Chinese proficiency test HSK7-9 paper 4, HSK 3.0 format

91 questions 30 + 60 + 55 + 35 min

Which format is this?

This test follows the renewed HSK 3.0 format, published by Chinese Testing International in December 2025 and due to apply from July 2026.

Sittings for levels 1 to 6 still use the previous format at the time of writing, and no changeover date has been announced. If your exam is soon, expect the older paper on the day.

The vocabulary is the same either way: the HSK 3.0 word list is what you have to know for both formats, and that is what this test drills.

Writing

Part 1 (88)

Describe the chart, then analyse it, respecting the length asked for. A Chinese keyboard is required.

Practice — this part is not marked

The real exam asks you to write freely here, and a human examiner reads it. No browser can mark that, and this page does not invent a score: these questions do not count towards your result. Write them anyway — it is the only practice this part allows, and a possible answer is offered once you have handed in.

88

请根据下面的图表，说明它反映的变化并加以分析，写一篇两百字左右的文章。

Using the chart below, set out the change it shows and analyse it, in a continuous piece of about 200 characters. The exam allows 15 minutes for this question.

某市城区和乡村中小学的数量所

The figures behind the chart

2003 2008 2013 2018 2023

乡村的学校 412 296 178 121 96

城区的学校 58 84 121 163 198

Type here 0 / 200 Chinese characters written

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这张图表反映的是某市二十年里中小学数量的变化，每五年一个点。乡村的学校一路减少，从四百一十二所降到九十六所，只剩下最初的四分之一不到；城区的学校则一路增加，从五十八所升到一百九十八所，翻了将近三倍半。两条线在二零一三年前后交叉，此后差距继续拉大。把两条线放在一起看，能看出这不是一次简单的减少，而是一次搬家：孩子并没有消失，他们换了上学的地方。总数从四百七十所降到二百九十四所，减少的部分才是真正少掉的学生。这一点提醒我们，只看乡村那一条线，容易把两件事说成一件。当然，一张图也有它说不了的地方。它记录的是学校的数量，没有记录每一所学校有多少学生，也没有说明孩子上学的路因此变长了多少。

This is only one answer among many: yours may be quite different and just as good. It uses nothing beyond your level, which is what proves the task can be done without going outside the word list.

The figures behind the chart
	2003	2008	2013	2018	2023
乡村的学校	412	296	178	121	96
城区的学校	58	84	121	163	198

Part 2 (89)

Take a position on the question and argue for it, respecting the minimum length. A Chinese keyboard is required.

Practice — this part is not marked

89

“半途而废”是一个流传很久的说法，字面上的意思是：一件事做到一半就停下来，等于白做。有人把它当作对自己的提醒，认为多数人的失败不是因为选错了方向，而是因为停得太早；也有人认为，这个说法容易让人把已经花掉的时间当成必须继续的理由，心里清楚走错了路也不肯回头。请写一篇六百字左右的文章，谈谈你怎么看这个说法，并说明你的观点。

A long-standing saying holds that stopping halfway is the same as never having started. Some take it as a reminder to themselves: failure rarely comes from picking the wrong direction, it comes from stopping too soon; others object that it turns time already spent into a reason to carry on, so that people persist down a road they know to be wrong. Write about 600 characters: how you read the saying, and where you stand.
What the task asks for
1. Open on the case where the saying is wrong, not the one where it is right: that is where the reader is waiting for you.
2. Name what the saying leaves out — the time already spent, which comes back in neither case.
3. Give two or three reasons, one per paragraph, each held up by a concrete case rather than a generality.
4. Say how one tells persistence from stubbornness in practice: a position without a test is no use to anyone.
5. Close on what your reading changes in the decision, not on a summary of what came before.
Type here 0 / 600 Chinese characters written

Show a possible answer

我的看法是：这个说法给了一个正确的提醒，可是它用错了理由。停得太早确实是多数人失败的原因，但“已经做了一半”从来不是继续下去的理由。先说它为什么容易被用错。一件事做到一半，你已经花掉的时间、精力和钱，无论你接下来是继续还是停下，都拿不回来。既然两条路上它都一样，它就不应该出现在比较里。可是人偏偏最看重它，越是花得多越舍不得走，于是留在原地的理由变成了“我已经留了很久”。这不是坚持，这是被自己付出的东西绑住。第二，我承认反对的一半也有它的道理，而且这个道理很硬。多数事情在中间那一段最难看：投入已经不少，回报还没有出现，热情又刚好用完。这时候停下来的人，往往并不是判断出了这条路不对，只是累了。把“半途而废”这四个字放在这里，确实救得了不少人。所以真正的问题不是该不该坚持，而是怎么分清坚持和不肯回头。我的标准有两条。第一条是看方向的证据有没有变。当初决定做这件事，是基于几个判断；如果这些判断今天仍然成立，中间难看只是过程，那就继续。如果其中有一条已经被事实推翻，而你还在往前走，那就不是坚持了。第二条是问一个具体的问题：假如今天才知道这件事，我还会从头开始做吗？回答是会，就继续；回答是不会，那么继续下去的唯一理由就是已经花掉的那些，而它不成为理由。这两条都不好用，因为它们要求人承认自己看错过。可是不用它们，人只能在两句同样古老的话之间来回摇摆：一句让你别停下，一句让你别坚持错的。我因此这样理解这个古老的说法：它提醒的是不要因为累而停，而不是不要因为错而停。前一种停下来值得可惜，后一种停下来其实是及时收手。把这两种混在一起，是这四个字最常被误用的地方。

This is only one answer among many: yours may be quite different and just as good. It uses nothing beyond your level, which is what proves the task can be done without going outside the word list.

Translation

Part 1 (90–91)

Translate the English passage into Chinese. A Chinese keyboard is required.

Practice — this part is not marked

90

The passage to translate

The mirrors in lifts are not there out of vanity. When tall buildings first appeared, the lifts were slow and passengers complained bitterly about the wait. Engineers found that making the cars faster was expensive, so someone suggested a cheaper answer: give people something to do. Mirrors were put in, and the complaints fell away. The journey took exactly as long as before, but it no longer felt as long. The same trick is used in airports today, where travellers are made to walk further to the baggage hall so that their bags are already waiting when they arrive.

Type here 0 Chinese characters written

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电梯里的镜子并不是为了让人照自己。高楼刚出现的时候，电梯很慢，等电梯的人意见很大。工程人员发现，把电梯做得更快代价很高，于是有人提出了一个便宜得多的办法：给等的人找点事做。镜子装上去以后，意见就少了。路上花的时间和从前完全一样，只是感觉不再那么长。今天的机场用的是同一个办法：让旅客多走一段路才到取行李的地方，这样他们到的时候，行李已经在那里等着了。

This is only one answer among many: yours may be quite different and just as good. It uses nothing beyond your level, which is what proves the task can be done without going outside the word list.
91

The passage to translate

Hospitals are trying to become quieter. A modern intensive care unit can produce several hundred alarms per patient per day, and studies suggest that the great majority of them require no action at all. The result is what nurses call alarm fatigue: when almost every warning turns out to be nothing, the one that matters is heard as noise. Some hospitals have responded by reducing the number of devices that beep, by sending certain alerts to a screen instead of a loudspeaker, and by letting staff adjust the settings for each patient.

Type here 0 Chinese characters written

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医院正在设法变得安静一些。今天的重病房，平均每个病人每天会响起几百次警报，而研究显示，其中绝大部分根本不需要任何人动手。结果就是护士们所说的那种疲劳：当几乎每一次响声最后都证明没有事，真正要紧的那一次就被当成了背景的声音。一些医院采取的办法是：减少会响的设备的数量，把某些提示送到屏幕上而不是送到喇叭里，并且允许工作人员按每一个病人单独调整。

This is only one answer among many: yours may be quite different and just as good. It uses nothing beyond your level, which is what proves the task can be done without going outside the word list.

The seven spoken questions, and how to sit them anyway

The real exam has 98 questions. Seven of them are spoken: two of interpreting (92-93) and five of speaking (94-98). This site can neither record nor judge speech, and it will not pretend otherwise: those questions are not in this paper, and your score covers the rest.

The full exam runs 210 minutes, of which about 24 are the 口语 alone; this one runs 180. What follows replaces the difference — not with a written exercise in disguise, but with an examiner you set up yourself.

The speaking paper, ready to copy

Paste this into a fresh conversation with an assistant. It runs the three tasks in the official order, with their real timings, and marks you criterion by criterion at the end. It works typed as well as spoken: typing your answers is already the exercise.

You are the examiner for the speaking paper of HSK7-9 (口语). You run the whole paper on your own. I have no document and no recording: you write them.

Run it in this order, and announce nothing beyond what is asked for.

TASK 1 — 应用读说 (question 94, 3 minutes of speech).
Write, in Chinese, a practical document of about 200 characters: opening hours and rules for a place to visit, a summons, instructions for use, the terms of a registration — your choice, with a table or a numbered list. Then give the instruction in Chinese, on this model: « 你的外籍朋友…… 请你告诉他/她…… （3分钟） ». Then say nothing and wait.

TASK 2 — 听材料回答问题 (questions 95 to 97: 30 seconds, 30 seconds, 2 minutes).
Write, in Chinese, a passage of about 350 characters — a narrative or an exposition — and give it to me as the "material heard". Tell me to read it ONCE ONLY and never go back to it: that is the closest thing to listening when there is no sound. Then ask your three questions in Chinese, ONE AT A TIME, announcing the time allowed for each: two comprehension questions at 30 seconds, then one question asking me to restate or summarise, at 2 minutes. Wait for my answer before asking the next.

TASK 3 — 观点表达 (question 98, 3 minutes).
Ask, in Chinese, an opinion question on a social issue, worded as the official paper words it: « 有人认为……也有人认为……请谈谈你的看法。（3分钟） ».

Rules you hold to throughout:
- Everything you say during the paper is IN CHINESE. Instructions, questions, follow-ups: in Chinese, as on the day.
- You NEVER interrupt me. Until I say or type « 说完了 », you wait. No acknowledgements, no "mhm", no corrections along the way.
- You give me nothing. If I dry up, you wait out the time you announced, then move on.
- You announce the time before each turn. You do not count for me: timing myself is my job.
- If I speak aloud, answer aloud; if I type, type.

Once all five questions are done, and only then, give me the report, IN ENGLISH:
1. A mark out of 5 on each of these five criteria, each with one sentence of justification: faithfulness to the document or the material (did I pass on what mattered without adding anything?), organisation (opening, development, close), range of language (variety of structures and vocabulary, at the level 7-9 expects), accuracy (grammar, measure words, aspect, word order), fluency (pace, hesitation, restarts).
2. For each task, my three costliest errors: the sentence I said, then the sentence a native speaker would say.
3. A full model answer for task 3, at the level HSK7-9 expects.
4. What I should work on first, in one sentence.

Give me no overall mark out of 100 and do not tell me whether I would pass: the HSK 3.0 programme publishes no mark scheme and no pass mark.

Begin now with task 1. Write nothing before the document.

Which assistant

Voice mode is a convenience, not a condition: the prompt works typed anywhere. If you do want to speak, here is what was established on 1 September 2026, and nothing more.

ChatGPT replaced its voice mode with GPT-Live on 8 July 2026: the model listens and speaks at once, so it rides through pauses instead of reading them as the end of your turn — which is what a three-minute answer needs. It does make audible noises of agreement while you speak; the second rule of the prompt asks it to stop. Usable without a subscription, up to a limit OpenAI does not publish.

Claude has a voice mode on mobile, on desktop and in the browser, free accounts included. Its architecture is turn-based: it sometimes pauses on what it takes for the end of a question, which breaks the timing. Anthropic publishes no language list for that mode — open the language picker in your app before counting on it for Mandarin.

On the Chinese side, Qwen (Alibaba) is the only one whose voice mode is reachable from Europe without a Chinese phone number: at chat.qwen.ai, in the browser, with a Google account or an email address — its interface carries a voice-mode button, which we have not tried. Doubao (ByteDance), whose full-duplex model is the fastest measured in 2026 (around 250 ms to resume, announced 9 April), is not distributed on European app stores.

Chinese proficiency test HSK7-9 paper 4, HSK 3.0 format

Listening

Part 1 (1–10)

Part 2 (11–22)

Part 3 (23–40)

Reading

Part 1 (41–68)

Part 2 (69–73)

Part 3 (74–87)

Writing

Part 1 (88)

Part 2 (89)

Translation

Part 1 (90–91)

The seven spoken questions, and how to sit them anyway

The speaking paper, ready to copy

Which assistant

Your score

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