The best HSK books and study materials, checked against the HSK 3.0 word lists

The best HSK book for each level

We'd buy the official HSK 3.0 series wherever it exists, and add a word list that matches the exam. No book we could check covers the whole new list, so the word list does that job.

Here's what we'd use at each level:

Source: Purple Culture, an online Chinese bookshop, 8 October 2026; prices vary by shop. The New HSK Course has no workbooks for 4A and 4B yet, and HSK Standard Course textbooks cost $13.26 to $15.72.

The New HSK Course is our pick because the exam's own organisers helped make it. It isn't perfect: its publisher doesn't publish its word list, so we couldn't check it the way we checked older books.

Build your HSK stack

A stack is the handful of things you'll actually use: one book, one word list, one mock test, and speaking practice from HSK 3. Pick your level, exam date and budget, and the finder shows each item with how much of the exam's word list it covers:

The bars measure words only. A good book also teaches grammar, listening and reading, which no list can. So use both, and let the list fill the gaps.

Check which word list a book follows

Three different lists are sold as "HSK", and a book follows one of them. The one that matters is the exam syllabus, 考试大纲(kǎoshì dàgāng), published in November 2025.

The other two are older:

• HSK 2.0 lists, the old exam's, with 150 words at HSK 1. Most books on sale were written for them.
• The 2021 Standard, a teaching framework from China's Ministry of Education, with 500 words at HSK 1. The exam's organisers have said it isn't the exam syllabus.

Many apps and vocabulary books labelled "HSK 3.0" before late 2025 used the 2021 list. Here's how its size compares with the exam's, level by level:

Sources: the 2025 HSK syllabus, the 2021 Standard and CTI's HSK 2.0 level table.

So there's a quick test before you pay. Look up how many words the book or deck gives for HSK 1:

• 300 words: the exam's list.
• 500 words: the 2021 teaching list.
• 150 words: the old exam's list.

Is the HSK Standard Course still good for HSK 3.0?

For the old exam, yes: it was written for it. For HSK 3.0, it covers about 60% of the new words at every level, so you'll need a word list on top.

The HSK Standard Course, HSK标准教程(HSK biāozhǔn jiàochéng), is the best-known HSK series. Its publisher says book 3 covers the 600 words of the old HSK 3.

We gave each book credit for every old-exam word it says it covers, plus every word its lessons list in Hack Chinese's public catalog. Then we counted how many new-list words each book still leaves out. Here's what you'd still have to learn after each book:

Source: our count against SayMei's HSK 3.0 word list. How we counted.

Many gaps are everyday words the new lists added. Cook, 做饭(zuò fàn), and cinema, 电影院(diànyǐngyuàn), are now HSK 1 words, and the old books don't teach them as words.

About a quarter of the gaps are easy compounds. This one, 这个(zhège), is made of this, 这(zhè), and the measure word 个(gè). Count those as known and the old books reach about 70%. If you own them, keep them, and let a 2026 list fill the rest.

A 2021 "HSK 3.0" list makes you learn twice as much

Decks built on the 2021 Standard cover about 90% of the exam's words, but they take the long way round. For HSK 3, you'd learn more than twice as many words as the exam lists.

The extra words aren't wasted, since most turn up at higher levels. Library, 图书馆(túshūguǎn), is an HSK 1 word on the 2021 list, and an HSK 3 word on the exam's.

But if your exam is in December, that's months of study aimed at the wrong level. In our count, 59% of the words such a deck teaches by HSK 3 aren't on the exam's list for HSK 1 to 3.

Skritter's HSK 3.0 decks still use the 2021 lists, though its team said in September that 2026 editions are now a priority. Check any deck's date or its HSK 1 count before you start.

No course covers the new list on its own

We ran the same check on whole series, from the first book to the last. A course teaches thousands of words, so we asked how much of each new level it reaches by the end:

Even after six or more books, the classic series reach only about 80% of the new HSK 1 words. They were written before the new lists, and teach plenty the exam doesn't test.

Duolingo does better on the early levels than any textbook here. It covers about 90% of HSK 1 to 3 across its whole course, but in its own order, so it can't tell you when you're ready. Our Duolingo guide has the full count.

The lesson is simple. Use a course to learn Chinese, and a 2026 word list to know you've covered the exam.

The official HSK 3.0 books stop at HSK 4

The New HSK Course, 新HSK教程(Xīn HSK Jiàochéng), is the official series for the new exam. Its publisher, FLTRP, says it was made with Chinese Testing International, which runs the HSK, and launched it on 15 November 2025.

It's planned as 23 volumes, but they're arriving a level at a time. Here's how long each level's textbook has been on sale before the first sitting:

If you're sitting HSK 4 in December, you get about three months with the official textbook, and no workbook yet. At HSK 5 and 6, there's no HSK 3.0 book at all.

There's one alternative at HSK 1. Mastering Chinese, 贯通中文(Guàntōng Zhōngwén), from the team behind the HSK Standard Course, came out in July. Its description says it teaches the 300 HSK 1 words, and only level 1 is out.

We couldn't check either series ourselves. Neither publisher posts its word list, and the New HSK Course prints its list at the back of the book. So in our finder, their bars say "Not checked" rather than a guess.

Apps with the new word lists

A word list app is where you'll spend most of your study minutes, so its list matters. We checked the lists apps actually publish against the syllabus:

Sources: Pleco's forum post, Hack Chinese's update, Skritter's forum and each app's pricing, checked 8 October 2026; matches are our count.

Any of the first three will do. Pleco is the easy choice if you already use it as your dictionary. Hack Chinese is built around spaced repetition, but it runs in a browser, with no phone app.

If you prefer Anki, import SayMei's free HSK lists as a CSV instead of guessing which shared deck is current.

Where to find official mock tests

Do the free official paper first. The exam's organisers publish one sample paper for each level, with its recording, as a free download of about 395 MB.

Two more official sources are worth knowing:

• CTI's online trial exam shows the computer-based papers as a test centre would. It's free, but asks for your name and email first.
• HSK Mock is the organisers' own mock-test platform, run with Wo Hui Mandarin. It has had HSK 3.0 papers since January, at $3.99 to $11.99 a paper on the US App Store.

Free "HSK 3.0 mock" PDFs from unofficial sites are a gamble: you can't check where their questions came from.

Time the paper strictly. In the real exam the clock is the hard part, and a mock taken slowly will tell you very little.

No book makes you speak

From 13 December, HSK 3 to 6 are booked together with a speaking test of the same level. A book's audio trains your listening. Only talking trains your speaking.

At HSK 4, for example, you'll retell what you heard, then talk for two minutes at a stretch. Our HSKK guide explains every part, and its timer runs each paper with the official timings.

For practice with someone who answers back, you have two routes. A tutor gives you a human ear for your tones. SayMei's lessons are cheaper conversation practice, levelled by HSK.

What to do next

• Check your exam date. It decides whether old books still fit, or you need the new lists.
• Check your book's HSK 1 word count. It tells you which of the three lists the book follows.
• Pick one 2026 word list. Study it every day with spaced repetition.
• Do the free official sample paper. Time it, and mark where you lost points.
• Practise speaking from day one. From HSK 3, it's part of the exam you book.

Not sure which level to aim for? Our free level test takes about five minutes.