HSK 5

[Jamuna 4]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm going to prepare for HSK 5 and could you guys tell me which book is good for exam preparation?  

 

Thanks,

Jamuna

[maggieh 12]

I can't help with a textbook recommendation, but what I would say, for HSK 5&6, the crucial skill is speed reading.  Get used to timing yourself and try re-reading at a faster time.  The vocab and questions are not out to trick you at HSK 5 , but there is a lot of content to work thru.

[大块头 416]

34 minutes ago, maggieh said:

the crucial skill is speed reading

 

All students are different. For example, my listening ability has always lagged behind my reading.

 

I would recommend taking a few practice exams (Hanban sells these in hardcopy at http://www.chinesetest.cn) and then targeting your study based on your score.

[maggieh 12]

@大块头

   Well that's true  - can't argue with that.   But for these particular tests, at first glance (for me) the texts looked quite standard and didn't present any difficulty, it was only when I timed them that  I realized that,  even if you have pretty good reading skills,  its still a lot of information to wade thru... speed is of the essence  

[ZhangKaiRong 355]

For preparation I used the mock exam book called 新HSK5级全真模拟测试题集, issued by BLCU Publisher. Used the same for HSK4 before and HSK6 after, and I was quite happy with the content. It's basically 10 mock exams in a book format, with detailed answers at the end of the book. It also includes a thematical vocab list required in the exam syllabus, which is great, as in other books I found the required words in alphabetical order.

[imron 5,188]

Agree with maggieh.  Increasing your reading speed will have positive effect on almost all sections of the test, even the listening, because if you can read fast enough you'll have time to read all the answers before you hear the sentence.

[somethingfunny 792]

It's been said quite a few times but I think the more people say it the more it will be emphasized:  reading speed is crucial.

 

When I took HSK 5 the listening and writing were fairly straightforward, but the reading time ran out as I finished the last question - I had no time to check any answers or look over any questions twice.

[艾墨本 675]

I took the HSK 5 last December. I wrote about this extensively, here.

 

I agree with what others say about reading speed. If you take the physical version (stead of on the computer) depending on how strict the person is that proctors your exam, you may be able to jump around a bit. Since my writing speed was faster than what the test demanded, I had enough time to go back after reading and review some quesitons I had marked as difficult. Not something to count on but to think of as a possibility.

 

Also, for the listening part, the biggest challenge wasn't comprehension as much as focus. I know I get a few questions wrong simple because I spaced out or got distracted when someone came and knocked on the door (the person proctoring it opened the door and talked to them! grr). That little thing broke my rhythm. To avoid this, considering studying for the listening part in a distracting environment to get used to that.

 

The listening was done over loud speaker not via headphones. They played it loudly which distorted the sound quality. Be ready for this.

 

Regarding resources:

 

The book I used that includes answer keys, explanations for every question, transcripts for the audio sections, and a sample answer to every essay question

 

https://world.tmall.com/item/524202182648.htm#detail?

 

The links I used for HSK test info

 

http://www.chinesetest.cn/goKdInfoOrPlan.do?zhou=1&guo=1&kdname_name=%E5%85%B0%E5%A4%A7&kdType=0&xm=0&km=0&yf=0

http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/105469.htm

http://confuciusinstitute.asu.edu/files/application/HSK.pdf

http://www.chineseathome.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=355%3Ahsk-idioms-list&catid=66%3Ahsk&Itemid=202〈=en

https://www.umb.edu/confucius/tests/hskk

[somethingfunny 792]

It's been a while but I think I had headphones when I did mine - it might be worth checking out the particulars with the exam centre when you register.

 

I'm pretty sure that going back to different sections is a big no-no, so I'm surprised you were allowed to go back to the reading once you had finished the writing.  I wish I had been allowed to, but I wouldn't rely on this being the case.

 

I reckon there are probably quite a few ways you can game the system - I seem to remember people in my exam immediately checking the words needed for the writing and then taking suspicious toilet breaks between sections.  But I might just be imagining things (I'd been administering exams to Chinese students for a while so had become very suspicious of pretty much anything happening in an exam).

 

I'd also like to add (and I imagine I'll probably rub a few people up the wrong way with this) but take the paper test.  Fine, if you need a piece of paper for something and you think the computer one is easier then do that, but if you're actually interested in the language then man-up, put the time in, and learn how to write.

[大块头 416]

This must vary widely from CI to CI. They had us use our own headphones for the exam. They set me up in a breakroom with a woman who sat there and painted her nails while I took the test on a laptop. When she got bored and left I discovered that the lights in the room were on a motion sensor - this means I had to flail my arms frantically every ten minutes or so.

[chinesemadrush 2]

Hi everyone,

 

Can I check how many words are tested in HSK 5? Based on my search online, there appears to be two: either 1,300 or 2,500. Which one is it?

 

Thanks.

 

2,500 words: https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-5-vocabulary-list.html

1,300 words: https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Flash-Cards-HSK-Level-ebook/product-reviews/B00A923RZE/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_acr_sr?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=avp_only_reviews

https://www.purpleculture.net/textbook-vocab-lists/?listid=10023

[Mati1 44]

Quoting Wikipedia here:

HSK Level 5

Words: 2500 cumulative, 1300 new

Characters: 1685 cumulative, 621 new

[大块头 416]

The official word list for the HSK 5 is 2500 words, but you'll do much better on the test if your vocabulary is larger than that.

[ZhangKaiRong 355]

Agree with 大块头 - the official worldlist only includes 2500 words, BUT! it only applies to the listening and writing sections. For the reading section, you will find words outside of the word list (approximately 5 to 10 percent of the expressions in the reading section is not included in the official word list).