What is my Chinese level?
Nobody can guess a Chinese level from three questions, and nobody should pretend otherwise. These two tests do something more modest and more useful: they look for the highest step you can hold, then tell you which one it is, with the margin that comes with it.
Questions are grouped by HSK band, and you climb as long as you hold. A complete beginner stops after two blocks; nobody wastes time on sentences they cannot read.
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The quick test
Three minutes, to know where to start. It returns a range of two HSK bands and says so.
- 5 – 20 questions
- 4 bands probed HSK 1, 3, 5, 7-9
- 4 / 5 to hold a band
The full test
Ten to fifteen minutes, to size yourself up before booking an exam. It returns one band and the band-by-band detail of what you held.
- 12 – 42 questions
- 7 bands probed HSK 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-9
- 4 / 6 to hold a band
How the estimate works
Questions are grouped by HSK band. You answer a block at band 1, then band 2, and so on: as long as you clear the threshold you climb, and the test stops once you have missed enough blocks. The band you are given is the highest one you held.
The full test does not stop on the first block you miss, and that is deliberate: over six questions, one careless block would cost a whole band. It takes two misses to stop, which costs one extra block and removes almost all of that risk.
A test of this length cannot name one band with certainty, and this one does not pretend to. The result is announced as a range, and the band-by-band table shown at the end is the real measure of how sure it is: it simply reports what you answered.
What this test does not measure
- This test only measures written recognition: vocabulary, grammar and reading of short sentences.
- There is no audio at all: listening comprehension, which is half of the official exam, is not assessed here.
- There is nothing to write and nothing to say. Picking the right word out of four and producing it yourself are two different skills, and the first always runs ahead of the second.
- There is no timer: this measures what you know, not how fast you know it. The official exam is timed.
One example per band
Here is what a question looks like at each band, answer included. The bank behind the two tests holds 186 questions in all.
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HSK 1 27 questions in the bank
这是我（ ）书。
What it tests : 的
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HSK 2 27 questions in the bank
我哥哥（ ）我高。
What it tests : 比
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HSK 3 27 questions in the bank
请（ ）门关上。
What it tests : 把
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HSK 4 26 questions in the bank
他很努力，成绩（ ）一直没有提高。
What it tests : 却
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HSK 5 26 questions in the bank
他吃了药，病（ ）更重了。
What it tests : 反而
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HSK 6 26 questions in the bank
价格高的东西（ ）就是最好的。
What it tests : 未必
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HSK 7-9 27 questions in the bank
事情已经过去了，你（ ）再放在心上呢？
What it tests : 何必