New HSK level 5 Advice

[xuebi]

Hello,

I would like to ask all the experienced learners if it is possible to pass new HSK level 5 within a year? Due to being too busy in a years' time with exams.

Currently, I think I'm at new HSK level 2. I have been reading primary school kid books which are very simple. It is mostly self study and some basics from a native speaker.

I have been looking into HSK prep with online Chinese schools so far I've contacted That's Mandarin, eChineseLearning and Capital Mandarin. Does anyone know of any good online Mandarin schools? The prices vary and some of the schools ask me to take 4 lessons per day, 5 days a week at $20 each which is about $21000 a year. I don't think that's an option. That is quite expensive as I have a friend studying Chinese at university for $700 a term or semester. Due to my current schedule as a full-time student I think I can take only 1 or 2 lessons per day plus reviewing the lessons and HSK vocabulary list.

I own NPCR textbook one and two. I am not sure whether I should use them as study material yet.

I use the eStroke app for the new HSK level 5 vocabulary list.

Is it sufficent to learn the new HSK level 5 vocabulary list to pass the new HSK level 5 exam or do you need to learn other characters? I have a 10000 Chinese Character list by PinyinTutor.com I'm not sure whether it is accurate or helpful but if I need to learn more characters I'll use that. Does anyone recommend vocabulary lists? I also heard for the new HSK level 5 exam you should learn the new HSK level 6 vocabulary list is that true?

I plan to attempt to learn both simp.and trad. versions of the characters.

My Study Plan:

Learn-

15 words from new HSK level 5 per day(definition, pinyin, writing, stroke order etc) both versions

Use Gurulu for 30 minutes or more if I don't enroll in online Mandarin school

30 words from 10K character list by PinyinTutor.com per day if I need to recognise more characters (just for meaning, pinyin, recognising and reading not writing)

one lesson from online textbook by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and or NPCR lesson

one lesson from Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook

maybe one lesson from http://www.daydayupchinese.com/ has anyone tried this?

On the weekends watch some Chinese drama or listen to SBS radio plus attempt mock tests

Thanks in advance

[xuebi]

Here's an edit I found another site which is very affordable which is http://www.chineseteachers.com/ well the review by the Laowai Chinese has anyone used this for new HSK preparation easpecially for advanced level 5 and 6?

[xiaolang]

It's possible, but very hard. I for myself found flashcards to be the most helpful tool to make quick progress as the grammar is actually not that difficult in Chinese. As I struggled to find good flashcards for HSK myself, I created some (see link below) but I heard from friends that sites like chinesepod can also be quite helpful in preparing for HSK.

My personal tip is to read a lot (which you seem to be doing already) as this is the most difficult thing in HSK 5 and 6, especially for people new to characters, Japanese or Koreans find reading a little bit easier. I've also made the experience that reading is quite good for my listening and writing, so concentrating on that and vocabularies might be good (at least it was for me)

[dnevets]

I agree with xiaolang: Possible, but very hard. (Especially as, I'm assuming, you're living/studying outside of China.)

Vocab: Definitely learn all the words on the vocab lists from HSK 1-5. On top, add the words you pick up in your other studies (books, online lessons etc). Three words of advice: Anki, every day.

NPCR is quite good. I strongly recommend that you go through both the textbooks and the workbooks together - the workbooks are great for extra practise and picking up tons of extra vocabulary (keep your dictionary nearby, you'll need it). If you get through NPCR books 1-4, including workbooks, then you should be in the ballpark of being able to pass HSK level 5 (assuming you're also doing other stuff to supplement this - and based on your study plan above, you are).

Good luck!

[xuebi]

Thank you xiaolang and dnevets for your advice. Yes, I am living outside of China. It looks quite difficult to self-learn, there has to be constant motivation. The only problem about the NPCR series is that the workbook has no answers so I don't know whether I completed the exercises properly. I think I'll tone down my schedule, after a few days it was difficult to juggle school work with Chinese study.

[Balthazar]

I was just about to ask you how you are able to do all that stuff on the side of other (I assume non-related) full-time studies.. Does seem a bit over the top, although I am sure there are some who are able to live with such a workload without a breakdown. Good luck, though!

[Erbse]

from HSK2 to HSK5 on the side, while outside of China? If you are a genius, then it is possible, otherwise aim for HSK4.

[JustinJJ]

Definitely possible. There are many Koreans who pass level 6 within a year.

[roddy]

And they are WAY more likely to be the ones who studied it at high school or university. I'll let someone else take the low-hanging fruit of pointing out the head start on the characters....

[realmayo]

Level 6 within a year? Haha.

[roddy]

I wouldn't rule out it being possible. People do silly stuff all the time. But I suspect you'd end up being the Mandarin equivalent of those Chinese students you meet who ace IELTS or TOEFL exams but can't actually function in a conversation.

[JustinJJ]

Good point about About studying for the exam, the impression I get is many study purely for the credential (job requirement) so likely to not have a well rounded knowledge of non-hsk Chinese. Many take HSK classes which I think are taught by Koreans in Korean, and given the difference between hsk 听力 and average people's speech I could see it being possible to pass out hsk 6 and have communication difficulties in daily life. Almost all say they have learnt chinese a year or less, but perhaps this is an exaggeration.

I don't characters is as much of an advantage as you might think since learning 10 a day with anki adds up to 3500 or so after a year, and the Koreans would mainly be used to 韩文.

[realmayo]

Well, if it's possible for more than just exceptionally gifted people, then it shows up the limits of the exam where you can get the right answer without really understanding the question

[renzhe]

I don't characters is as much of an advantage as you might think since learning 10 a day with anki adds up to 3500 or so after a year, and the Koreans would mainly be used to 韩文.

Running a kilometre in 2 minutes is quite easy, so running the marathon in 80 minutes should be equally easy.

[roddy]

Perhaps you can ask all the Koreans to join up here. I'm sure they can learn English by Monday.

[ZhangKaiRong]

Is it sufficent to learn the new HSK level 5 vocabulary list to pass the new HSK level 5 exam or do you need to learn other characters?

The 阅读 part has characters outside of the vocab list, so you can have problems if you don't know other 汉字 outside the word list. BtW, getting to HSK5 in one year outside China is quite hard. I passed HSK4 after half a year in China, but still doubt I could pass the HSK5 in this May.

[JustinJJ]

I sat HSK 5 today after ten months study (this was in China). Like many, I believe the reading section seemed much more difficult than listening and writing sections. I don't think the number or characters needed is the challenge, the difficult part is the number of words outside the vocab list, given the time pressure of the exam. The timing doesn't seem to balance too well; I had to completely guess the last two questions from the reading section but finished the writing section with 25 mins to spare.

My advice to someone planning to sit the exam would be to first learn all 5000 words prior to sitting HSK 5 (I didn't do this though), or as many in excess of the 2500 vocab list as you can.