HSK 2 study guide: the new test, its 500 words and an eight-week plan (video)
HSK 2 from 13 December 2026: 500 words and a one-hour paper with a new writing part, but no speaking. Test day, the new word list and an 8-week plan.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:18The short answer
- 0:42Your test date decides
- 1:18What's on the paper
- 2:19Writing starts here
- 3:05Words and grammar
- 4:32Pass marks aren't out
- 4:54An eight-week plan
- 5:42Practice tests
- 6:46What to do next
Transcript
Start
HSK 2 is where the new exam first asks you to write. And almost half of its new words were never on the old exam at all. From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: the HSK 2 study guide. The new test, its 500 words, and an eight-week plan.
The short answer
The short answer. HSK 2 is the second level of China's official Mandarin exam. From the 13 December sitting, it tests 500 words in a one-hour paper of listening, reading and, for the first time, writing. Expect no speaking paper. Pass marks for the new paper aren't published, so aim well above the old pass line on timed practice.
Your test date decides
So which HSK 2 will you sit? The 13 December sitting is the first regular sitting of the new HSK, Chinese Testing International, CTI, announced in September. Earlier sittings, like 7 November, use the old paper. So check your booking before you pick a word list. For 13 December, paper bookings close at midnight Beijing time on 16 November. Computer bookings close on 3 December, but your centre may stop sooner. Results follow in late December for the computer test, and in mid-January on paper.
What's on the paper
What's on the new paper? It still has 60 questions, now in three sections. Listening: 25 questions, about 17 minutes. Reading: 25 questions in 25 minutes. And writing: 10 questions in 10 minutes. So listening loses ten questions, and writing takes their place. What stays is the pinyin. The sample paper prints pinyin over every line of Chinese, writing questions included. Here's how it introduces the fill-in task. 你想喝茶还是喝咖啡？ Would you like tea or coffee? The pinyin sits over the gap, and the answer is 是. Expect a morning test. Listening comes first, from one recording, and every item plays twice. We timed every silence in the official sample recording. In part 1, you get eight seconds to pick a picture. Part 2 gives you twelve, and part 3 fifteen. So use the first hearing for the topic, and the second for the detail.
Writing starts here
HSK 2 is the first level to test your hand. The handwriting list for HSK 1 and 2 has 100 characters. In questions 51 to 55, you complete a half-drawn character. For 小时, hour, you add 寸 to 日 to make 时. In questions 56 to 60, you write a whole character. 我的车坏了. My car broke down. The missing character is 的. And the sample already reaches past the 100. One answer is 洗, wash, which is on the list to recognise, not the list to write. By HSK 2, you should recognise 371 characters, nearly four times the handwriting list.
Words and grammar
Now, the words. We matched every new HSK 2 word against the old lists. 86 weren't on the old lists at all. Only 74 came from the old HSK 2. And 34 dropped down from the old HSK 3, like 地铁, subway, and 洗手间, restroom. So what if you studied the old list? Finished the old HSK 2: about 210 words are left. Finished the old HSK 1: about 350, more than the whole old HSK 2. Even an old HSK 3 finisher has about 170 new words at these two levels. What are those 86 new words about? Getting around. Coming and going leads with 18, then places and positions with 16. 打车, take a taxi. 门票, entry ticket. 奶茶, milk tea. 药店, pharmacy. And 75 of the 86 use only characters from old HSK 1 and 2 words. So learn them as pairs of characters you've met. The grammar turns single facts into comparisons and stories. Compare with 比: 今天比昨天冷, today is colder than yesterday. Talk about experience with 过: 我去过北京, I've been to Beijing. The paper never asks you to name a pattern. So learn each one with a sentence you can say from memory.
Pass marks aren't out
What score do you need? On the old HSK 2, you pass with 120 of 200 points. For the new paper, there's no published number. In late October, we found no score scale or pass mark, and nothing on how writing is scored. So treat the old 60% as a floor, and keep going until you clear it comfortably.
An eight-week plan
How fast do you need to go? From the new HSK 1, you have 200 new words. With seven weeks to 13 December, that's about 33 a week. From the old HSK 1, it's 58. In our view, about 30 a week is a steady pace. If your date asks nearly twice that, a 2027 date is the calmer choice. Here's the plan, two weeks at a time. Weeks one and two: 60 words on people and family. Weeks three and four: 60 on places and getting around. Weeks five and six: 60 on shopping, food and weather, with the official sample, timed. Weeks seven and eight: the last 20, review, and the 100 characters by hand. And write five characters a day by hand.
Practice tests
Which practice tests should you use? CLEC's official sample paper is free, with its recording and answers. CTI's online trial is free, but asks for your name and email. HSK Mock sells two new-format papers at $5.99 each. One quirk: the sample's answer sheet numbers the writing answers 54 to 63. Match them by order. SayMei's HSK 2 practice test is free with an account. SayMei wrote every question, so it's a practice test in the new HSK format, not an official paper. Do the official sample first, keep SayMei's test for week seven, and save a fresh paper for the final week. Where does SayMei fit? Its free parts do the most for HSK 2: the word list, the workbooks, the writing grids and the practice test. It isn't an exam simulator. HSK 2 doesn't test speaking, but expect HSK 3 to test it. So if HSK 3 is next, start speaking now, while the words are simple.
What to do next
So, what next? Check your test date. Set your words per week. Write characters from week one. And do the official sample early. You can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's teacher, in a short spoken lesson at your level. The full guide, with every source, is on the page at saymei dot app.