Guided paths

Prepare for an HSK exam

由浅入深

yóu qiǎn rù shēn — “From the shallows into the deep”

Know your level, study to the syllabus, practise with mock papers, and book the real exam.

Rather ask a person?

A guided path · 6 chapters

From your level to the exam room. Pick your HSK level when you reach the exam chapter.

Read the transcript

The placement test works out your level for you. There’s nothing to choose first: the questions get harder as you go, and it takes about three minutes.
You take it signed in, because each question is written for you as you go, and your result is saved to your account.
Select Begin test. The first question takes a moment to write, and it always comes from HSK 1: the test starts at the bottom and climbs.
Above the question are its level and the grammar point it tests. The bar shows how far you are, out of twelve questions at most.
Select the answer you think is right. You see straight away which one was correct, and why.
Two right in a row moves you up a level. Two wrong in a row, and the test has found your ceiling, so it stops there.
At the end, you get the level to start at and a note from me on why. The result never changes your level by itself: that stays your choice.

Lessons are arranged by HSK level, from HSK 1 for complete beginners up to HSK 7 to 9.
Each level’s card shows how many lessons it holds, and the words and grammar you’ll know by the end of it.
A lesson takes one topic from first hearing to using it, in ten sections, listed in the contents bar.
It opens with a podcast: a conversation that talks you through the lesson’s words and grammar.
On a free account, every lesson’s podcast is open, and so is the first lesson of each level, in full. Pro opens the rest.
Scroll through a reading section and it’s ticked off up here; the others are ticked when you do them.
The last sections are for doing: exercises, then a Mastery Mission that asks you to use what you’ve learned.

Every HSK level is made of units, and each unit runs the same way: an overview, the lessons, a review, then an exam.
Open a unit, and after its lessons come the unit review and the unit exam.
The review brings the unit back together: what you can now do, every word and every grammar pattern, and each part you read counts.
Then come mixed exercises on the whole unit. They open once each lesson’s own exercises are passed, and eighty per cent earns the unit’s certification.
The unit exam is a short paper in the HSK format: at HSK 1, seven listening and reading items, with instant feedback.
It opens once the overview, every lesson and the review each reach eighty per cent, so the exam really does come last.
For a whole level at once, the mock tests are full-length papers, and Mock 1 of every level is free.

HSK 1 covers five hundred new words and fifty-four grammar points: the whole syllabus behind the paper.
The paper is forty questions in thirty-two minutes of testing, plus eight minutes for filling in your details.
There’s no writing section: twenty listening questions in fifteen minutes, then twenty reading questions in seventeen.
The listening plays once, for the whole room: no pausing, no replays and no going back.
Further down, select HSK 1, and Sit a free mock paper takes you to the practice papers: the first paper at every level is free.
On the mock tests page, HSK 1 has twelve full-length papers, and Mock 1 is the place to start.
Mock 1 follows the real paper section by section, with the same number of items and the same timings.
Practice is untimed, with replays. Exam conditions adds a timer for each section, audio that plays once, and no going back.
When you’re ready, Begin starts the paper, and it’s marked automatically when you submit.

Focus mode works on pages with a clear order, like this HSK 1 lesson. To begin, select Start Learning in Focus Mode.
The menus and banners step aside, so it’s just you and the lesson, one section at a time.
Select Next to move on. The counter at the top shows where you are: step two of twelve. And Back takes you to the step before.
Your progress for the lesson is up here. Give a section a moment, like Understanding, and it’s counted.
To change the backdrop, select Change scene. Plain keeps things simple, or pick a picture, like the Scholar’s Study. Your choice is remembered in this browser.
Focus mode itself doesn’t use any AI credits. Asking Jason a question here does, and that’s always up to you.
When you’re finished, select Exit, or press Escape.
You’re back on the regular page, at the section you reached, and what you completed is still ticked off.

Registration, fees, dates and test centres are run by CTI, the body behind the HSK, not by Mandarin Temple.
Centres are listed in CTI’s own registration system, so this page links to the official pages rather than copying a list that goes out of date.
When you book, you choose a paper test or an internet-based one, and the real difference is handwriting or typing the writing section.
Booking takes five steps, from registering an account on the official site to downloading your admission ticket.
On the day, bring the ID you registered with, arrive early, and expect the listening audio to play only once.
Results come back through the same CTI account, and a score report is usually treated as current for two years.
Before you pay a fee, select the level you’re considering, and the page shows what its paper asks of you.
From there, study the level, sit a free mock paper, or go to CTI’s site to register.