What Is the HSK Equivalent of Each Course?

How do the courses on Yoyo Chinese compare to HSK levels?

Written by Tanner

Updated 2 years ago

What is the corresponding HSK level of each course on YoyoChinese.com?

The Hanyu Shuiping Kaishi -- 汉语水平考试 (hàn yǔ shuǐ píng kǎo shì) -- is the official test of Standard Mandarin Chinese. If you want to work or study abroad, it’s often required (or at least preferred) that you take and pass this exam.

The New HSK currently has 6 levels, ranging from Level 1 as the lowest level, to Level 6 as the highest level.

While the Chinese courses on our website are designed based on our own curriculum, rather than strictly the vocabulary and grammar related to certain HSK levels, we do have overall guidelines as to the approximate HSK level of each of our courses, so you can find the course that best suits your level!

Beginner Conversational Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): None
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L1-2

The Beginner course is perfect for absolute beginners, or those that have learned some Chinese in the past and want to really hone in on their pronunciation of pinyin and tones, gain a stronger foundation in conversational Chinese, or brush up on their spoken Chinese.

After the course, you can expect your level to be around HSK Level 2.

Intermediate Conversational Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): About HSK L2
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L3-4

The Intermediate course is a great option if you have a strong foundation in Mandarin already, and are looking to dive in deeper in terms of conversations with natives. You’ll learn lots of alternate ways of expressing things you’ve learned in Beginner, and tons of new material that will wow your Chinese friends in conversation.

After this course, your level should be around HSK Level 3 or 4.

Upper Intermediate Conversational Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): About HSK L3
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L4-5

The Upper Intermediate Course is best suited for those who have a very strong foundation in Mandarin and really looking to dive deeper into complex conversations with native Chinese speakers. The material in this course is both practical and deep, and will help you improve your speaking and listening skills immensely!

By the end of the course, your level should be around HSK Level 4 or 5.

Chinese Character I Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): None
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L2

The Chinese Character I Course is perfect for those just starting out learning Chinese characters. In this course, you’ll learn the 300 most common Chinese characters that make up over 60% of written Chinese!

After completing this course, your level should be around HSK Level 2.

Chinese Character II Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): About HSK L2
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L3

The Chinese Character II Course is the second installment of the Chinese Character I Course. This course teaches you 300 more of the most common Chinese characters, bringing your total character count up to 600, which makes up nearly 80% of all written Chinese!

After this course, your level should be around HSK Level 3.

Chinese Character Reader Course

Prerequisite Level (Before Course): About HSK L2-3
Ending Level (After Course): About HSK L3

The Chinese Character Reader Course is a unique course that incorporates both conversational and the written Chinese! In this course, you’ll learn to read fun, interesting stories in Chinese, in the form of an animated comic book! The course was built around the 600 Chinese characters taught in the Chinese Character I and II Courses, with some new characters added in as well. You can read the Chinese sentences in the video as you hear the audio from native speaker voice actors to accompany the text. It’s the best of both words - spoken and written!

After this course, your level will be around HSK Level 3.

Note: If you’re preparing to take the HSK for the very first time, we highly suggest you go through our conversational courses in full (or at least the Beginner Conversational Course in the program), before preparing for or taking the HSK. This will help to give you a strong foundation in Chinese pinyin and tones, grammar, useful vocabulary and sentences, and more. Studying HSK vocabulary is a great supplement to our courses, to add to your overall vocabulary. For more information on preparing for the HSK exam with our courses, check out this blog post: How to Prepare for the HSK Chinese Proficiency Test

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