Reading Chinese for the HSK

Reading on the new HSK

The reading section comes after listening on every level. The number of questions rises from 20 at HSK 1 to 40 at HSK 6, and the texts get much longer, so from HSK 4 onwards reading speed matters as much as vocabulary.

The question types are covered in detail in the reading section guide. This page is about the reading you do outside the test, which is what makes the test manageable.

Two kinds of reading

Careful reading (often called intensive reading) means working through a short, hard text: looking up words, working out each sentence, perhaps reading it several times. It is how you learn new words and grammar in context. A paragraph or two a day is enough.

Fast reading (extensive reading) means reading a lot of text that is easy for you, without stopping. You should know almost every word. It feels too easy to be useful, but it is how you learn to recognise words instantly, which is what the reading section actually tests. Most learners do too much careful reading and too little fast reading.

A good balance is about one part careful reading to three parts fast reading, measured in time. The stories on this site work for both: read a story above your level carefully, or a story at or below your level quickly.

How much to read

There is no official figure, but a steady amount matters more than an impressive one. As a starting point:

• HSK 1–2: 10 minutes a day. Short dialogues and stories of 100–300 characters, with audio. Reread favourites.
• HSK 3–4: 15–20 minutes a day, about 1,000–2,000 characters. Graded readers and short stories.
• HSK 5–6: 20–30 minutes a day, 3,000 characters or more. Graded readers at the top levels, then simple news and non-fiction.

If you are short of time, read a little every day rather than a lot once a week. Reading speed comes from frequent contact with the same common words.

Reading with and without pinyin

The HSK 1 and 2 papers print pinyin above the Chinese; from HSK 3 there is no pinyin at all. If you rely on pinyin, your eyes go to it first and you never learn to read the characters.

• From the start, read the characters first and check the pinyin only when you are stuck.
• For HSK 2 learners, read each story twice: once with pinyin, once without.
• By the time you start HSK 3 study, switch pinyin off by default. The stories on this site show pinyin only when you ask for it from HSK 3 up.

Choosing graded readers

Graded readers are books written for learners with a limited vocabulary. Series such as Mandarin Companion and Chinese Breeze grade their books by how many words or characters they use. Their levels are not the same as HSK levels, so check rather than trusting the label:

1. Copy a page or two of the book (most publishers have free samples) into the text level checker.
2. For fast reading, choose books where you know 98% of the words at your level. For careful reading, 90–95% is fine.
3. Read the first chapter. If you are stopping more than once or twice a page, put it aside for later.

Finishing books matters. A whole book at an easy level does more for your reading than half a book at the right level.

Stories, news and non-fiction

Stories are easiest to read fast: the characters and setting repeat, and you want to know what happens next. Use them for most of your reading up to HSK 4.

From HSK 4, the test includes more factual texts: short reports, explanations, opinion pieces. The HSK 5 and 6 papers have long passages on science, society and culture. Start adding short non-fiction at HSK 4: news written for learners, popular-science articles, short opinion pieces. These use a different set of words (研究, 发展, 影响, 方面) that stories rarely cover.

When to try native material

Real Chinese websites, novels and news are written for native speakers, who know far more words than any HSK list. The full HSK list has 11,000 words and HSK 6 covers about half of them, so even at HSK 6 most native text will be hard. Signs you are ready to start:

• Graded readers at the top level feel comfortable.
• You score 95% or more on a native text in the text level checker, at your current level.
• You can read a short news article with five or fewer lookups.

Good first steps are children’s books, short news items, social media posts on topics you know well, and translated books you have already read in your own language. Keep some graded reading going alongside; it stops native material from becoming a dictionary exercise.

Start with a story