HSK Advanced Tips

Learn Chinese - Study tips for Chinese HSK Advanced test

Before going into details about preparing for the HSK Advanced test, first the student should have a clear understanding of the components in test, as well as the rationale behind the certification level that has been set for HSK Advanced. Both will be described briefly below.

In HSK Advanced, there are three test units: mixed multiple-choice test, a writing task and an oral test.


The Mixed Multiple Choice Unit is basically a mix of Listening, Reading and Mixed Response sections to be completed over 120 minutes. There are two parts to the Listening section: in the first part a dialogue between two people is played. You have to select the correct answer to the questions based on the content of the conversation; in the second part, a series of recorded interviews is played, and at the end of each interview questions will be asked, and you have to select the correct answer to the question based on the content of the interview. There are also two parts to the Reading section: in the first part you have to read passages of text, then respond to the questions using a few Chinese characters; in the second part, you are asked to read passages of text, then answer questions by selecting the response that best correspond to the contents of the text. The Mixed Response section contains four different parts: in part one you have to select which of the four phrases in a sentence is incorrect; in part two you have to select the option which contains the phrases that best fill in the missing gaps in a series of sentences; in part three you have work out the order of four phrases to complete a sentence; in part four you have to write in Chinese characters the missing words from a passage of text.

In the Writing Task, you are given a scenario in which you must provide an appropriate response based on the specification of the task. This is probably one of the most difficult units in the test, because you are given a limited time to complete a piece of logical and coherent writing.

Finally, in the Oral Test, there are two sections for the candidate to complete: the first part involves either reading a passage of text or responding to questions after listening to a recording; in the second part the student can choose from one of two questions and prepare an oral response roughly two to three minutes in length.

At the HSK Advanced certification level, there is really no specific grades, except to indicate the extent of the candidate’s overall proficiency as per required in jobs that use standard modern Chinese for communication. This minimum standard should be obtained after 3000 hours or more of regular modern Chinese language learning (or an equivalent Chinese learning experience), and this translates to the C grading in HSK Advanced. In gaining a certification grading of A in HSK Advanced, the candidate is considered qualified as a intermediate level translator.

The stipulations for the awarding of the HSK Advanced certificate is even more stringent compared to the HSK Elementary-Intermediate test. To be awarded in the corresponding grade, the total score for the five sections of testing must add up to the minimum score required for that grade. Furthermore, in the five sections of testing, three of the sections must exceed the minimum score required for the certification level, but two of the four sections (one of which must be the Mixed Response section) are allowed to be one grade below the next lowest grade. However, any sections graded lower than the minimum required score for a C grade will result in the certification not being awarded.

In general, students will find the Writing Task and Oral Test to be the most difficult sections in HSK Advanced tests. These sections require the students to have had regular and structured practice in writing and speaking as part of their Chinese language study. Furthermore, it is advisable that the student engages in regular conversation and written communication with native speakers, because they are given little time to prepare for and respond to the question items in these sections. Practising with native speakers also provide the advantage of acquiring a greater range of expressions and sentence constructs that they can use in response to the questions, rather than having to come up with something original. The expressions that are used will also appear to be more natural and fluent, which is something that the examiners will look for in both sections of the test.