HSK Home Test - Client Software

[Tinarella]

Hi everyone

 

I'm planning on taking the HSK home-based online exam in February and I understand that you need to download a software onto your computer to sit the test.

 

The only Windows PC I have access to is my work laptop which generally restricts us from downloading new software onto it. I wanted to try and see if I could download this software in advance before paying for the exam but the only link I found to the software was: https://test.chinesetest.cn:36165/client.html which doesn't seem to work. I just get the following error message:

 

This site can’t be reached

The web page at https://test.chinesetest.cn:36165/client.html might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED

 

Does anyone know where the software can be downloaded from?

[alantin]

That page does open for me. I think your problem is likely a firewall in your local network since the page uses the port "36165" which is not a standard port for websites and is often (normally) blocked in corporate firewalls. It may be blocked in some home routers as well, if they come with a firewall.

 

Can you ask your company to loan you a computer for this purpose?

 

Companies restrict installing software like this for very good reasons and the home based online exam software is extremely fishy! The page also says it requires you to install "Microsoft .Net Framework v4.5.2" and "Microsoft visual C++ 2015 Redistributable" which are both VERY old versions and are likely going to cause your computer trouble in addition to introducing a load of old security vulnerabilities.

 

A quick google search gives no less than three full score 10 CVE's (that's the highest "danger" score a known vulnerability can have!) for the former: https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-26/product_id-2002/version_id-525677/Microsoft-.net-Framework-4.5.2.html

 

I wouldn't install any of that on any computer I used regularly and I wouldn't use the computer for anything else afterwards before a complete wipe and reinstall. In fact I wouldn't even put in the same network with anything else I have! That's actually exactly what I did when I took the home based text about two years ago. I took a clean computer that wasn't a member in a domain, installed the software on it, took the test, and wiped the machine clean.

[mungouk]

On 1/24/2022 at 11:37 PM, Tinarella said:

The only Windows PC I have access to is my work laptop

 

I don't have a PC either, but when I did the at-home test I used Parallels Desktop on my Mac to run a virtual Windows machine.

 

It has a built-in option to download and install Windows 10 for free.

I have a paid version, but you can also download a 14-day trial version, so if you time it carefully you should be able to use that for free to do the exam.

 

btw https://test.chinesetest.cn:36165/client.html works for me too.  I'm in China, currently with a VPN connected to Singapore.

[Tinarella]

Thank you both for your help! It seems like our corporate firewall is the reason that I can't access the link!

 

I will try the parallels desktop on my Mac - this is extremely helpful!