HSK oral exam (www.rmit.com.au)
posted by tysun.chan on January 30, 2012 | 2 comments
I've heard about the new HSK exams incorporating an oral test. From RMIT university in Australia:

"The new type of examination consists of two independent parts; a written test and an oral test. The written test is comprised of HSK-Level 1, HSK-Level 2, HSK- Level 3, HSK- Level 4, HSK- Level 5 and HSK- Level 6, while the oral test is comprised of HSK (Elementary), HSK (Intermediate) and HSK (Advanced). During the oral test, sound-recording devices are used."

Questions for Popup Chinese:

In order to get an HSK certificate, must one undertake one of the oral tests?

Would Popup Chinese have any information on the structure of the oral tests?
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crusty_138 on January 31, 2012 | reply
Hi,

I took HSK4 at RMIT last year and can tell you there was no oral component. Not sure about the higher levels, but as far as I know, there's no oral for levels 1-4.

There was however, a listening component that most of us found quite tricky.
indianniemarketing on January 31, 2012 | reply
You do not have to take the oral exam to take the HSK- they are separate. I sat the oral HSK (intermediate) in December, 2010. The exam is 21 minutes long ( 10 mins prep time)and it comprised of 3 sections. The first is imitating the spoken recording. The second is to prepare 2 minutes of speech using the pictures cues provided (2 of these questions.) And, the last section is 2 generalised questions requestions written in pinyin and characters for which you have to speak on for 2 minutes. For a sample exam go to: http://www.chinesetesting.cn/userfiles/file/HSK-zhongji.pdf

If you familiarise yourself with the format you will go well. You can easily get full marks in section 1 - by practising imitating radio, TV and lesson dialogues. I did not study for this and passed...but was certainly not happy with the result. Good luck!