What is HSK? Levels 1–6

The six-level HSK and the 2021 nine-band outline are different syllabi. Confirm the paper at your center before mixing lists.

A public list is inventory. The exam asks you to hear a number, a classifier, and 了 in one line, not to recite definitions.

If you can order food but miss 了 and 个, your next guide is HSK 2, not HSK 4 «to go faster.»

Registration is paid on chinesetest.cn. Nothing on this site replaces that page.

HSK measures Mandarin on a specific paper: listening, reading, and from some levels a short writing task. It does not measure whether you «sound native» at dinner. It does not measure a streak app.

This hub is the index. Each level guide works items: a 了 sentence, a shop dialogue, a 把 paragraph. If you need HSK 3 format, open HSK 3. If you do not know the level, use the diagnosis below.

It is not the blog. The Chinese blog covers method and product. It is not grammar: tones, pinyin, particles live there. It is not exam prep, which is the mock-exam route, not one level’s paper.

Until 2021, the HSK most candidates still search is six levels. Wikipedia lists the classic vocabulary bands. In 2021 CLEC published a three-stage, nine-band outline. Some centers call that «HSK 3.0».

Worked decision: your center advertises «HSK 3» and the classroom still uses 600 words, 把, and 比. Prepare the HSK 3 guide. If it says «nine bands» or «advanced HSK 7–9», do not treat these six guides as the only syllabus that week.

This site also publishes an HSK 7+ vocabulary list. That is inventory for the advanced bands, not a promise your center tests that paper. We do not invent an «HSK 7 guide» to fill Google.

Do not pick a level from pride or from «how many Anki cards I own.» Pick from what you can produce and hear under a little time pressure.

Case A. You can say 我是学生 (wǒ shì xuésheng): I am a student. You miss 吗 on slow audio and still count on your fingers. Start with HSK 1.

Case B. You order 两杯水 (liǎng bēi shuǐ): two glasses of water. In listening you lose who already paid. Your gap is 了 and classifiers: HSK 2.

Case C. You understand 今天比昨天冷 (jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng): today is colder than yesterday. You cannot place 把 with a result. That is HSK 3, not a jump to 1,200 words.

Case D. You read a 120-character paragraph and guess the topic, but miss «who changed the plan.» That is HSK 4 inference.

Case E. You last 10 minutes of audio and fade at 20. The HSK 5 jump is stamina, not 200 rare chengyu.

Case F. You can summarize an opinion piece in English, but the Chinese essay fills with calqued subordinates. That is HSK 6: 话题–说明 structure, not more cards.

Classic HSK 1 asks for about 150 words. This site’s public list at that level is longer on purpose: it supports reading and SRS, it does not redefine the exam. Study the paper your center will test.

Treat each list as inventory. Open HSK 1 vocabulary or the matching level, mark what still will not enter a sentence, and return to the guide for the pattern. Do not make the list the only deck of the day.

Fees, dates, and registration live only on chinesetest.cn. CLEC runs the framework. If social ads sell «the official HSK inside this app,» this site is not a test center.

HSK 1–2: slow audio, short lines, traps on numbers and who. Reading of signs, dialogues, matching. The typical fail is not «missing vocabulary»: it is an untrained ear.

HSK 3: listening densifies. A speaker correction appears («not Tuesday; Wednesday»). Reading with 把, 比, and result complements. Detail in the HSK 3 guide.

HSK 4: longer texts and inference questions. Audio punishes passive listening. HSK 5–6: 30-minute blocks, formal register, author attitude. Each guide works one item; this hub only names the shape.

Suppose a restaurant understands this from you:

我要这个 (wǒ yào zhège): I want this. 不要辣 (bú yào là): not spicy.

That is survival. HSK 2 already wants another layer. At the counter they ask for two glasses, not «water two»:

我要两杯水 (wǒ yào liǎng bēi shuǐ): I want two glasses of water.

If the waiter asks whether you already ordered and you answer without 了, HSK 2 listening penalizes you. Contrast:

我还没点 (wǒ hái méi diǎn): I have not ordered yet. 我已经点了 (wǒ yǐjīng diǎn le): I already ordered.

When that is solid, the next HSK 3 pattern is not more food. It is object displacement:

请把菜单给我 (qǐng bǎ càidān gěi wǒ): please give me the menu.

If you skip from the first two lines to HSK 4 because you «want a high level,» the mock sends you back to the classifier and to 了. That is why the guides stay in order.

Weeks 1–2: pinyin, tones, and the diagnosis above. Read HSK 1 even if you «already greet.» If slow listening beats you, stay there.

Weeks 3–4: pick one level. Run that guide’s worked item (listening + one grammar pattern) aloud three times. Do not open three levels in parallel.

Weeks 5–6: 15–30 minutes a day. Level inventory on vocabulary plus audio at the same level. A three-hour Saturday does not replace that streak.

Weeks 7–8: a short mock of the chosen level. Sort errors: vocabulary, number trap, particle, panic. Only then check dates on chinesetest.cn.

HSK 1: 150 words, 吗 / 的 / 在, listening from day one.

HSK 2: 300 cumulative, 了, classifiers, a worked shop item.

HSK 3: 600, 把 / 被 / 比, the listening jump.

HSK 4: 1,200, inference, collocations, a mock every two weeks.

HSK 5: 2,500, 30-minute stamina, chengyu in context.

HSK 6: 5,000, authentic input and 4–5 maintenance.

Core grammar: tones, pinyin, classifiers.