Information about the new HSK (3.0)

In April 2021 was published the program of the new HSK, which will be effective 3 to 5 years later. Download link (the file is heavy, 51 MB): New HSK (2021) program

But in December 2025, a new version of the HSK program was published. Here is the direct link to the PDF: HSK 3.0 Program (12/2025 version).

Below are the tables of the two versions of the new HSK and the "current" HSK:

New HSK 3.0 (11/2025) program

HSK 3.0 (2021) program

"Current" HSK (v 2.0) program

A few remarks:

• The "Syllables" section has disappeared. This is good news because this section made little sense (see our previous analysis below).
• Level 2 is strangely shorter than Level 1, both in terms of words (200 additional words compared to 300 for Level 1) and characters (125 additional characters compared to 246 for Level 1).
• The progression is much less linear than in the 2021 version of the HSK 3.0.
• The reuse of characters to form new words is also less pronounced than in the 2021 version of the HSK 3.0.

The structure of the tests for the new HSK (3.0 of 12/2025)

Remarque : La durée totale de l’examen inclut le temps nécessaire au candidat pour remplir les informations personnelles ainsi que la feuille de réponses.

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Pour les modèles de test de niveau suppérieur, je vous invite à consulter directement les exemples de test

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Our previous analysis of HSK 3.0 (version 2021)

First, let's take a little step back to see previous versions of HSK.

HSK 1.0 became effective in 1990, after 6 years of research and experimentation. HSK 1.0 was divided into three parts and 11 levels in 1997. This was the first level exam of Chinese issued by mainland China for non-natives. More than 26,000 people took this test. 46 examination sites were active in 29 different countries.

HSK 2.0 is the current HSK. It became effective in 2009. It is based on 6 levels. Each level has specific vocabulary content. However, it should be noted that this content was not really respected for the reasons we will see later. From level 1 to 3, a content of grammar points was also specified. These 6 levels were put in parallel with those of the CEFR. But this parallel has often been criticized given the low content of level 1. Indeed, the main modification of HSK 2.0 is the simplification of the first levels. The goal was clearly stated: to encourage the learning of Chinese.

HSK 3.0. The program will be officially effective on July 1, 2021, but the tests for the first 6 levels will not be in place for 3 to 5 years. For the level 7 to 9 common test, for which there is no equivalent in the current HSK, a first exam will take place in December 2021 to "experience" the novelty. It should then be officially put in place in March 2022.

HSK 3.0 will be divided into 3 main parts and 9 levels:
Part 1 (Beginner 初等水平) level 1, 2 and 3.
Part 2 (Intermediate 中等水平) : level 4, 5 and 6.
Part 3 Advanced 高等水平）: level 7, 8 and 9.

Levels 7 to 9 have a common program. There will be an unique exam and the level will be awarded based on the test results.

The 6 levels (+ part 3) have a very precise program in terms of syllables, characters, words and grammar point.

And this is the great and really interesting novelty of HSK 3.0: the program is not only based on vocabulary words lists but also on characters lists.

Before going any further, it should be noted that in Chinese, "word" and "character" are two very different things. A character can be one (or even more) word and a word can be composed of one, two, three or even four characters. Some characters have a meaning, for example国 guó "country", but are not used in isolation. The WORD "country" is 国家 guójiā in 2 characters. Each of these two characters are reused in a large number of words. Example: 中国 ， 法国 ， 外国 ， 国外 / 家人 ， 搬家 ， 家里 人, etc.

It is a big mistake to confuse character and word in Chinese.

The big problem with HSK 1.0 and 2.0 is that the content is vocabulary-based, not character-based. However, as we have just said, the reuse of characters from the same level makes it possible to construct a much larger number of vocabulary words than that presented in the level concerned. These words are also found in the annals of HSK 2.0 even though they are not present in the vocabulary list of the program. It is for this reason that in the courses of this site we have more vocabulary words per level than those announced in the program. I called these words “variants.” For example, for HSK 2.0 level 1, the official list has 150 vocabulary words, whereas I have counted 211 in the annals, and this number can easily be increased even further. I only stuck to the variants of the annals.

One of the big changes of HSK 3.0 is that it incorporates character lists and this notion of reusing characters to form words. Vocabulary learning is optimized.

I welcome this because it is a principle that I was already using in the courses on Learn-chinese.online, hence the higher number of vocabulary words than in the HSK program.

We can notice the column “Syllables”. This is the part of the program that makes the least sense to me. A “phonetics and phonology” part would have been very interesting, but I don't see what use can be made of giving a list of syllables. From an educational point of view, this is nonsense.

Then come the characters, words and grammar column with the additional number per level / total.

There was already a grammar program in HSK 2.0 up to level 3. It is much more detailed in HSK 3.0.

The main novelty is, as we saw above, the list of characters.

Another great innovation is the integration of skills by level with sometimes quite precise benchmarks.

This is some examples from level 1:
Listening: be able to understand a dialogue up to 80 characters at a rate of 100 syllables per minute minimum. Pictures or objects can help understanding.
Speaking: knowing how to use vocabulary and grammar points to express yourself simply.
Reading: be able to read a text of 100 characters maximum with a reading rate of 80 characters per minute minimum. Pictures or objects can help understanding.
Writting: be able to write 100 characters of the level (out of the 300) respecting the order and direction of writing as well as elementary punctuation, with a minimum speed of 10 characters per minute. Be able to write simple words or sentences on basic personal information.

Notice the difference in the amount of characters for reading (300) and for writing (100). This is inspired by Joël Bellassen's character threshold lists. It is pedagogically very interesting because we always know more characters in reading than in writing. The characters to know in writing are not presented by level (1 to 9), but by part (beginner, intermediate and advanced).