HSK prep: one sequence, not three apps

It covers which paper to study, how to register, and in what order to train. It does not detail HSK 1 listening or an 8-week level plan: that lives in each level guide.

It is not fair Chinese. If your date is a flight, use Chinese for travel. It is not supplier-table Chinese: Chinese for business.

It is not a vocabulary dump. The public lists are inventory. The job here is the sequence: paper, signup, ear, mock.

We do not promise a pass. A green mock is a data point. The center marks a different paper. Chinese Trainer is an indie product, not an HSK center.

Most centers still run the six-level HSK. These guides follow that frame. In 2021 CLEC published a three-stage, nine-band outline. If your center uses that outline, the syllabi are not interchangeable week to week.

This site publishes longer public lists on purpose (the inventory is 12,432 words). Classic HSK 1 is still about 150 words. Study what your center will mark, not the longest spreadsheet.

HSK 7+ in this product is an advanced vocabulary list, not an exam guide. Do not invent an HSK 7 test on this URL.

Teaching note: ask the center or chinesetest.cn which paper they mark. 我是学生 (wǒ shì xuésheng, I am a student) sits in classic HSK 1. Do not mix that list with a 2021 band in the same week.

Create an account at Chinese Testing International. Choose the test (HSK, not HSKK, unless speaking is the goal). Choose a center, a date, and the interface language. Pay. Download the admission ticket when the site issues it.

Do not copy screenshots from an old edition of the site: the form changes. This page is not a clone of the signup flow. If a field does not match, the center or chinesetest.cn is the source, not a 2019 tutorial.

HSKK (speaking) is another exam. A reading-and-listening HSK does not certify speech. Do not use a written pass as proof of 电话 (diànhuà, telephone).

Fees, seats, and calendar only there. This site does not sell seats. The framework sits with CLEC.

Open the level guide and the public list for that level. Each item enters a sentence. 是 is not studied alone: 我是学生.

Realistic pace: 10–15 new words a day inside a sentence, plus 15 minutes of SRS. Dumping 80 on Sunday and skipping review is the error the level guides already name. The point here is not mixing HSK 3 and HSK 5 in the same queue.

If you still lack pinyin and tones, do not start at HSK 3 because work asks for it. Month-one order: start Chinese. Work has another URL.

Do not dump this page with the 150, 300, or 1,200 entries. The inventory already exists. Your job is a live queue, not a highlighted PDF.

The expensive miss is not I lack 20 words. It is hearing the paper's slow dialogue and freezing. Classic HSK listening is short; panic is not.

Five to ten minutes a day at the same level. First without text. Then with text. Then shadowing. If you only read, the exam sounds like another language.

Diagnosis: if you fail on vocabulary, shrink the deck. If you fail on words you know on a flashcard, the hole is the ear, not Excel. HSK 1 listening errors details that cut on the first paper.

Do not time a mock in week two to see where you are. You measure panic, not level. First a review queue under control and the ear of the current block.

Two mocks separated by repair days, not by new content. If the second falls on the same 10 words, those are leeches: they get studied, not replaced by 40 new cards.

The paper's clock matters. If you have never done a timed block, center day is the first time ear and pencil compete. More Excel does not fix that.

When to book a date: when the checklist below is almost green, not when you feel fluent. Seats fill. Fluency is not the HSK 1 criterion.

The classic six-level paper has listening and reading; exact minutes live in the level guide and at the center. This page does not clone the booklet table. The method is: same order as the real day, same silence, same pencil or keyboard.

Do listening first, without pause. If you pause to look up a word, you are measuring something else. 请再说一遍 does not exist in exam audio. The ear gets one pass.

Between the first and second mock, do not open 40 new words. Repair the ten that fell. If 是 and 我是学生 fail in audio, the hole is the ear, not a new list.

Do not use the AI tutor as a mock. The tutor is not the center. AI answers can be wrong. A timed block on the level list is the data point. Chinese Trainer helps you study. It does not sell the seat or mark the official paper.

HSK 1 fits in months of 15–30 minutes, not a 30-day challenge. HSK 4 is the first level that sounds like wide conversation; it is not fluency. HSK 6 is not native. Classroom hours to professional working proficiency: FSI places Mandarin near 2,200 (FSI page). That figure is not hours to HSK 1.

Jumping from HSK 2 to HSK 4 because work needs it leaves a hole of about 300 words and of ear. Work has another URL: Chinese for business.

Signup, fees, and calendar only at chinesetest.cn. This site does not sell seats.

The method is not three apps at 23:00. It is one block: 15 minutes on the level queue, 8 of same-level listening, 2 of one sentence said out loud. 是 does not go alone. 我是学生 does.

Monday to Friday, the same level. Do not mix HSK 3 and HSK 5 because Sunday felt fluent. Classic counts (150 to 5,000) sit on Wikipedia HSK.

Saturday: leeches only. The ten words that fell. Do not open 40 new ones. Sunday: silence or a short listen. The Sunday binge is the error the HSK guides already name.

Teaching note: if you still have no date, the block continues. chinesetest.cn does not ask you to stop listening. It asks for a concrete paper. Ask the center which one they mark before you change lists.

HSK 1–2 can start free, with daily limits. The AI tutor is Premium, with a cap. It is not the center. Do not time the tutor. Time the mock when the queue is green.

One app for the serious block. Pleco for the character that breaks. Not Duolingo and not a new deck the same month you booked a date.

A red mock does not ask for another app. It asks for a diagnosis: did new words fall, or words you knew on a card? The second is ear. The first is queue.

If listening fell and reading held, do not open 80 hanzi. Open five to ten minutes of same-level audio, without text, then with text. 请再说一遍 does not exist on the paper.

If the same ten words fell as on the previous mock, those ten are the week. Do not replace them with a 200-row spreadsheet. The center does not reward deck size.

Do not book a date the same day as the red. Seats fill, but a seat plus panic is not a plan. Repair, listen, then open chinesetest.cn.

Teaching note: 我是学生 on a card and 我是学生 in audio are two items. If only the first passes, classic HSK 1 is not green yet. Paper detail: HSK 1 guide.

Chinese Trainer does not mark the official paper. A second timed mock, one week later, is the data point. We do not promise a pass. The framework sits with CLEC.

You know which paper your center tests (six levels or 2021 bands) and you study one, not both.

You have an account and, if seats require it, a date on chinesetest.cn. The admission ticket is not improvised the night before.

You recognize and use in sentences most of that level's list. Listening at the same level is not first contact on mock day.

You have sat at least two timed mocks. Errors are now concrete items, not I forgot the format.

Teaching note: 我是学生 belongs in a sentence from week one. A flashcard of 是 alone is not exam prep. If the ear cannot catch it, the list is not done.

If the checklist is red, open the level guide, not a random deck or a travel phrase dump. The app helps you study. HSK 1–2 is free with limits. It does not guarantee a pass.

One last cut: if you do not know which paper your center marks, do not book a date. If you have not heard the level out loud, do not time a mock. If the second mock falls on the same ten words, those ten are the week's plan, not a new deck.

This site does not sell seats. Chinese Trainer is indie. The center marks a different paper. A timed mock is the useful data, not a feeling of fluency.

Book the date when the checklist is almost green. Seats fill. Fluency is not the criterion.