How to prepare for the HSK exam: 7 steps for HSK 3.0

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Step 1: Choose your level and your exam date
Step 2: Plan backwards from the exam date
Step 3: Learn the words three ways
Step 4: Practise listening every day
Step 5: Practise writing and, from level 3, speaking
Step 6: Take mock exams in the last six weeks
Step 7: The last week and the exam day
How Hanzi By Heart helps
Questions and answers
Sources

Short answer Choose your level and your exam date first, then plan backwards. Learn the official word list of your level with spaced repetition, and train reading, listening and writing as separate skills. Keep the last six weeks for timed mock exams with the official sample papers and for your weakest part. From level 3 on, also practise the speaking test: you register for it together with the written exam.

Step 1: Choose your level and your exam date

The new HSK (HSK 3.0) has levels 1 to 6 and an advanced band, levels 7–9. For levels 1 to 6, each level adds words to the levels below: 300, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,600 and 5,400 words in total. Choose the level that fits the words you know now plus the words you can learn before the exam.

Exam version. HSK 3.0 starts worldwide on 13 December 2026. Some countries keep HSK 2.0 a little longer, so ask your test centre which version your date uses. Our guide HSK 3.0 vs. HSK 2.0 explains the changes.
Registration. You register on chinesetest.cn with a valid photo ID and a recent colour photo. If you take the exam outside your home country, you register with your passport.
Paper or computer. Test centres offer the paper-based exam, the computer-based exam or both. In the paper-based exam you write the characters by hand.

Step 2: Plan backwards from the exam date

Count the new words between your current level and your target. Divide them by the days you have, and keep the last six weeks for reviews and mock exams. If you start 26 weeks before the exam, you have 140 days for new words. If you start 13 weeks before, you have 49 days.

Goal	New words	Start 26 weeks before	Start 13 weeks before
Level 1 from zero	300	3 a day	7 a day
Level 2 after level 1	200	2 a day	5 a day
Level 3 after level 2	500	4 a day	11 a day
Level 4 after level 3	1,000	8 a day	21 a day
Level 5 after level 4	1,600	12 a day	33 a day
Level 6 after level 5	1,800	13 a day	37 a day

Every new word comes back for reviews, so your daily time grows week by week. If your number is above 20 new words a day, think about a later date or the level below. Our guide how long each HSK level takes has the class hours of the official textbooks.

Step 3: Learn the words three ways

The exam builds on the official word list from November 2025. Books and apps for HSK 2.0 use other lists, so check that your material follows HSK 3.0.

Use spaced repetition. Review each word just before you would forget it. Spreading reviews over time beats cramming, and trying to recall a word beats reading it again. See what spaced repetition is.
Train reading, listening and writing on their own. Reading a word does not mean that you understand it when you hear it, or that you can write it from memory. From level 3 on, the exam tests all three. See why writing is a skill of its own.
Learn each word with its tone and a sentence. A wrong tone gives a different word, and a sentence shows how the word is used. See the tones in pinyin.

Step 4: Practise listening every day

Listening is the first part at every level: 20 questions at level 1 and 40 at level 6. Listen to the audio of every new word, and say it aloud before you check the answer. Every week, also listen to longer recordings at your level, for example the audio of the official sample papers: once without the text, then while you read along, then once more without the text.

Step 5: Practise writing and, from level 3, speaking

The writing part grows with the level. Level 2 asks for missing characters, level 4 for five sentences and a short text of at least 80 characters, and level 6 for two texts of at least 150 and 300 characters. Answer the sample papers the same way as in your exam: by hand for the paper-based exam. Our guide to the HSK 3.0 exam lists all parts and times.

In the official sample papers, the speaking test has three parts at every level from 3 to 6:

Level	Questions	Parts	Time with preparation
3	15	repeat sentences (8), talk about pictures (5), answer questions (2)	about 15 min, 6 of them preparation
4	5	retell what you hear (2), talk about a picture (1), answer questions (2)	about 20 min, 10 of them preparation
5	5	retell what you hear (2), talk about a picture (1), answer questions (2)	about 23 min, 10 of them preparation
6	5	retell what you hear (2), talk about a picture (1), answer questions (2)	about 23 min, 10 of them preparation

Record yourself while you answer the sample questions with a timer: 1.5 minutes per question at level 3, 2 minutes at level 4 and 2.5 minutes at levels 5 and 6. Then listen to the recording and write down the words that you were missing.

Step 6: Take mock exams in the last six weeks

Chinese Testing International publishes official sample papers for HSK 3.0 with answers and audio, and a demo of the computer-based exam ("Try HSK 3.0" on chinesetest.cn).

Six weeks before the exam: do a full sample paper under real time limits. Mark the part where you lost the most points.
In the weeks after that: spend most of your extra time on that part, and do a timed paper every one to two weeks.
Aim for a margin. The pass marks for HSK 3.0 had not been published when we checked on 19 October 2026. HSK 2.0 required 60% of the points, so aim clearly above that in your mock exams.

Step 7: The last week and the exam day

Last week: reviews only, no new words. If you take the computer-based exam, try the demo once so that the screens are familiar.
What to bring: your printed admission ticket and the original photo ID that you used to register; copies are not accepted. For the paper-based exam, bring two or more 2B pencils and an eraser. In the computer-based exam, paper and pencils are not allowed.
Arrive 30 minutes early. If you arrive after the written exam has started, you can enter only when the listening part is over, and you do not get the lost time back. After the reading part has started, you cannot enter. For the speaking test, you cannot enter after it has started.

How Hanzi By Heart helps

Hanzi By Heart has all 5,400 words of HSK 3.0 levels 1–6, each with audio and an example sentence. Enter your exam date, and the daily plan shows when every word of your levels will have been introduced. You learn every word three ways, reading, listening and writing, and each skill has its own review schedule. In writing mode you write each character from memory, and the app checks every stroke.

Questions and answers

How long should I prepare for the HSK? It depends on your level and your weekly hours. For the vocabulary alone: at 10 new words a day, you meet all words up to level 3 in 100 days and all words up to level 4 in 200 days. Add about six weeks for mock exams.

Can I prepare for the HSK on my own? For the vocabulary, reading and listening, yes: the official word list, the sample papers and a spaced repetition app cover them. For the texts and the speaking test, feedback from a teacher or tutor helps you find mistakes that you do not notice yourself.

Which textbooks follow HSK 3.0? The series 新HSK教程 (New HSK Course) from the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press follows the new syllabus. The older HSK Standard Course follows the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Are there official practice tests for HSK 3.0? Yes. Chinese Testing International publishes sample papers with answers and audio for levels 1–6, 7–9 and the speaking test, and a demo of the computer-based exam.

What do I need on the exam day? Your printed admission ticket and the original photo ID that you used to register. For the paper-based exam, also 2B pencils and an eraser.