The HSKK speaking test, explained: levels, format, scores and how to practise (video)
From 13 December 2026 the HSKK becomes a speaking paper for each of HSK 3 to 6. Parts, timings, scoring, and a timer that runs each paper's real sequence.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:21The short answer
- 0:44Which test will you take?
- 1:07Speaking is now booked with HSK 3 to 6
- 1:28Four new papers, one for each level
- 2:16What happens in the room
- 3:16How to handle each task
- 5:06Nobody knows the new pass mark yet
- 5:30The old HSKK, until 7 November
- 5:53What to do next
Transcript
Start
From the 13th of December 2026, you can't book HSK 3 to 6 without a speaking test. And at HSK 4, half of that test is silent preparation. From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: the HSKK speaking test, explained. Levels, format, scores, and how to practise.
The short answer
The short answer: the HSKK is the HSK's recorded speaking test. Sittings up to the 7th of November still use its three old tiers. From the 13th of December, HSK 3 to 6 each get their own speaking paper, booked with the written exam. And how are the new papers scored? Chinese Testing International hasn't published that yet.
Which test will you take?
Which test you take depends on your date. Until the 7th of November, HSK 3 comes with HSKK Elementary, HSK 4 with Intermediate, and HSK 5 and 6 with Advanced. From the 13th of December, each level from HSK 3 to 6 gets its own paper. So check the date on your booking first.
Speaking is now booked with HSK 3 to 6
From the 13th of December, CTI's rules say HSK 3, 4, 5 and 6 must be booked with the speaking test of the same level. In China, they've been bundled since 2023. In CTI's pilots, the new pair cost the same as the old one. On the day, speaking is its own session, after the written paper.
Four new papers, one for each level
What's on the four new papers? HSK 3 is a run of short answers: repeat 8 sentences, describe 5 photos in a sentence each, and answer 2 questions. HSK 4 to 6 ask for fewer, longer ones: retell 2 passages, tell a story from photos, and answer 2 questions. In our view, the jump to HSK 4 is the big one: you talk for two minutes at a stretch. When we added up the clock, a pattern appeared: you prepare at least as long as you speak. At HSK 3, it's 5.6 minutes of speaking and 6 of preparing. At HSK 4, 7.3 against 10. At HSK 5 and 6, 10 of each. Preparation is a skill, and it's worth practising.
What happens in the room
What happens in the room? There's no interviewer: you wear headphones and speak into a microphone. Each official sample recording opens with three warm-up questions, like 你叫什么名字, what's your name, with about 10 seconds each. Every sentence or passage plays once, then a beep tells you to start. Here's the HSK 4 sample. Three minutes to prepare a picture story, two to tell it. Each question: three and a half minutes to prepare, two to answer. Add it up, and half the test is silent preparation. Before each long answer, you're told you may write a 提纲, an outline, on the test paper. Three of CTI's rules matter. If you're late for the speaking test, you're not let in. You can't leave the room. And watches and timers are banned. So the timing has to be in your body before the day. Our timer, on the page, runs each paper with its official timings.
How to handle each task
Each task rewards a different habit. To repeat a sentence, listen for the meaning, and say it back as one phrase. For an HSK 3 photo, you get 15 seconds: time for one good sentence. Try who, then 在, then the action: 她在喝咖啡, she's drinking coffee. At HSK 4 to 6, the photos tell a story. Use your three minutes to give it a beginning, a middle and an end. Then link the parts with 先, first, 然后, then, and 最后, finally. To retell, keep who, what happened and the order, in your own words. Say you hear this, in Chinese: 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. A retell that keeps every fact can be this short: 楼下有一家新咖啡馆，咖啡便宜，很安静，我周末常去看书。 For the two questions, plan an outline of three or four points. One frame works at every level: 我觉得, I think, 因为, because, 比如, for example, and 所以, so. A review of planning studies found that time to plan makes learners more fluent, and repeating a task helps too. So answer the same question twice, a day apart. Take this question: what are the good and bad sides of shopping online? The outline, key words only: convenient, cheap, can't see it first, the coat that didn't fit. Then one point per sentence, ending with 所以现在小东西我在网上买，衣服我去商店买。 Every word is one you can say without stopping.
Nobody knows the new pass mark yet
How is it scored? The old HSKK was marked out of 100, and 60 was a pass. For the new papers, nobody outside CTI knows. We read the launch notice, both pilot notices, the syllabus and all four sample papers. None gives a pass mark. A chatbot we asked said you need 60 in every skill. No official document says that.
The old HSKK, until 7 November
Sitting on the 17th of October or the 7th of November? You'll take one of the old tiers, as will anyone on the U.S. home test. And every new paper is shorter than the HSKK it replaces. At HSK 3, 27 items drop to 15. At HSK 4, 14 become 5. The new papers lean harder on talking at length.
What to do next
So, what next? Check your test date: it decides which test you sit. Run your level on the timer, one full paper this week, out loud. Record one answer a day, and listen back for long pauses. Then repeat the same question tomorrow. Fluency grows fastest on a familiar topic. Where does SayMei fit? Our lessons won't simulate the exam. They help with the part that's hardest to practise alone: speaking at length, out loud, with someone who answers. You can talk with Mei Lin for free: your first lesson is up to 10 minutes, with no account and no card. The full guide is on the page at saymei dot app.