New HSK 5 Vocabulary

What’s on HSK 5

At HSK 5 you’re expected to talk fairly smoothly about more complicated everyday situations, such as sorting out an insurance problem or a shipment, to read general articles on those subjects, and to write short pieces about your own experience.

The topics also move well past daily life, into education, work, the environment, science and technology, the economy, society, the arts, and China’s history, language and traditions.

Words and characters

The exam

The written exam covers listening, reading and writing. Writing is 2 tasks in 40 minutes.

Both 2026 pilot exams made you book the speaking test together with the written exam, but the launch notice doesn’t say whether that continues, so ask your test center.

Handwriting or typing

How you answer depends on the format you book. On the paper exam you do the writing section by hand. On the internet-based exam at a test center you only use a keyboard, mouse and headset, so you type with pinyin and choose the right characters on screen. Not every test center offers both formats, so check yours before you book.

Words and characters come from the Syllabus for the Chinese Proficiency Test (November 2025). The exam format comes from the official HSK 3.0 sample papers.