The HSK, or Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, is the Chinese Proficiency Test used by universities, employers, and learners around the world. The modern HSK 3.0 standard divides Chinese ability into nine levels across three bands, replacing the older six-level system. This guide explains every level, its official word count, what a learner can do at each stage, and how to find your own level with free tools. Whether you are a new learner choosing a first milestone or an experienced speaker deciding which exam to book, knowing how the levels fit together is the first step. The official word counts also matter for study planning, because they tell you how much vocabulary each stage requires. Every number in this guide comes from the official GF0025-2021 standard, the same reference used by our text analyzer, quiz, vocabulary test, and level pages.
| Level | Band | New words | Cumulative | What you can do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | Beginner | 500 | 500 | Greet people, introduce yourself, and handle very basic daily phrases. |
| HSK 2 | Beginner | 772 | 1,272 | Communicate about daily routines, shopping, and simple personal topics. |
| HSK 3 | Beginner | 973 | 2,245 | Handle common conversations, travel situations, and simple work exchanges. |
| HSK 4 | Intermediate | 1,000 | 3,245 | Discuss news, work, studies, and everyday abstract topics. |
| HSK 5 | Intermediate | 1,071 | 4,316 | Read articles and express opinions on complex subjects. |
| HSK 6 | Intermediate | 1,140 | 5,456 | Read academic and professional Chinese with confidence. |
| HSK 7 | Advanced | 5,636 (shared band) | 11,092 | Use advanced vocabulary in professional and academic contexts. |
| HSK 8 | Advanced | 5,636 (shared band) | 11,092 | Handle complex texts and formal writing. |
| HSK 9 | Advanced | 5,636 (shared band) | 11,092 | Reach near-native command across academic and professional domains. |
The Beginner band covers HSK 1-3 and roughly 2,245 cumulative words. Learners here build the foundation of daily life: greetings, numbers, family, food, travel, shopping, and simple conversations. By the end of HSK 3, most learners can handle everyday situations in Chinese-speaking environments and continue conversations on familiar topics. This band is the goal for short-term travelers and for learners who want a practical first milestone.
The Intermediate band covers HSK 4-6 and adds roughly 3,211 words, reaching 5,456 cumulative. At HSK 4, learners start reading about news, work, education, and abstract topics. HSK 5 adds the vocabulary of articles, business writing, and everyday media, while HSK 6 reaches academic and professional Chinese. This band is where most serious learners set their target, because HSK 4 is a common requirement for studying and working in China.
The Advanced band covers HSK 7-9, a single official syllabus of 5,636 new words and 11,092 cumulative words. Learners at this level handle complex texts, formal writing, specialized fields, and near-native expression. The band is one exam: candidates take a single advanced test, and their result identifies whether they reached HSK 7, 8, or 9.
HSK 1
Greet people, introduce yourself, and handle very basic daily phrases.
HSK 2
Communicate about daily routines, shopping, and simple personal topics.
HSK 3
Handle common conversations, travel situations, and simple work exchanges.
HSK 4
Discuss news, work, studies, and everyday abstract topics.
HSK 5
Read articles and express opinions on complex subjects.
HSK 6
Read academic and professional Chinese with confidence.
HSK 7
Use advanced vocabulary in professional and academic contexts.
HSK 8
Handle complex texts and formal writing.
HSK 9
Reach near-native command across academic and professional domains.
The HSK 2.0 system, introduced in 2010, had six levels and about 5,000 words at HSK 6. In 2021, the Chinese Ministry of Education published the HSK 3.0 standard (GF0025-2021), which reorganized the exam around three stages and nine levels. The new system keeps the familiar HSK 1-6 labels but distributes vocabulary differently and adds a shared advanced band for HSK 7-9. Instead of 5,000 words at the top, the nine-level system reaches about 11,092 cumulative words.
The three bands are the foundation of the new system. Beginner levels 1-3 cover daily communication, greetings, travel, and simple conversations. Intermediate levels 4-6 add news, work, study, and abstract topics. Advanced levels 7-9 cover academic, professional, and literary Chinese. Each band has a clear purpose, which makes it easier to set study goals than the old single ladder of six levels.
The vocabulary lists did not simply grow by adding words on top of the old system. Words were redistributed across the new levels, so a word that was HSK 3 in the old system may now belong to HSK 1 or HSK 4. This is why old textbooks can feel misaligned with the new standard, and why official HSK 3.0 word lists are the safest study reference.
Each band also maps loosely to the CEFR scale used in Europe: Beginner is roughly A1-A2, Intermediate is roughly B1-B2, and Advanced is roughly C1-C2. These comparisons are approximate, but they help institutions and learners locate HSK within the broader landscape of language qualifications.
The rough correspondence between the old and new systems is useful during the transition: old HSK 1-2 maps to new levels 1-3, old HSK 3 maps to new levels 3-4, old HSK 4 maps to new levels 4-5, old HSK 5 maps to new levels 6-7, and old HSK 6 maps to new levels 8-9. Many overseas test centers still offer the old six-level format, so check which version your test center and target institution accept before you choose study materials.
During the transition, certificates from both systems remain valid, and many universities publish their own conversion tables. The safest approach is to confirm the version a program accepts before booking an exam. For self-study, the nine-level standard gives finer granularity: instead of a long gap between HSK 3 and HSK 4, learners now have clearer intermediate steps.
You can get a quick picture of your current level with free tools, without booking an exam. Take our free HSK level test to answer 10 quick questions and receive an estimate based on the traditional six-level scale, with a note about the new nine-level standard. Try the HSK quiz to practice a specific level, Analyze your Chinese text to see which levels appear in real reading material, and Estimate your vocabulary size with a 50-word sample across HSK 1-9. These estimates are starting points; an official exam remains the authoritative measurement.
Interpreting the results is straightforward. If the level test places you around HSK 3, quiz yourself at HSK 3 and HSK 4 to see where recognition starts to drop. If the text analyzer shows that a news article is mostly HSK 5 vocabulary, that article is a realistic challenge for your current level. The vocabulary test adds a separate measure of how many words you recognize in isolation.
If the tools disagree, trust the pattern rather than a single number. A low vocabulary estimate with a high quiz score at one level usually means your active vocabulary is still narrow, while a high estimate with weak quiz results may mean you recognize words without recalling them precisely.
Start with whichever tool feels most relevant to your current goal. A learner preparing for a textbook chapter benefits most from the quiz, while a reader choosing an article benefits from the text analyzer. Using two tools together gives a more reliable picture than relying on any single estimate.
Under the HSK 3.0 standard there are nine levels, grouped into three bands: Beginner (HSK 1-3), Intermediate (HSK 4-6), and Advanced (HSK 7-9). The older HSK 2.0 system had six levels, and many overseas test centers still offer that format during the transition. The nine levels give learners and institutions a finer scale for describing progress.
HSK 2.0 used six levels and roughly 5,000 words at the top level. HSK 3.0, based on the official GF0025-2021 standard, uses nine levels and about 11,092 cumulative words. The new system also adds a shared advanced band for levels 7-9 and changes how vocabulary is distributed across the levels. The new system also makes speaking a required part of the exam from level 3 onward in the 2025 syllabus.
The official cumulative counts are 500 words for HSK 1, 1,272 for HSK 2, 2,245 for HSK 3, 3,245 for HSK 4, 4,316 for HSK 5, 5,456 for HSK 6, and 11,092 for the shared HSK 7-9 band. The table on this page shows each level with its new and cumulative word counts. All counts come from the official GF0025-2021 standard used across HSKtools.
Yes. HSK 9 is the highest level in the HSK 3.0 system and represents near-native command of Chinese in academic and professional contexts. Levels 7-9 share one official syllabus and one advanced exam, and the reported result identifies which of the three levels the candidate reached. Reaching HSK 9 signals the ability to study and work in demanding Chinese-language environments.
It depends on your goal. HSK 3 is a realistic first milestone for everyday communication, HSK 4 is the common benchmark for studying or working in China, and HSK 5-6 open more academic and professional opportunities. If your goal is university admission, check the requirement of the specific program, because institutions choose which version and level they accept. A realistic path is to pass HSK 3 first, then reassess your goal every year as your study time and interests evolve.