looking to get through HSK 1 within 1 month

[geordanson503]

Hi, as the title says, I'm looking to get through an HSK level 1 within 1 month, keeping goals low so far

 

Any advice or reading material would be appreciated

 

Cheers,

Dan

[fabiothebest]

It might be possible and if you are motivated I encourage you to do it, but passing the exam in 1 month doesn't mean that you mastered the material.

Obviously you need to have a wordlist for HSK 1, you can easily get one online.

You also need to study some A1 level grammar, even if not much. You need to know the basics.

I recommend you to get the HSK standard textbook so you are sure to cover the syllabus and also do some tests before the exam.

At first recognising characters' meaning and pronunciation may not be easy, a flashcard system can help you.

For HSK 1 being able to write characters isn't required. Also HSKK that focuses on speaking probably isn't required in order to get HSK 1.

You need to train your ear to recognise sounds and your mouth to pronounce sounds that are probably different from your mother tongue.

Some sounds in particular don't exist and are harder to pronounce.

Being good about pronunciation (listening and speaking) is critical for learning Chinese. For that 1 month won't be enough.

In 1 month you may pass the exam, but probably your pronunciation will suck (just being realistic, not trying to make you feel sad).

You need to learn pinyin, master initials, finals, tones.

At the beginning you could do without, but consider using a teacher sooner or later. What will be neglected at first, will need to be reviewed and improved in the future, if you mean to continue studying Chinese.

There are textbooks like New Practical Chinese Reader, Integrated Chinese and others, anyway at the beginning probably I would just get HSK Standard texbook if your goal is to prepare for HSK 1 in 1 month.

If you have other questions do not hesitate to ask.

[Lu]

My advice would be to get a teacher and meet with her 3-4 times a week. Get a good textbook she recommends, do your homework, and it should be doable.

 

But why do you want to do this? The HSK 1 is basically 'You took Chinese classes! Yay you!' It doesn't mean you know Chinese, and to my knowledge you don't need it to continue with HSK 2 and further (but correct me if I'm wrong). It's mostly a nice certificate to take home after you spent a few months in China, took a weekly class, and are realistically never going to open that textbook again. If you want to learn Chinese, better take classes long-term at a speed that is sustainable to you, and take an exam once you feel you have actually gained some knowledge. If you just want some kind of speed-learning goal, isn't there a subject you can actually learn to a halfway decent level in a month?

[Karl Baker]

It's definitely doable, there are only 150 words after all.

When I first started learning I studied flash cards every day, I could learn over 10 words a day.

You will need to do some sentence mining too in order to figure out how to use the words in a sentence.

Other than that HSK 1 is the very most basic level, you will smash it if you put in the effort 😀

[zhouhaochen]

Depending on how you study it is absolutely possible. HSK 1 is not very hard. Moving up an HSK level gets much more difficult later, but they made the first step comparatively easy.

The HSK book series is a pretty good place to start https://www.blcup.com/EnSeriesBook/index/8 

Not sure if you are going to study full or part time, but if you do it full time then passing HSK 1 after a month is possible (make sure to use your Mandarin after class/get some immersion)