HSK: What You Should Know Before You Go

HSK: What You Should Know Before You Go
Oct 26, 2012 By eChinacities.com

For many foreign students in China, passing the official Chinese proficiency test, the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi), is a major goal, something that can make all those hours spent hunched over Chinese textbooks, watching boring Chinese TV shows and listening to Chinese podcasts finally seem worthwhile. As for the IELTS and the TOEFL, their English equivalent exams, students of the HSK often spend countless hours prepping for the exam and invest a good deal of money in preparation materials and courses. The exam itself is not cheap either, so repeated attempts at passing it can also be pricey. But students who have successfully passed the HSK say it is worth it, for they finally have tangible proof of the fact that they speak Chinese. So, if you're planning to take the HSK, or just toying with the idea, what can you do to prepare?

Know the exam

The first step towards preparing for the test is to understand the exam and how it works. Some advanced Chinese speakers still fail the HSK because they did not prepare for the exam itself or fully acquaint themselves with the types of questions they were likely to encounter. First of all, the HSK is not just one exam, but actually five exams and the test taker can choose which one he wishes to attempt based upon his level of proficiency. Starting this year, the HSK's tests and level system were revamped, and the old system of "basic, elementary-intermediate and advanced" was replaced with a level-based system. The easiest level is the Level I, followed by Level II, all the way up to Level VI, with the levels being based upon how many semesters of language learning you have undertaken. HSK Levels I and II are intended for those beginning language learners who have studied Chinese for a maximum of two semesters, while level V and VI are intended for students who have studied for more than two academic years and who can use and recognize between 2500 and 5000 words.

Identify your goal

The general consensus among test takers is that the lower levels are not particularly useful unless you're the type of student who needs some sort of extrinsic motivator in order to learn, and most test takers start off by attempting level IV or V. Be sure to choose the right level, but be aware that certain levels have certain requirements. Levels I and II test only listening and reading, writing is not introduced until level III, but at this level very little actual production of writing is required. Instead, test takers are asked to rearrange words to form sentences or to fill in the blanks. Level IV is naturally more challenging in that it includes a written portion where the test taker is required to write a small composition describing a picture that appears on the exam paper.

The written portion of the advanced test is what keeps many would-be advanced test-takers from passing the exam, since many language learners, especially those who are self-taught, are good at speaking, listening and even reading, but are not good at producing written Chinese characters (although an online version of the test, allowing typing using a pinyin IME, is in testing stages and will soon become available at many testing centres).

The specifics of HSK scoring are also rather complicated, so it is best to do some research and review of official HSK materials and information in order to determine exactly which test you should take. Currently the main practical application of the HSK is for entrance to Chinese universities, which usually require a HSK level of IV or above for admissions (intermediate-high intermediate). The HSK VI can sometimes be used as a qualification for translation jobs, but usually a separate translation certification is needed in order to be an "official" translator. So before you put time and energy and resources into prepping for the HSK, make sure that you're choosing the test and level that suits your goals.

Test tips

Success at higher levels of the HSK assumes that you can use and understand a wide variety of grammatical structures, so before attempting the HSK you should have a strong handle on the many grammar patterns found in Chinese. In your everyday speech, make sure you get practice utilizing different grammar patterns. For instance, it is essential that you master the use of grammar markers like "ba 把" and "suo所" and modal markers like "le 了." If you can't use these grammar markers confidently in everyday speech and recognize their purpose in reading, then you probably need to brush up a bit on your grammar before attempting the intermediate levels of the HSK.

Also, before attempting elementary-intermediate, make sure that you have a strong vocabulary and that you can recognize the characters for most common nouns and verbs. Chinese exams tend to be rather wordy and will favour those with strong vocabulary.

If you plan on taking the pen and paper HSK rather than waiting for the computerized version you should make sure you know how to write a large repertoire of characters from scratch before even considering attempting higher level HSK exams. Those with shakier handwriting skills can usually get through the minimal handwriting required on the cloze section without too much difficulty, but, just in case, brush up on your character writing before attempting the exam. Also, like its English counterpart, the TOEFL, many questions on the listening portion of the HSK exam will deal with the attitude or intentions of the speaker. The test may ask you why the speaker says X or what he means when he says Y, or what the speaker's intention is when he says X. Make sure that for each passage that you read or listen to that you can pick out the main point of the article and the speaker or author's point of view or attitude towards the topic. These are basic test taking skills that you learned when you studied for your SAT (or your home country's equivalent) so brush off that knowledge and apply it to the HSK.

Invest in a prep course

Finally, many successful test takers have found that self-study is not enough, so if you are serious about passing the HSK your best bet may be to put yourself in the hands of professionals. Some Chinese language schools will offer money back guarantees, much like English language schools do when prepping Chinese students for IELTS or TOEFL. These schools can teach you many test tricks and will direct your study towards the goal of passing the exam so that you do not waste time studying obscure structures or vocabulary that might not appear on the exam. Many schools claim that with anywhere from two to six months of guided preparation a good mark on the HSK is easily obtainable, so if you have the funds available, consider investing in a course to make sure you reach your goal on the first try.
 

Related links
7 Reasons You Should Learn Chinese: 1-3
Learning Mandarin: 7 Do's and Don'ts
Where to Learn Chinese? University vs. Private Language Center

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Keywords: HSK exam tips on how to prepare for HSK passing the Chinese proficiency test Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi

2 Comments

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Aaron

International Channel Shanghai recently did a news piece on taking the HSK test in Shanghai.

As one of the few private, fully registered HSK Test Centres in Shanghai, they came to our school (Mandarin House) and also SISU to film the footage.

You can watch the video at the Mandarin House website/Videos.

Oct 26, 2012 19:11 Report Abuse

carlstar

Like doing TOEFL or IELTS

Oct 26, 2012 18:46 Report Abuse