Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK)
The Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) is the only international recognised unified Chinese language proficiency test. Since 1991, it has been held in fifteen countries and regions, including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Russia, UK, USA.

The HSK test is a standardized test at the state level designed and developed by the HSK Centre of Beijing Language &Culture University to measure the Chinese Proficiency of foreigners, overseas Chinese and the students from Chinese national minorities.

The HSK serves

to certify that the holder has acquired the required Chinese Proficiency to enter college or university as an undergraduate or graduate student;
to certify that the holder can be exempt form studying Chinese courses at certain levels;
as a basis for employment institutions to evaluate the Chinese proficiency of their employees;
HSK is divided into three categories: the Basic Chinese Proficiency Test, the Elementary and the Intermediate Chinese Proficiency test and the Advanced Chinese Proficiency Test. The HSK test, basically, consists of four sections: listening comprehension, Reading comprehension, grammar and the cloze test. Cloze test will not be included in the Basic Test and the oral and writing ability test will be given additionally in the Advanced Test. A successful examinee who passes at a certain level will be awarded the Certificate accordingly, which is issued by the State Commission for the Chinese Proficiency Test of P.R. China. A special Chinese government scholarship program for HSK will also be available for those who excel in the Chinese Proficiency Test.

In 1998, HSK test was held in:

University of New South Wales, contact person: Ms Michelle Gregor, Department of Chinese Studies, Tel: 02-93852416, Fax:02-93851090, Email: m.gregor@unsw,edu.au;
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, contact person; Ms Guosheng Yang, Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services, Tel: 03-99254840, Fax: 03-99254404
Registration Fee:

Basic Test: AU$50;
Elementary/Intermediate Test: AU$60;
Advanced Test: AU$90

Registration Procedures:

To register, the applicant is required to submit 2 photos (45mm X 35mm) (bareheaded) and show some form of identification (such as I.D. card, student card, employee card or passport) with their photo on it.
The applicant is to pay the appropriate fees for the test and registration. Fees for the test and registration are non-refundable.
Applicants may register by mail of they do not live near a HSK centre. They should send a copy of their identification paper, resume, including name, sex, nationality and date of birth, detailed address and two photos (45mm X 35mm) (bareheaded) by registered letter to a HSK centre or registration office a week before the registration deadline. Do not register by telephone.
The HSK centre will issue Test Cards and handbooks to registered Chinese Proficiency Test candidstes. The candidate ought to enter the test hall by the time and place wretten on the Test Card. The tTest Card becomes invalid after the test date. Those registerred by makil, please pay the postage in advance, so that the HSK centers can send out the Test Card and hand-book to candidates.
Preparation for the test

As it aims at measuring the candidate's overall Chinese-proficiency, HSK is not based on any particular text book or Chinese course, therefor the applicant does not need to refer to any particular textbook in preparing for the rest. The applicant may read the HSK Guide for the prerequisites to participating in HSK, and the content of the tests. The HSK Guide, which is available at all HSK centers on payment. provide a description of HSK, sample test papers and dey, a vocabulary list covered by the HSK, accompanied by a cassette tape recording of the listening section of the sample test.

The candidate is required to enter the test hail before the test with their Test Card and ientification paper (such as ID card, student card, employee card, or passprot with their photo on it ). The candidate is not allowed to bring in tape - recorders, cameras, dictionaries, note - bookds, text - books or other things.

Candidates who are late the rest (beginning form listen-in) for less than five minutes can enter the test hall; those late for five to thirty-five minutes may enter the test hall when the first part (listening) is finished; those who are more than 35 minutes late are not permitted to take part in the test.

Issuing of the HSK certificate and the score report

The HSK certificate and the score report will be sent by the sponsoring institution to the HSK centers and agent institutions two months after the session is a administered

The sponsoring institution oir the HSK certers will keep the HSK certificate and the score report for three months after the test, and wiill not be responsible for keeping them thereafter.

Periodof validity fo the HSK certificate

The HSK certificate ahs permanent validity, whereas the period of validity of the score report, as certification for foreign students to enter a college or universtity in China, is two years (begining form the date when the session is administered).

Information and service

Informatin and other serveces concerning HSK are provided by the Office of State commission of Chinese Preficiedcy Test, the HSK Department of the Office of the State Leading Group for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, and the HSK center of Beijing Language and Culture University. The HSK Guide, sample papers and tapes are available at all HSK certers on payment.

For detailed information please contact:

Mr.Peng Hengli and Mr. Quyan (HSK office)
add: No.15, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing
add (mail); HSK center of Beijing Language and Culture University
Zip: 100083
Tel: (8610)62016917,62017531
Fax: (8610)62016917

HSK scoring system

HSK elementary and intermediate
A subscore of HSK is a scaled score with 50 as the average and 15 the standard deviation; The tatal score is a scaled score with 200 as the average and 60 the standard deviation. These scores show the relative position of the candidate in a standard HSK sample group. Refering to Table 1, we know the relative posigtion of a candidate in the whole group. The column on the right indicates the percentage of those whose scores are lower than the corresponding scores in the standard HSK reerence group. The total HSK score is not equal to the sum of all the subscores.
Table 1
HSK score Percentile
total subscore
400 100 100
277 69 90
250 63 80
231 58 70
215 54 60
200 50 50
185 46 40
169 42 30
150 37 20
123 31 10


HSK subscore ranking criteria Grade level Listening Grammar  Reading Cloze Level 1
20-28 19-27 21-29 19-27  
Level 2 29-37 28-36 30-38 28-36
Level 3 38-46 37-45 39-47 37-45
Level 4 47-55 46-54 48-56 46-54
Level 5 56-64 55-63 57-65 55-63
Level 6 65-73 64-72 66-74 64-72
Level 7 74-82 73-81 75-83 73-81
Level 8 83-100 82-100 82-100 82-100


HSK types and grades of
elementary and intermediater certificate Types and Grades Grade level Score range
Types Grades
   Level 1 78-114
   Level 2 115-151
Elementary
Level  C Level 3 152-188
B Level 4 189-225
A Level 5 226-262
Intermediate
Level  C Level 6 263-269
B Level 7 300-336
A Level 8 337-400



HSK advanced
A subscore of HSK is a scaled socore with 50 as the average and 15 the standard deviation. These scores show the relative-position of the candidate in a standard HSK sample group. Referring to Table 1. We know the relative position of a candidate in the whole group. The column on the right indicates the percentage of those whose scores are lower than the corresponding scores in the standard HSK reference group.