How long does HSK 3 take?
HSK 3 is 972 words over 139 lessons, about 7 words a lesson.
How big is HSK 3?
972 words, using 651 distinct characters, grouped into 35 themes and 139 lessons. That is the whole level, and every word of it is on one page.
How many weeks is that?
At a steady pace, taking one lesson as one sitting:
| Lessons a week | Weeks to finish HSK 3 |
|---|---|
| 2 | 70 |
| 3 | 47 |
| 5 | 28 |
| 7 | 20 |
Is HSK 3 hard?
The step that surprises people is not the word count. It is that pinyin stops being printed on the paper: HSK 2 prints it, HSK 3 does not. A learner who has been reading pinyin under the characters meets the characters alone for the first time.
The second is production. Recognising 972 words and being able to write them are different amounts of work, and the writing section asks for the second.
What makes it take longer?
- Reading a word is not knowing it. A word met once and recognised on the next page has not been learned; the gap shows a week later.
- Characters do not arrive with the words. 651 distinct characters sit under HSK 3's 972 words, and handwriting them is its own practice.
- Listening lags reading. The HSK 3 paper plays each listening item twice; HSK 4 plays it once.
Where do I start?
Read the list and see how much is new: all 972 HSK 3 words, with pinyin, both meanings and an example sentence each. If most of it is familiar, HSK 4 may be the level.
Lessons 1 to 10 of every level are free, as are all the handwriting and 听写 practice.