pinyin and the characters just come up to select from?

 

Thirdly, do the HSK certificates list your scores? Or do they only show that you passed?

 

Thankyou for any help!!

[Shelley]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

I am not sure about the answer to your first question but at HSK3 I would think that you have to know it, but it might be multiple choice. I have not done any of the HSK tests.

Are you going to a centre to take the exam, that's usual, then the computers there should be set up to do that but I suggest you brush up on the popular IMEs so that it doesn't prove to be an obstacle at exam time.

 

I think they list your scores so you find out what you scored in section, but I could be wrong.

 

Hopefully others who have taken this exam will be able to give you some concrete advice.

 

Hope the exam goes well for you.

[CriquetKhan]

Hi!

 

I just did HSK3 last spring, good luck to you !

 

As you probably know you have two parts in the writing section. The first one is about ordering 5 sentences. Probably you can guide yourself with other sentences you can find in other parts of the exam. "Should I put this verb before or after this particle?" is something that you probably can find in reading part.... but at the end you need to know all included grammar in order to fulfill this part.

 

The other part is about write 5 characters, and yes, if you do it with computer you just need to type the pinyin and chose the right character. And the pinying is on the exam itself!. Of course you need to be aware not chose the first one but the right one. For example if someone is asking to another person to sit, if you put the suggested "zuo" (做) you will be wrong. You need to put the right (坐). Nothing more.

 

About score yep, they will give you the score part by part (listening, reading and writing) and the final resume, but I think you can not know the score of all questions one by one.

 

Luck again !

[mungouk]

Hi @mulanhill and welcome to the forums.

 

I did HSK 3 computer-based test recently and wrote up my experience in case that might be of use to you.  You will also find a lot more general information, including what scores look like for the different levels, over here... although be wary of reading anything written before 2010 because the format of the HSK tests changed significantly then. The vocabulary lists were also altered slightly in 2012.

 

Part 1 of the "writing" section is really only re-arranging the words which are given to you in order to make a grammatically correct sentence.  Part 2 is "writing" a single particular character which as @CriquetKhan explains, if you're doing the computer-based test is really just a matter of choosing the right option in the pinyin input method.  It's worth doing this right, as these 5 answers are worth 10 marks each!

Regardless of whether you do the paper-based or computer-based test, you should work on some of the practice tests as part of your preparation, and think about your exam technique. Samples of the paper-based test can be downloaded from chinesetest.cn while the computer-based one also has some mock tests which I've written up as well. 

 

Please note that according to reports from members in these forums, there seems to be some variation in the exact format of the computer-based test from one centre to another, in other words they're using different software.  Whereas the paper-based one is exactly the same everywhere. On the other hand, if you don't know how to write the relevant Hanzi for the last 5 questions, then the computer-based test is a big advantage.

 

Come back if you have any more questions!

  

 

 

[mulanhill]

Wow! I'm new to this site and blown away by your help!! Thankyou very, very much everyone!! 

 

Sounds like computer based test is definitely the way to go. 

[mungouk]

@mulanhill 不客气 — if you stick around you will find (almost) everyone here to be very helpful. It's a great forum.

 

Plus I myself had all the same questions as you several months back

 

Be aware that not all centres outside China offer the computer-based test regularly though... where are you based? 

 

(For example, in Singapore where I live, the one HSK test centre only does computer-based tests for HSK 5 and 6. Hence why I decided on a trip to China and sat mine in Shanghai.)

 

[mungouk]

4 hours ago, CriquetKhan said:

I think you can not know the score of all questions one by one.

 

In the actual test this is correct, but if you do the mock computer-based test as mentioned above then they will give you a detailed report to download for each individual question, which is also interesting because they show how many marks each question is worth.  

 

 

[mulanhill]

Thankyou mungouk!

 

Oh wow didn't consider that some places wouldn't offer online version! I'm in China now but it doesn't look like I'll be prepared to do HSK 3 before I leave as hoped. So I will be doing the exam in Melbourne, Australia.. do you know if I'll have access to online? 

[mungouk]

The so-called "online test" has to be done in an official test centre (you can't just do it from home), so... it depends. 

 

I'd be surprised if Melbourne didn't have plenty of options though, especially given the number of universities.

 

All the official test centres are listed on http://www.chinesetest.cn/ ... good practice for some Hanzi recognition to do a search to see what centres are in Melbourne. ?