The HSKK speaking test, explained: levels, format, scores and how to practise

What is the HSKK, and which one will you take?

The HSKK is the speaking test of the HSK, China's official Chinese exam. Its Chinese name, 汉语水平口语考试 Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǒuyǔ Kǎoshì, means "Chinese proficiency speaking test".

It isn't an interview. You wear headphones, listen to recorded instructions and speak into a microphone. Chinese Testing International, which runs the exam, records your answers and marks them later.

Which version you sit depends on your test date. Here's the speaking test that goes with each level:

From 13 December, each level from HSK 3 to 6 has a speaking paper of its own. Source: CTI's HSKK pages and HSK 3.0 pilot rules.

The first regular HSK 3.0 sitting is 13 December, CTI confirmed in September. Our HSK exam guide covers dates, deadlines and fees, and HSK 3.0 explained covers everything else that changed. Check the date on your booking first, because everything below depends on it.

Speaking is now booked with HSK 3 to 6

From 13 December, CTI's rules say HSK 3, 4, 5 and 6 must be booked together with the speaking test of the same level. You can't book one without the other.

For many of you this isn't new. Until now the HSKK was optional in many countries, but some centres already sell the two together:

• China, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, since January 2023, under a CTI notice.
• Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, at the centres I checked, since 2023.
• The Philippines, at the Ateneo Confucius Institute, since 2022.

What changes on 13 December is the test itself.

You pay what the old pair cost. CTI's pilot rules priced HSK 4 with its speaking test the same as HSK 4 plus HSKK Intermediate, and your centre sets the actual fee.

On the day, speaking is its own session after the written paper. In CTI's pilot timetable, the break between the two runs from about half an hour to an hour. We found no rule that lets you book the new speaking test on its own.

So plan to prepare for both papers from day one, not to cram speaking in the last week.

Four new papers, one for each level

Each new paper has three parts. HSK 3 is a run of short answers, and HSK 4 to 6 ask for fewer, longer ones. Here's what each paper contains:

HSK 3 asks for many short answers; HSK 4 to 6 for a few long ones. Source: CLEC's official HSK 3.0 sample papers. Totals include preparation.

In our view, the jump from HSK 3 to HSK 4 is the big one. At HSK 3 your longest answer is a minute and a half. At HSK 4 you retell what you heard, then talk for two minutes at a stretch.

HSK 7–9 works differently. There's no separate booking: the oral part sits inside the one advanced exam. You interpret two printed passages into Chinese out loud, then give five spoken answers, the longest with three minutes to prepare and three to speak.

When we added up the clock, a pattern appeared:

Source: our sums of the timings on CLEC's sample papers.

Preparation isn't dead time. It's a skill, and it's worth practising.

What happens in the room

We listened to CLEC's official sample recording for each paper and timed every instruction and pause. The real test may differ in small ways, but the shape is clear.

Every recording opens with a greeting and three warm-up questions, with about 10 seconds to answer each:

• What's your name? 你叫什么名字？ nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
• Which country are you from? 你是哪国人？ nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?
• And the last five digits of your admission ticket number.

In the listening tasks you hear each sentence or passage once. A beep then tells you to start.

Before each long answer, the recording announces its own preparation time. It also tells you that you may write an outline, 提纲(tígāng), on the test paper. Here's how the HSK 4 sample runs:

Source: our timing of the HSK 4 recording in CLEC's sample pack.

Look at the long silences: each one sets up the answer that follows it.

Three of CTI's candidate rules matter here:

• Be on time. If you're late for the speaking test, you're not let in.
• Stay put. You keep your headphones on and can't leave the room.
• No timers. Watches and timers are banned, so you can't time yourself.

That's why the timing has to be in your body before the day.

Practise against the real clock

We built the timer below to run each paper in order, with the official preparation and answer times. Pick your level, press Start, and speak out loud as if the recording were playing:

Each run draws new sentences, photos and questions from our own set, written in the style of the samples. I'd start with your own level, then try the one above. One caveat: the real test plays audio where the timer shows text, and the timer can't hear you. So record yourself on your phone and listen back afterwards.

How to handle each task

Each task rewards a different habit. Here's what I'd aim for in each, with phrases you can borrow.

Repeat: hold the whole sentence

At HSK 3 you hear a short sentence once, then repeat it in 10 seconds. Listen for the meaning, not the separate sounds, and say it back as one phrase.

Shadowing, speaking along with a recording, trains the same skill. Our guide to how to speak Chinese shows how, and the tone-pair trainer drills the tone pairs that slip under pressure.

Photos: say who is doing what

At HSK 3 you get 15 seconds per photo, which is time for one good sentence. A safe pattern is who, then 在(zài), then the action:

• She's drinking coffee. 她在喝咖啡。 tā zài hē kāfēi.

At HSK 4 to 6 the photos tell a story. Use your three minutes to give it a beginning, a middle and an end, and link the parts with first, 先(xiān); then, 然后(ránhòu); and finally, 最后(zuìhòu).

Retell: keep the order, not every word

At HSK 4 you retell a passage of two or three sentences. At HSK 5 and 6 it's a longer story or argument, heard once, and you get a minute and a half.

Nobody expects every word. Keep who, what happened and the order, and use your own words. Afterwards, 后来(hòulái), and in the end, 结果(jiéguǒ), carry a retell a long way.

Say you hear this passage from our timer at HSK 4:

• 我家楼下新开了一家咖啡馆。那儿的咖啡不贵，环境也很安静，所以我周末常常去那儿看书。 wǒ jiā lóuxià xīn kāile yì jiā kāfēiguǎn. nàr de kāfēi bú guì, huánjìng yě hěn ānjìng, suǒyǐ wǒ zhōumò chángcháng qù nàr kàn shū. A new café has opened below my flat. The coffee isn't expensive and it's quiet, so I often go there to read at weekends.

Here's a retell that keeps every fact, in the same order, in plainer words:

• 楼下有一家新咖啡馆，咖啡便宜，很安静，我周末常去看书。 lóuxià yǒu yì jiā xīn kāfēiguǎn, kāfēi piányi, hěn ānjìng, wǒ zhōumò cháng qù kàn shū. There's a new café downstairs. The coffee's cheap and it's quiet, and I often go there to read at weekends.

Questions: answer, reason, example

The two questions are where your longest answers go. Spend the preparation on an outline of three or four points, not a script you'll read word for word.

A frame that works at every level:

• I think… 我觉得…… wǒ juéde…
• because… 因为…… yīnwèi…
• for example… 比如…… bǐrú…
• so… 所以…… suǒyǐ…

A review of planning studies found that time to plan makes learners more fluent. Repeating a task helps too: learners who retold the same topic again kept their fluency gains. So I'd answer the same question twice, a day apart.

One answer, from outline to speech

Here's what three and a half minutes of preparation can turn into. The question is one of the HSK 4-style questions in our timer: what are the good and bad sides of shopping online? 你觉得网上购物有哪些好处和坏处？ nǐ juéde wǎngshang gòuwù yǒu nǎxiē hǎochù hé huàichù?

First, the outline you'd jot on the test paper. Key words only:

• convenient, 方便(fāngbiàn)
• cheap, 便宜(piányi)
• can't see it first
• the coat that didn't fit

Then the answer, one point per sentence:

• I think shopping online has a good side and a bad side. 我觉得网上购物有好处，也有坏处。 wǒ juéde wǎngshang gòuwù yǒu hǎochù, yě yǒu huàichù.
• The biggest advantage is convenience: you can buy things without leaving home. 最大的好处是方便，在家就能买东西。 zuì dà de hǎochù shì fāngbiàn, zài jiā jiù néng mǎi dōngxi.
• Things online are often cheaper than in shops, too. 网上的东西也常常比商店便宜。 wǎngshang de dōngxi yě chángcháng bǐ shāngdiàn piányi.
• But you can't see or try things before you buy them. 但是买之前看不到，也试不了。 dànshì mǎi zhīqián kàn bu dào, yě shì bu liǎo.
• For example, last month I bought a coat online, and it was too small. 比如，上个月我在网上买了一件外套，结果太小了。 bǐrú, shàng ge yuè wǒ zài wǎngshang mǎile yí jiàn wàitào, jiéguǒ tài xiǎo le.
• So now I buy small things online and clothes in a shop. 所以现在小东西我在网上买，衣服我去商店买。 suǒyǐ xiànzài xiǎo dōngxi wǒ zài wǎngshang mǎi, yīfu wǒ qù shāngdiàn mǎi.

That's a skeleton, not a full answer. Two minutes is longer than it sounds, so in the test I'd add a second example and a little more detail to each point.

Notice that every word is one you can say without stopping. In a timed answer, a long search for a rare word costs time you can't get back.

Nobody knows the new pass mark yet

The old HSKK was marked out of 100, and 60 was a pass. You got one total, valid for two years from the test date.

For the new papers, nobody outside CTI knows. We read the launch notice, both pilot notices, the syllabus and all four speaking sample papers. None gives a maximum score, a pass mark or a rule on how speaking combines with the written result.

Some guides and chatbots fill the gap anyway. A Vietnamese test-prep site says the new HSK 3 paper keeps the old pass mark, and a chatbot we asked without web search said you need 60 in every skill. No official document says either.

Results take longer than you might think. CTI's rules give 20 days for a computer-based speaking test and about a month on paper. If you're applying to a university, ask which version and which score it accepts.

The old HSKK, for sittings until 7 November

If your test is on 17 October or 7 November, you'll sit one of the old tiers, and so will anyone taking the US home test. Each tier is a separate recorded test:

• Elementary: repeat sentences you hear, answer short spoken questions, then answer two printed questions.
• Intermediate: repeat sentences, describe two pictures, then answer two questions.
• Advanced: retell three passages, read one aloud, then answer two questions.

You'll find two sets of timings online. The chart below uses CTI's current pages; older level sheets, still posted by some centres, give each tier one to three minutes less. We'd trust CTI's.

The new papers are shorter, with far fewer quick items:

Source: CTI's HSKK pages and CLEC's sample papers.

The long answers survived the change. What went is most of the quick repetition, so the new papers lean harder on talking at length.

Where SayMei fits, and where it doesn't

SayMei's live lessons are conversations with Mei Lin, your AI teacher, levelled by HSK. They help with the part of the test that's hardest to practise alone: speaking at length, out loud, with someone who answers and corrects you.

They aren't an exam simulator. SayMei has no official mock papers, can't predict an HSK 3.0 score, and doesn't recreate the recorded format. That's what the timer above is for.

The first lesson is free, with no account or card. After that, SayMei Premium is $5.99 a month for 200 minutes of lessons.

Premium starts with a 7-day trial, which needs a card.

What to do next

• Check your test date. It decides whether you sit an old tier or a new paper.
• Run your level on the timer. Do one full paper this week, out loud.
• Record one answer a day. Listen back for long pauses and tones that slip.
• Repeat the same question tomorrow. Fluency grows fastest on a familiar topic.
• Book the written exam with it in mind. Speaking and writing are one booking now.

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