HSK 3.0 Exam Format: Questions and Timing
What each HSK 3.0 sample paper contains: sections, item counts, and minutes for Levels 1-9, beside the older totals still on CTI English pages.
By Chinese CopilotLast reviewed ≈22 min read
On this page
- Two descriptions are still on the official site
- Level 1: listening, reading, and two blocks of admin time
- Level 2: the paper that adds 书写
- Levels 3 to 6: shorter written papers, plus a speaking total
- Levels 7-9: one exam, and two official counts
- What the papers do not say
- A recognition check is not this paper
- Sources
On the official sample covers for the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) 3.0, each written paper is a fixed set of sections, items, and minutes. Level 1 is two sections and 40 items, about 40 minutes. Level 2 is three sections and 60 items, about 60 minutes, and it is the first paper with a handwriting section, 书写 (shūxiě). Levels 3, 4, 5, and 6 are three-section written papers of 70, 70, 72, and 82 items, about 83, 85, 110, and 125 minutes. Levels 3 to 6 also have a separate speaking paper. The cover totals are 15 items and about 15 minutes at Level 3, then 5 items and about 20, 23, and 23 minutes. Levels 7-9 are one five-part exam, not three papers. The sample cover counts 91 items and about 200 minutes. The English page for those levels still counts 98 items and about 210 minutes. This page quotes both.
The covers were compiled by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC). They sit in the official sample ZIP that the HSK overview links under the download name HSK3.0考试样题.zip. That overview is published by CTI Co., Ltd. (CTI). It calls the revision the new HSK: a move from the current six-level system to a "Three Stages, Nine Levels" framework covering elementary, intermediate, and advanced proficiency. The page does not assign the digits 1-3, 4-6, or 7-9 to those three stages, and it does not print the new item counts. It says the test assesses listening, speaking, reading, and writing, plus translation at advanced levels, and that question types, the number of questions, test duration, and listening speed have been adjusted. The counts below are the ones printed on the sample covers, set next to the English level pages that are still live on the same site.
Sample-cover totals only: 40, 60, 70, 70, 72, and 82 items on the separate papers, then 91 items and about 200 minutes for 七至九级.
Two descriptions are still on the official site
CTI's English pages at /HSK/1 through /HSK/6, fetched on 20 October 2026, still describe a six-level paper. They do not call that paper HSK 2.0. /HSK/7-9 describes one advanced exam of 98 questions and about 210 minutes. The 3.0 sample covers describe different section times at Level 1, a new 书写 section at Level 2, fewer items at Levels 3 to 6, and 91 items at Levels 7-9. Nothing read on the 13 December 2026 launch notice says which description that sitting will use. The notice gives the date and the Beijing-time registration windows, then says further test information will be released on chinesetest.cn. Booking choices for that date live in Should You Take HSK 2.0 or HSK 3.0 in 2026?. The framework change itself lives in HSK 2.0 vs HSK 3.0: What's Changing?.
On the same day, five English pages were still mixing those documents or printing only one of them. Second Language's HSK 3.0 guide used sample-style totals for Levels 1 to 6, then 98 items and about 210 minutes for Levels 7-9. HSKMock's format page still printed the older totals: 40 items and 40 minutes, 60 and 55, 80 and 90, 100 and 105, 100 and 125, 101 and 140, and 98 and about 210. Learn Chinese Online and Study in China published part-by-part 3.0 tables. Fluentide's HSK page listed section counts for Levels 1 to 6 and described speaking as a separate paper outside those levels. Those are third-party pages. They are not the source of the numbers in the tables below. The tables are the sample covers and the CTI English pages, named separately wherever they disagree.
The six-level duration table in How to Estimate Your HSK Level is the paper those CTI English pages still describe. It is not a second copy of the sample covers.
Prose, the section table, and the sample cover.
| Level | CTI English page, prose | CTI English page, table | 3.0 sample cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 items, about 40 min, including 5 for personal information. Listening and reading. | 40 items, about 35 min. Listening 20 / about 15. Answer sheet 3. Reading 20 / 17. | 40 items. Listening 20 / about 12. Reading 20 / 20. Answer sheet 3. About 40 min, including 5 for personal information. |
| 2 | 60 items, about 55 min, including 5. Listening and reading. No writing. | 60 items, about 50 min. Listening 35 / about 25. Answer sheet 3. Reading 25 / 22. | 60 items. Listening 25 / about 17. Reading 25 / 25. 书写 10 / 10. Answer sheet 3. About 60 min, including 5. |
| 3 | 80 items, about 90 min, including 5. Listening, reading, writing. | 80 items, about 85 min. Listening 40 / about 35. Answer sheet 5. Reading 30 / 30. Writing 10 / 15. | 70 items. Listening 30 / about 23. Reading 30 / 30. 书写 10 / 20. Answer sheet 5. About 83 min, including 5. |
| 4 | 100 items, about 105 min, including 5. | 100 items, about 100 min. Listening 45 / about 30. Answer sheet 5. Reading 40 / 40. Writing 15 / 25. | 70 items. Listening 32 / about 20. Reading 32 / 30. 写作 6 / 25. Answer sheet 5. About 85 min, including 5. |
| 5 | 100 items, about 125 min, including 5. | 100 items, about 120 min. Listening 45 / about 30. Answer sheet 5. Reading 45 / 45. Writing 10 / 40. | 72 items. Listening 35 / about 25. Reading 35 / 35. 写作 2 / 40. Answer sheet 5. About 110 min, including 5. |
| 6 | 101 items, about 140 min, including 5. | 101 items, about 135 min. Listening 50 / about 35. Answer sheet 5. Reading 50 / 50. Writing 1 item / 45. | 82 items. Listening 40 / about 30. Reading 40 / 40. 写作 2 / 45. Answer sheet 5. About 125 min, including 5. |
| 7-9 | 98 items, about 210 min. Five sections. | Same 98 items and about 210 min. Listening 40 / about 30. Reading 47 / 60. Writing 2 / 55. Translation 4 / 41. Speaking 5 / about 24. | 91 items, about 200 min. Listening 40 / about 33. Reading 40 / 50. Writing 2 / 55. Translation 4 / about 42. Speaking 5 / about 20. |
Where a CTI prose total sits 5 minutes above that page's table total, the prose itself says those 5 minutes are personal information. That gap does not explain the sample-cover times. Level 1 is the clearest small case, worked below: both documents say 40 items, and the section minutes do not match.
The sharpest splits: Level 2 gains 书写, Levels 4 and 6 shrink, and 七至九级 is 98 items on the CTI page and 91 on the sample cover.
Level 1: listening, reading, and two blocks of admin time
The Level 1 cover says the paper has two parts and 40 items. Listening is 20 items and about 12 minutes. Reading is 20 items and 20 minutes. After listening, there are 3 minutes to fill the answer sheet. The whole exam is about 40 minutes, and that total includes 5 minutes for the candidate to fill in personal information.
Taken as printed, about 12 + 20 + 3 + 5 = 40. The cover says "about", so this is not a stopwatch total. Item totals of 40 here and 60 at Level 2 match the CTI pages. Level 2 adds 书写. Level 1 stays listening and reading, and those minutes do not match. The CTI table total is about 35 minutes. Its prose total of about 40 minutes is that table plus the 5 minutes of personal information it names. Local start time on that page is 13:30. The sample cover does not print a start time.
There is no writing section. The official sample set has no Level 1 speaking paper. The listening file in the ZIP is the audio for this written paper, not a speaking exam.
The Level 1 word list is the 2025 syllabus list for this level, with pinyin and English glosses. It is not the exam, and it is not a copy of the sample paper.
Level 1 minutes on the CTI table and the sample cover.
Level 2: the paper that adds 书写
The Level 2 cover says three parts and 60 items. Listening is 25 items and about 17 minutes. Reading is 25 items and 25 minutes. 书写 is 10 items and 10 minutes. After listening, 3 minutes to fill the answer sheet. The whole exam is about 60 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. The same addition as Level 1, using the cover's own figures, is about 17 + 25 + 10 + 3 + 5 = 60.
The CTI English Level 2 page still says 60 questions in listening and reading, about 55 minutes including 5, and its table total is about 50 minutes. It has no writing section. Listening on that table is 35 items and about 25 minutes, not the sample's 25 items and about 17. Reading is 25 items and 22 minutes on the CTI table, and 25 items and 25 minutes on the sample. The item total happens to match. The paper does not.
On the sample, the section is named 书写, not 写作 (xiězuò). The paper numbers the handwriting items 51 to 60. The Level 2 answer key in the same ZIP numbers the handwriting answers 54 to 63. Use the paper for the item range. Do not "correct" the key, and do not treat the key's numbers as a second official range. Task types and character minimums for every level are in HSK 3.0 Writing Tasks by Level.
The Level 2 word list is the matching syllabus list. A later level guide can walk the item types. This page keeps the cover.
Covers sequence 听力, the answer sheet, 阅读, then 书写 or 写作 from Level 2. Personal information is 5 minutes inside the total, and the cover does not place it.
Levels 3 to 6: shorter written papers, plus a speaking total
From Level 3 up, the sample cover and the CTI English page disagree on the item total, not only on the minutes.
Level 3 on the sample is 70 items and about 83 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. Listening is 30 items and about 23 minutes. Reading is 30 items and 30 minutes. 书写 is 10 items and 20 minutes. The answer sheet after listening is 5 minutes. About 23 + 30 + 20 + 5 + 5 = 83. The CTI Level 3 page says 80 items and about 90 minutes including 5, with a table total of about 85: listening 40 items and about 35 minutes, reading 30 items and 30 minutes, writing 10 items and 15 minutes, answer sheet 5 minutes. The section is 书写 on the sample and "writing" on the CTI page. Reading matches (30 items, 30 minutes), and so does the 5-minute answer sheet. Writing items match at 10; the minutes do not (20 on the sample, 15 on the CTI table). Listening does not match.
Level 4 on the sample is 70 items and about 85 minutes, including 5. Listening is 32 items and about 20 minutes. Reading is 32 items and 30 minutes. 写作 is 6 items and 25 minutes. The answer sheet is 5 minutes. About 20 + 30 + 25 + 5 + 5 = 85. The section name changes here, from 书写 to 写作. Inside the 25 minutes, the paper asks for five picture sentences (看图，用词造句, items 65 to 69) and one short text of at least 80 Chinese characters (字). The 25 minutes are not split per item. The CTI Level 4 page says 100 items and about 105 minutes including 5, table about 100: listening 45 / about 30, reading 40 / 40, writing 15 / 25.
Level 5 on the sample is 72 items and about 110 minutes, including 5. Listening is 35 items and about 25 minutes. Reading is 35 items and 35 minutes. 写作 is 2 items and 40 minutes. The answer sheet is 5 minutes. About 25 + 35 + 40 + 5 + 5 = 110. Item 71 is 看图写作, at least 100 characters. Item 72 is 话题作文, at least 200 characters. The 40 minutes are not split. The CTI Level 5 page says 100 items and about 125 minutes including 5, table about 120: listening 45 / about 30, reading 45 / 45, writing 10 / 40.
Level 6 on the sample is 82 items and about 125 minutes, including 5. Listening is 40 items and about 30 minutes. Reading is 40 items and 40 minutes. 写作 is 2 items and 45 minutes. The answer sheet is 5 minutes. About 30 + 40 + 45 + 5 + 5 = 125. Item 81 is 应用文, at least 150 characters. Item 82 is 话题作文, at least 300 characters. The 45 minutes are not split. The CTI Level 6 page says 101 items and about 140 minutes including 5, table about 135: listening 50 / about 35, reading 50 / 50, writing 1 item and 45 minutes. Writing time matches the sample's 45 minutes. The item count does not: one writing item on the CTI page, two on the sample.
Sample writing minima: 80, 100, 200, 150, and 300 characters.
The word lists for these papers are Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, and Level 6.
Speaking totals, and nothing finer
Levels 1 and 2 have no speaking file in the official sample set. Levels 3 to 6 each have a separate speaking paper. The cover totals, and only the totals, are:
| Level | Speaking items | Speaking total on the cover |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 15 | about 15 minutes |
| 4 | 5 | about 20 minutes |
| 5 | 5 | about 23 minutes |
| 6 | 5 | about 23 minutes |
Each of those totals includes preparation time. The per-item preparation splits are not copied here. A later article on the HSK 3.0 speaking papers will go through them. The older speaking exam is a different test: the HSK Speaking Test (HSKK), with elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, recorded as audio. The HSKK overview fetched today does not state item counts or minutes.
For the second global trial on 20 September 2026, CTI's trial notice (in Chinese) lists the same written durations as the sample covers: about 40, 60, 83, 85, 110, and 125 minutes, and speaking about 15, 20, 23, and 23 minutes. Levels 7-9 are not in that table. The note says those clock times are local time, that a paper exam includes 5 minutes for personal information and 3 to 5 minutes to fill the answer sheet, and that the speaking exam includes preparation time. The same notice says HSK 3-6 had to be registered together with the speaking test of the same level. That sentence is about the 20 September 2026 trial. The 13 December 2026 launch notice does not say it. Do not copy the trial rule onto the launch sitting. The dates post is where registration for 13 December 2026 is kept.
Separate speaking papers start at Level 3. 七至九级 keeps 口语 inside the five-part booklet.
Levels 7-9: one exam, and two official counts
The sample cover says HSK（七—九级）has five parts and 91 items. Listening is 40 items and about 33 minutes. Reading is 40 items and 50 minutes. 写作 is 2 items and 55 minutes. 翻译 (fānyì) is 4 items and about 42 minutes. 口语 (kǒuyǔ) is 5 items and about 20 minutes. The whole exam is about 200 minutes. Using the cover's own figures, about 33 + 50 + 55 + 42 + 20 = 200. The cover does not mention a personal-information block or an answer-sheet block.
The CTI Levels 7-9 page says 98 questions and about 210 minutes, also in five sections. Listening is 40 items and about 30 minutes, in three sections the page splits into objective and subjective items (10, then 9 plus 3, then 15 plus 3). The sample's listening parts are not printed as that objective/subjective split. Reading is 47 items and 60 minutes on the page (28 objective, 5 objective, 14 subjective) and 40 items and 50 minutes on the sample. Writing is 2 items and 55 minutes on both. Translation is 4 items on both, 41 minutes on the page and about 42 minutes on the cover. Speaking is 5 items on both, about 24 minutes on the page and about 20 minutes on the cover. The page's own addition is 67 objective items and 31 subjective items, which is 98, and about 210 minutes. Do not pick one document and drop the other.
Inside the sample, two further pairs of figures are both printed, and they are not reconciled on the paper.
Writing: item 81 is a chart description of at least 200 characters, limited to 15 minutes. Item 82 is a topic essay of at least 600 characters, limited to 40 minutes. 15 + 40 = 55, which matches the cover's 55 minutes. The character minima are only on the sample. The CTI page describes chart analysis and a topic, and it does not print 200 or 600.
Translation: the cover says the section is about 42 minutes. The item lines say items 83 and 84, written into Chinese, are limited to 35 minutes, and items 85 and 86, interpreting, are each marked 2 minutes. 35 + 2 + 2 = 39. The cover's about 42 and the item lines' 39 are both on the paper. The sheet of facts for this cluster does not explain the 3 minutes, and neither does the paper.
Speaking inside the same booklet: the cover says 5 items and about 20 minutes. The printed response lines are 3 minutes, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes, which add to 9 minutes. No separate preparation times are printed for these five items. The cover's about 20 minutes and the 9 minutes of labeled response time are both recorded. They are not the same claim. The CTI page's about 24 minutes is a third figure, from the other document. A later speaking article can take the Level 3 to 6 preparation times. It should not collapse these three 7-9 figures into one.
The same CTI page says the report has five scores (listening, reading, writing, translation, speaking) plus a level. Level setting cites the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (GF 0025-2021) and names four labels: Below HSK (Level 7), HSK (Level 7), HSK (Level 8), and HSK (Level 9), from item-response-theory ability and from item content and difficulty. Each skill's report score on that page runs from 0 to 100. The page does not print numeric cuts between those four labels. The sample paper does not state this scale. Whether the December 2026 sitting uses it is not said on the sample or on the launch notice. The fetched 7-9 page also does not state a two-year validity.
The CTI page names four labels and no numeric cut.
One more pair, again without choosing: the 7-9 page says the test is currently available only as an internet-based test. The official sample ZIP includes a paper PDF for Levels 7-9. Both statements are on the record. The page describes the audience as advanced second-language learners: international students on master's and doctoral courses in China, Chinese majors in other countries, and professionals in academic, economic, cultural, and technological exchange conducted in Chinese. The Levels 7-9 word list is one syllabus list, not three.
Writing is the part that matches. Listening minutes, reading size, translation minutes, and speaking minutes do not.
What the papers do not say
The sample covers state sections, item counts, and minutes. They do not state a pass mark, a full score, or a score scale, for Levels 1 to 6 or for Levels 7-9. The answer keys read with them do not add a rubric. The launch notice does not add one either.
The pass marks that do exist belong to the papers the CTI English pages describe. /HSK/1 and /HSK/2 say a full score is 200 points and a cumulative score of 120 or above is a passing mark, and that scores are valid for two years. /HSK/3 and /HSK/4 say a full score is 300 points and 180 or above is a passing mark, again with two-year validity for the paper that page describes. /HSK/5 and /HSK/6 state a full score of 300 and do not state a passing mark. They do state two-year validity for those papers. None of those sentences is printed on a 3.0 sample cover. Do not transfer 120, 180, or 200, or the two-year line, onto the sample.
The trial notice says score reports for the 20 September 2026 trial are valid for two years. Computer and internet scores for that trial are published 15 days after the exam, and paper scores 30 days after. If a public holiday falls in between, those dates move back one week. The trial does not provide a diagnostic analysis report. Those sentences are about that trial. The launch notice has no validity sentence and no score-timing sentence.
No official HSK 3.0 mapping to the Common European Framework was in the pages read for this post. No page read today says how many months a level takes. A fee in a currency was not in the trial notice. The notice only equates some HSK 3.0 combinations to an older written paper plus an HSKK level, and it tells Levels 1 and 2 candidates to ask the local center. HSKK item counts were not on the HSKK overview.
A cover can tell you how long the paper is. It cannot tell you the pass mark.
A recognition check is not this paper
The papers above test listening at the recording's pace, reading against a clock, and, from Level 2, handwriting or composition. From Level 3 they also test speaking, either as a separate paper or, at Levels 7-9, as the fifth part of the same exam. Chinese Copilot's free HSK 3.0 level test does none of that. It is an unofficial recognition estimate: 119 words, drawn fresh each run from the 2025 HSK exam syllabus, 17 from each of Levels 1 to 6 and 17 from Levels 7-9. You mark whether you recognize each word. There is no account. The result is a level from 1 to 6, or the combined 7-9 range, plus a stage: Elementary (初等), Intermediate (中等), or Advanced (高等). It is not a score, not a pass, and not a prediction of how the timed paper would go.
The methodology page says how that estimate is made, including the word source and the thresholds. Read it before treating the result as a level you would book. If you want the older six-level timing as a planning figure for a sitting that still uses those CTI pages, use the estimate guide linked above, and confirm the version on your own registration.
After a recognition result, open the syllabus lists, not an exam PDF: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, Level 6, and Levels 7-9. How those counts compare with older lists is kept in Chinese Vocabulary Size vs HSK Level. The 2025 syllabus PDF is the CLEC document those lists are drawn from. Its cover implementation date is not the exam date. The exam date on the launch notice is 13 December 2026.
More on the new exam, level by level, is in our HSK 3.0 guide.
Sources
- HSK overview: About the New HSK, CTI Co., Ltd., chinesetest.cn. Three stages and nine levels, five skills, syllabus components, and the link to the sample ZIP (HSK3.0考试样题.zip). No item counts and no 13 December 2026 date on this page.
- HSK (Level 1), Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, Level 6, and Levels 7-9, chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. Structure tables, prose totals, and the score paragraphs for the papers those pages describe. The 7-9 page also states 98 items, about 210 minutes, the 0-100 report scores, GF 0025-2021 level labels, and internet-based availability.
- HSK 3.0 will be officially launched worldwide on December 13, 2026, CTI notice. Test date and registration windows. No paper structure, pass mark, or score validity.
- HSK 3.0 second global trial notice (in Chinese), chinesetest.cn. 20 September 2026 durations that match the sample-cover totals, and the trial-only rule that HSK 3-6 register with speaking.
- HSK Speaking Test (HSKK), chinesetest.cn. Three levels, audio recording. No item counts or minutes on the page fetched today.
- Syllabus for the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), Center for Language Education and Cooperation, published November 2025 (PDF, in Chinese). Source of the on-site word lists. Not the source of the item counts in this post.
- Official sample covers inside the ZIP linked from the HSK overview. Written files in that ZIP are
HSK/HSK（一级）样卷.pdfthroughHSK/HSK（六级）样卷.pdfandHSK/HSK（七—九级）样卷.pdf. Speaking files areHSK口语/HSK（三级）口语样卷.pdfand the same pattern for Levels 4, 5, and 6. Covers read 20 October 2026. Section counts, minutes, character minima, the Level 2 answer-key numbering, and the 7-9 translation and speaking time pairs. - Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, English Wikipedia. Secondary overview of the exam's name. Not a source for item counts.
- Pinyin, English Wikipedia. Secondary overview of the romanization used on the word lists. Not a source for item counts.
- Chinese characters, English Wikipedia. Secondary overview of 字, used where the sample states a character minimum. Not a source for those minima.
- Third-party pages compared, not used as the source of official numbers: Second Language, HSK 3.0 Exam Guide, HSKMock, HSK Test Format by Level, Learn Chinese Online, HSK 3.0 syllabus and exams, Study in China, latest HSK 3.0 exam structure, Fluentide, HSK 3.0.