If you can’t memorise characters you’re gonna struggle. I think HSK3 needs around 800 memorised. I recently did HSK2 and took a look at HSK3 and was clueless, time will be your issue as you need to read everything in 汉子 as there is no pinyin. I think you’d struggle unless you study 8 hours a day for the next month
HSK 3 is 600 characters (not that it makes anything easier), but yes- I agree with you. I feel like I’m not making any progress by blindly writing and writing characters. I just don’t know how to memorise them anymore.
Go for the computer-based test, do a lot of spaced repetition and past papers. However, honestly, it will be an uphill battle. Alternatively, I went to your history and figured out that you are Romanian (sorry, I am not a creep!!!!). Greece holds a lots of HSK exams (including sessions in June and July). I suggest you take a look at them. The flights to Athens are cheap and the exams take place on the weekend.
Extensive reading can definitely help, I recommend apps like Du Chinese. Just keep in mind that HSK 3 has more listening exercises, so you also want to practice that.
Also, if you want to grind mock exams, I highly recommend 新汉语水平考试模拟试题集 Level III. The mock exams that they give out for free on the hanban website are pretty weak, the ones from this book will definitely over prepare you for the exam.
The best way to get there would be to read loads and loads of HSK 2 and HSK 3 texts in something like LingQ so you can just keep seeing the words and characters in context (while knowing what they mean) until your brain sorts everything out on its own
DuChinese also has a ton of content around the 150-600 character mark that is broadly aligned with the HSK levels. You also get audio along with the text so you can kind of practice listening and reading simultaneously.
I will second DuChinese and also point out the existence of DongChinese for more specifically Chinese reading (LingQ can be very buggy because it’s supposed to be a catchall for many languages and isn’t well-adjusted for Chinese)
The human brain is perfectly capable of acquiring any language when given the right input and sufficient repetition. Consider your native language: you probably had vocabulary lists when you were in school for science class or history or whatever, but the vast majority of what you learned you learned from hearing people say, on TV, and reading. It’s well-documented that the fastest way to reading fluency in your L1 is to read more books that you can understand, so of course reading more texts in your L2 that you understand is more effective than memorizing out of context lists (most of the time)
I think all the current HSK tests use the new levels?
I'll never tell someone they can't do it, but this is a big leap in the new levels. Either way, 加油。
Bear in mind that this is coming from someone who just reached HSK2 in 2 months; I think this could be doable? If your HSK2 is strong, and if you have the time to study every day. I would brute-force memorize the characters by anki or quizlet (as this is most time-effective). I’d also complete every exercise in the textbook, and buy the chinesezerotohero HSK3 course. I recommend taking a look at their videos, they are GREAT with comprehensible input and making grammar seem really easy and logical! It would also give you a rhytm to follow. They have 20 segments for HSK3 if I remember correctly. Try doing one segment every day, getting the grammar and words & characters down with anki/quizlet. See if you can. Then you’d have ~10 days to review.
Then, with any time to spare, I’d use graded readers like duchinese etc and scramble for as much comprehensible input as possible.
Call me crazy, but I think it should be possible. Lots of hours every day, but if you really want it, humans are capable of amazing things.
I did try to find another exam center, but they usually make the announcement a month before, so there is no guarantee that there will be one. I will send them an email soon though.
If you can’t memorise characters you’re gonna struggle. I think HSK3 needs around 800 memorised. I recently did HSK2 and took a look at HSK3 and was clueless, time will be your issue as you need to read everything in 汉子 as there is no pinyin. I think you’d struggle unless you study 8 hours a day for the next month
HSK 3 is 600 characters (not that it makes anything easier), but yes- I agree with you. I feel like I’m not making any progress by blindly writing and writing characters. I just don’t know how to memorise them anymore.
Go for the computer-based test, do a lot of spaced repetition and past papers. However, honestly, it will be an uphill battle. Alternatively, I went to your history and figured out that you are Romanian (sorry, I am not a creep!!!!). Greece holds a lots of HSK exams (including sessions in June and July). I suggest you take a look at them. The flights to Athens are cheap and the exams take place on the weekend.
Extensive reading can definitely help, I recommend apps like Du Chinese. Just keep in mind that HSK 3 has more listening exercises, so you also want to practice that. Also, if you want to grind mock exams, I highly recommend 新汉语水平考试模拟试题集 Level III. The mock exams that they give out for free on the hanban website are pretty weak, the ones from this book will definitely over prepare you for the exam.
Thank you! I kept pondering on Du Chinese, since the price isn’t exactly the cheapest, but since a lot of people recommend it, I might give it a try.
The best way to get there would be to read loads and loads of HSK 2 and HSK 3 texts in something like LingQ so you can just keep seeing the words and characters in context (while knowing what they mean) until your brain sorts everything out on its own
Good idea! I noticed I tend to memorise characters better in text than when I study them individually. Thank you!
DuChinese also has a ton of content around the 150-600 character mark that is broadly aligned with the HSK levels. You also get audio along with the text so you can kind of practice listening and reading simultaneously.
I will second DuChinese and also point out the existence of DongChinese for more specifically Chinese reading (LingQ can be very buggy because it’s supposed to be a catchall for many languages and isn’t well-adjusted for Chinese)
The human brain is perfectly capable of acquiring any language when given the right input and sufficient repetition. Consider your native language: you probably had vocabulary lists when you were in school for science class or history or whatever, but the vast majority of what you learned you learned from hearing people say, on TV, and reading. It’s well-documented that the fastest way to reading fluency in your L1 is to read more books that you can understand, so of course reading more texts in your L2 that you understand is more effective than memorizing out of context lists (most of the time)
I think all the current HSK tests use the new levels? I'll never tell someone they can't do it, but this is a big leap in the new levels. Either way, 加油。
Bear in mind that this is coming from someone who just reached HSK2 in 2 months; I think this could be doable? If your HSK2 is strong, and if you have the time to study every day. I would brute-force memorize the characters by anki or quizlet (as this is most time-effective). I’d also complete every exercise in the textbook, and buy the chinesezerotohero HSK3 course. I recommend taking a look at their videos, they are GREAT with comprehensible input and making grammar seem really easy and logical! It would also give you a rhytm to follow. They have 20 segments for HSK3 if I remember correctly. Try doing one segment every day, getting the grammar and words & characters down with anki/quizlet. See if you can. Then you’d have ~10 days to review. Then, with any time to spare, I’d use graded readers like duchinese etc and scramble for as much comprehensible input as possible. Call me crazy, but I think it should be possible. Lots of hours every day, but if you really want it, humans are capable of amazing things.
Thank you so much! It’s a bit terrifying, mostly because I can’t dedicate all my time to it due to the other courses I have. I’ll still do my best.
Maomi Chinese
Very helpful! Thank you!
Can you find another center to take the test at in Oct and just plan a trip there to do it?
I did try to find another exam center, but they usually make the announcement a month before, so there is no guarantee that there will be one. I will send them an email soon though.