Advice for HSKK Intermediate

[hongquang1003]

Hi guys,

 

I'm taking HSKK Intermediate in less than a month time and am pretty worried now as I don't know how to prepare. I couldn't find any textbooks/resources on this exam preparation, so would appreciate hugely if anyone can share any tips or experiences of revising or taking the exams. 

 

Many thanks.

[mungouk]

Sample tests H81003, H81311, H81312 are available to download (MP3 + PDF) from various places, did you not find those already?  Googling the numbers should find them.

 

There's a clear introduction to the test format here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTd_vRyvHSU

 

(And more hits for "HSKK intermediate" if you search.)

 

If you didn't already take the HSKK Junior and aren't entirely sure what the format's like, this blog post and the comments go into some detail and have some discussion on how to prepare.

 

HSKK Intermediate is similar to Junior but longer, and as well as answering 2 open-ended questions you need to describe 2 pictures.  In preparing for these my teacher advised me to think about who - what - where - when - why - how relating to the subject matter, and to think about general statements as well as specific ones (you could give examples, for instance).  Also if the question ends with 为什么？ then of course you need to make sure you give some reasons.

 

Plus you're supposed to know 900 words of vocabulary for 中级 rather than 200 at beginner level, but exactly which ones seems to be a mystery... I'm currently working on the assumption that I might as well just learn all 1200 required for HSK 4.

[mungouk]

So, @hongquang1003, how did it go?

 

[hongquang1003]

Hi @mungouk thanks for your tips. My exam result is not out until the next two weeks, will let you know my scores later. On the day I kinda struggled with the repeating section as there’re other people in the exam room as well all repeating at the same time. The “ding” sound after a sentence did distract me a little bit.. I did okay on the picture sections but not well ok the long questions, as I guess I haven’t had enough practice for speaking for 2mins. Hanban should release more material/exam papers for HSKK.

[mungouk]

btw I'm taking HSKK Intermediate in December.  I'm still not sure what the vague statement about required vocabulary being "900 words" means, given that HSK 3 is 600 words and HSK 4 is 1200.

Has anyone ever worked out which 900 words are required for HSKK Intermediate?

 

 

[hongquang1003]

@mungouk I’d base my vocabulary on the HSK4 list, around 75% can be used in speaking. 

[mungouk]

On 10/28/2018 at 9:04 PM, mungouk said:

Has anyone ever worked out which 900 words are required for HSKK Intermediate?

 

Having just had the first preparation lesson with my teacher, I think I can answer my own question here.

 

It probably doesn't matter (maybe so long as you're about HSK 3-4 level?)

 

The first section is listen-and-repeat... there will be some words in there you probably don't know, but as long as you can repeat them no problem.

 

And questions 11-14 are generative, in other words you describe 2 pictures and you answer 2 open-ended questions. For the pictures, obviously you'll use vocabulary and grammar points you know (and the more the better I suppose).

 

For the last 2 questions, answering 2 open-ended questions, again it's generative so as long as you understand the questions (which also have pinyin) then it's fine.

 

 

[mungouk]

On 11/4/2018 at 7:40 PM, mungouk said:

It probably doesn't matter

 

I did the test a few days ago and I take this back... while doing sample tests I was continually coming up against words in the listen-and-repeat section that I didn't know, so I ended up forcing myself to learn the 400 remaining HSK 4 words I didn't already know.