Alternative HSK4 [and now HSK5] decks for StickyStudy

[mungouk]

Hi StickyStudy users,

 

I found learning new vocabulary for HSK 3 and particularly HSK 4 to be a rather large task, due to the sheer number of new words.  The default decks that come with StickyStudy for these levels have 300 and 600 words respectively.

 

But if you're working through the HSK "Standard Course" textbooks then the vocabulary is divided up chapter by chapter and is a bit more manageable, so after some schlepping and grepping I've split the default StickyStudy HSK 4 decks into bite-sized options:

1. One deck for each chapter, containing about 30 words each.
2. One deck for every four chapters, 5 in total, with around 120 words each.

 

HSK 4 Standard Text is 20 chapters split across 2 books, 4上 and 4 下, listed in option 1 as 4A and 4B.

 

From using these myself I think the one-deck-per-chapter option is useful for rapid learning as you approach each new chapter, but the SRS algorithm doesn't work so well for such a small number of "stickies" (flashcards)... I was seeing the same sticky repeated sometimes. 

 

Hence the one-deck-per-4-chapters option, which gives you a longer gap before you see the same sticky again.  These are probably better for revision rather than preparation, but use them however you see fit.

 

(Using both at the same time is probably going to mess up the SRS magic, but on the other hand if you've learned them you've learned them, which is what counts after all.)

 

The developer of StickyStudy Justin Nightingale has given his blessing for me to share these decks, so here they are: see zip files attached below.

 

Installation A: if you have iCloud Drive set up on your Mac

1. Unzip the relevant zip file(s) and you'll see one txt file for each deck
2. In the Finder, copy the txt files you want to use into the iCloud Drive > StickyStudy Chinese folder (see screen grab below)
3. Start up StickyStudy on your iOS device and it should sync with iCloud and pick up the new decks

 

          

 

 

Installation B: if you don't have iCloud Drive on your Mac

 

          1. Unzip the relevant zip file(s) and you'll see one txt file for each deck

          2. Go to iCloud.com and login in with your Apple ID

          3. Click on the iCloud Drive icon to see the folders:

 

           

 

          4. Double-click on the StickyStudy Chinese folder to see the contents

          5. Click on the upload icon (cloud with up-arrow) and select the txt files you want to upload:

 

          

 

          6. Start up StickyStudy on your iOS device and it should sync with iCloud and pick up the new deck

 

If I get some more time I'll make similar decks for HSK 3 as well.

 

Hope some of you find these useful!  Many thanks to Justin for help and support.

 

 

HSK4 combined 1 ch per deck StickyStudy.zip

HSK4 combined 4 ch per deck StickyStudy.zip

[ChTTay]

I am coming to this problem with HSK5. Did you ever make a similar deck for that level? 
 

If not, any guidance on the quickest way to make my own? I tried looking StickyStudy FAQs etc but didn’t find it that helpful for mass import / creation. 
 

Thanks ?

[mungouk]

By coincidence I just checked in here for the first time in ages... since April I'm not studying Mandarin any more.

 

Here are the files I was using for HSK 5. Similar to the previous post, there are versions with 1 chapter per file (30-40 vocab words each), as well as combined chapters, in this case with 3 chapters together.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

HSK5 StickyStudy ch1-36.zip HSK5 StickyStudy 3 chapters per file.zip

[mungouk]

btw I fixed quite a few mistakes and omissions from the original StickyStudy vocab file for HSK5... here's my corrected version.  

 

 

HSK5-ssFIX.txt

[ChTTay]

On 7/13/2022 at 7:07 AM, mungouk said:

I'm not studying Mandarin any more.

This seems very final ? what happened? 

[mungouk]

On 7/13/2022 at 10:50 AM, ChTTay said:

This seems very final ? what happened? 

 

OK I could've said "I'm taking a break"...

 

I left China in February, studied like crazy for the HSK 5 exam in April (but in much too short a time) and then failed it. I made a bad decision to go for it at a time that was convenient (rather than what was best or most appropriate), based on the approach I'd taken for HSK 4 two years earlier.

 

Right now I have no motivation to study Chinese any more because I'm not there, but maybe I'll come back to it in the future.

 

For me, at the HSK 5 level it was becoming too much like pain and not much like fun any more. 

(Meanwhile I was so glad to escape the paranoid Chinese "zero covid" policy... after all the very strict rules, being locked in my apartment shortly before I left, having to have daily PCR tests at my door and so on, being back in Europe felt like waking from a bad dream.  I travelled for 5 weeks in Switzerland (with a bit of freelance work), then Italy, Germany, Portugal and France visiting old friends. It felt like coming out of prison.)

 

So, the bottom line is that I'm not really expecting to go back to China in the near future, and so Mandarin goes on the back burner, or in the kitchen drawer, or something.

[ChTTay]

On 7/14/2022 at 7:12 AM, mungouk said:

For me, at the HSK 5 level it was becoming too much like pain and not much like fun any more. 

I know what you mean. I’m looking at HSK 5 again after many years. Had a couple of stalled attempts. I studied with tutors and just found the formulaic approach too much after going from 0 to HSK4 in 2 years way back in 2014. I read a blog post recently of someone who didn’t use the official books as their primary source of materials for 5 or 6 as they found them childish and boring. I’ve certainly found them boring. However, as they’re so “focused” on the test it seems hard not to use them ?  I’m in a position now of being conversationally fluent but lacking some of the depth you get by actually studying. 

 

Thanks for your flashcards. I’ll give StickyStudy a try with them. I did use Pleco but I find it’s too easy in the past to go off track making cards for everything ????