HSK 3.0 Level 3: First Paper With Speaking

On the documents that specify it, Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) 3.0 Level 3 is the first sample with a separate speaking paper. The 2025 HSK exam syllabus adds 500 new words and ends that slice at cumulative number 1,000. The written sample is 70 items and about 83 minutes. The speaking sample is 15 items and about 15 minutes, and the cover counts 6 of those minutes as preparation. The live English Level 3 page still describes an 80-item paper of about 90 minutes, listening, reading, and writing, with no speaking section. The rest of this page says which document prints each figure.

The English Wikipedia article, read on 20 October 2026, gives the current name as Zhongwen Shuiping Kaoshi and records Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi as the older name. The competency file names the exam 中文水平考试/HSK and calls it a national standardized test. The Chinese line is 中文水平考试/HSK 是一项国家级标准化考试，重点考查中文作为第二语言的考生在生活、学习和工作中运用中文进行交际的能力。 In plain words, the exam checks communicative ability in Chinese as a second language, in life, study, and work.

The competency file and the syllabus were compiled by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC). CTI Co., Ltd. publishes the HSK overview that links those downloads. The overview calls the revision a "Three Stages, Nine Levels" framework, covering elementary, intermediate, and advanced proficiency, and it does not assign the digits 1-3, 4-6, or 7-9 to those stages. It does not print this level's word count, item count, or minutes.

One numbered list. The total at each rung is the last sequence number of that slice. Level 3 is entries 501 to 1,000.

What still ranks for this level

On 20 October 2026 the pages compared for "new hsk 3 requirements" were Pass HSK's Level 3 requirements page, Literate Languages' HSK 3.0 levels guide, Du Chinese's HSK 3.0 overview, Shangke's HSK 3.0 page, and Pass HSK's 2026 syllabus guide. None of them sets the Level 3 written sample beside the Level 3 speaking sample and the syllabus slice that ends at number 1,000.

Those five pages are third party. Pass HSK's requirements page prints 1,000 cumulative words, about 500 new, 284 recognition characters, and 150 handwriting characters, and also 655, 250, 96 grammar points, and 19 tasks. The syllabus pages read here print the 284 and the 150. They do not print 655, 250, a grammar-point total, or a task total, and that page does not walk either sample. Literate Languages says speaking starts at level 3 and prints a 2021-standard column beside an approximate 2025 word column, with no item counts or minutes. Du Chinese says Levels 3 to 6 include a level-specific speaking test and calls that test mandatory. The 13 December 2026 launch notice does not say that. Shangke prints 70 items and about 83 minutes beside 80 items and about 90 minutes, and it says the oral part is required, without the 8, 5, and 2 or the 6 minutes of preparation. Pass HSK's syllabus guide prints 1,000 words, 284 characters, and 150 handwriting characters, plus grammar and topic counts this post does not take from the syllabus. It does not describe the papers.

The competency line

The same one-page file states Level 3 in one sentence: HSK（三级）能用中文就生活、学习、工作场景进行有效交流。 A close English gloss, not an official translation, is: can communicate effectively in everyday life, study, and work. Level 2's line on that page says 基本交流, basic communication. Level 3's line says 有效交流, effective communication. The file does not attach a score or a study-time estimate to either sentence.

The HSK overview says the new test is guided by the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education. This site refers to that 2021 standard as GF 0025-2021. The 2009 introduction of the six-level written test lists 600 words for its Level 3. That 2021 standard is a different document. The three-column comparison is in Chinese Vocabulary Size vs HSK Level.

500 new words, cumulative number 1,000

The vocabulary outline is one numbered list from 1 to 11,000. Level 3 is the slice tagged 3, numbers 501 through 1,000: 500 new entries, and the cumulative figure is that last number. Number 500, the end of the previous slice, is 左边 (zuǒbian). Number 501 is 阿姨, with the pinyin column printing "āyí". Pinyin is the official romanization system used in China, Singapore, and the United Nations. The syllabus marks 阿姨 as 名, a noun. The slice ends at 1,000, 作业, pinyin "zuòyè", also marked 名. Number 1,001, 啊 (ā), starts the next slice. The Level 3 word list prints the same readings, āyí and zuòyè, with a short English gloss.

Some rows inside 501-1,000 carry an extra tag in parentheses and still count in this slice. Number 654, 关系, is tagged 3（4）. Number 895, 像, is tagged 3（4）（7-9）. This page does not count those rows again, and it does not move them to a later level.

501 to 1,000 is one slice of 500 new entries. A parenthetical tag does not move the row.

The syllabus cover prints 2025-11 发布 and 2026-07 实施, from 中外语言交流合作中心. The 2026-07 line is an implementation date, not the exam date. The launch notice sets the worldwide launch on 13 December 2026. The date and the Beijing-time registration windows are in Should You Take HSK 2.0 or HSK 3.0 in 2026?.

284 characters to recognize, 150 to handwrite

Character lists are separate from the word list, and each restarts at 1. A Chinese character (字, zì) is one written sign. A word (词, cí) can be one character or several. Chinese Characters vs Words is the page for that distinction. The 1,000 vocabulary entries are not 1,000 characters.

The Level 3 recognition list, 认读字 (rèndúzì), has 284 items, from 1. 阿 to 284. 嘴. The handwriting list, 书写字 (shūxiězì), has 150 items, from 1. 安 to 150. 总. It is a Level 3 list. Levels 1 and 2 share one handwriting list of 100, and Level 3 does not add to that shared list. It starts again at 1.

Each list restarts at 1. The syllabus prints 284 and 150. It does not print 655 or 250.

Adding the Level 1 recognition list, 246 characters, and the Level 2 list, 125, to these 284 gives 655. Adding the shared Levels 1-2 handwriting list of 100 to these 150 gives 250. The syllabus does not print either sum. A page that prints 655 or 250 as if the syllabus stated them is adding the lists.

The written sample: 70 items, about 83 minutes

Every level's cover, set beside the English pages that are still live, is in HSK 3.0 Exam Format. This section repeats only Level 3.

The written sample is HSK/HSK（三级）样卷.pdf in the official sample set linked from the HSK overview. CLEC compiled it. The cover says three parts and 70 items. Listening, 听力 (tīnglì), is 30 items and about 23 minutes. Reading, 阅读 (yuèdú), is 30 items and 30 minutes. The third section is 书写 (shūxiě), 10 items and 20 minutes. The Level 2 sample is the first paper in this set with a 书写 section, 10 items and 10 minutes, and it has no speaking file. That paper is in HSK 3.0 Level 2: The Paper That Adds Writing. The Level 4 sample names its third section 写作 (xiězuò), not 书写. That paper is in HSK 3.0 Level 4: Words, Paper, and Speaking. After listening there are 5 minutes to fill the answer sheet. The whole exam is about 83 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. The cover places the answer sheet after listening and does not place the personal-information minutes. Adding the printed figures gives about 23 + 30 + 20 + 5 + 5 = 83. The cover says 约, "about", on the listening block and on the total, so this is addition, not a timed recording. This page does not time the audio file.

About 23 + 30 + 20 + 5 + 5 = 83. Personal information is inside that total, and the cover does not place those 5 minutes.

The English Level 3 page, fetched on 20 October 2026, still describes another paper. It does not call that paper HSK 2.0. This site uses HSK 2.0 for the six-level written test that page is still describing. Prose and table on that page disagree with each other, and both disagree with the sample.

Document	Level 3 as that document prints it
CTI English page, prose	80 items. About 90 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening, reading, and writing. No speaking section.
CTI English page, table	80 items. About 85 minutes. Listening 40 / about 35, in four sections of 10. Answer sheet 5. Reading 30 / 30, in three sections of 10. Writing 10 / 15, in two sections of 5. Total row 80 / about 85. Local start 13:30.
Level 3 sample cover	70 items. About 83 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening 30 / about 23. Answer sheet 5 after listening. Reading 30 / 30. Handwriting 10 / 20.

The 5 minutes between that page's prose and its table are the personal-information minutes the prose names. They do not explain the sample: 70 items against 80, listening 30 and about 23 against 40 and about 35, and 书写 at 20 minutes against a writing row of 15. Nothing read for this page says the 13 December 2026 sitting will use the sample cover or the English page. The score paragraph on the English page belongs to the paper that page describes: listening, reading, writing, and total, a full score of 300, and 180 or above described as a passing mark, valid for two years from the exam day. The sample cover and the launch notice do not print 180, 300, or a validity period. No pass mark for the 3.0 sample was in the files read for this page.

The sample cover and the launch notice do not print 180, 300, or a two-year validity.

Four task shapes on the 70-item sample

Listening is three 部分, and 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 30. Items 1-5 are six pictures, A through F. The example is a short phone call, 请问张经理在吗, and it marks D. Items 6-10 are a second group of pictures, A through E. Items 11-20 are a short dialogue, a question, and three written choices. The example asks where the chairs are going, and the marked choice is B 办公室. Items 21-30 are a short talk and three written choices. The example is about a new colleague, and the marked choice is A 很聪明. The paper does not say the recording is played twice.

Reading is three 部分, and 10 + 10 + 10 = 30. A divider says 下面是阅读部分 and 请在阅读考试开始后作答. Items 31-35 match a sentence to one of six replies. The example 你知道怎么去国家图书馆吗 marks E, the reply about a bus and then the subway. Items 36-40 are a second group of five replies, A through E. Items 41-45 fill a blank from six words: 地方, 迟到, 封, 学期, 鞋, and 终于. The example 中间那双 is marked E, 鞋. Items 46-50 do the same job with six other words in short dialogues. Items 51-60 are a short text, a starred question, and three choices. Items 57-58 share one text, and items 59-60 share another.

Listening is 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 30. Reading is 10 + 10 + 10 = 30. The 20 handwriting minutes stay one block.

Handwriting is items 61-70, in two 部分. The cover gives all 10 of them 20 minutes. A divider says 下面是书写部分 and 请在书写考试开始后作答. The paper does not split those 20 minutes.

Items 61-65 leave one character blank, with that character's pinyin above it. The example is 咱们一会儿（打）车回家吧, with dǎ over 打. The answer key's first writing part gives five characters: 61 方, 62 该, 63 毛, 64 成, 65 法. Each of those five is on the Level 3 handwriting list and on the Level 3 recognition list. 方 is handwriting 39 and recognition 57. 该 is 43 and 63. 毛 is 83 and 152. 成 is 19 and 26. 法 is 38 and 56. The sentences they complete use words from this slice: 北方 is number 518, 该1 is 635, 毛 is 768 and tagged 3（5）, 成绩 is 559, and 办法 is 511. The example character 打 is not on either Level 3 list.

Items 66-70 give one word and ask for a sentence. The example is 开心, and the paper shows 他开心得跳起来了. The five words are 羽毛球, 饱, 爬, 结婚, and 地图, numbers 950, 515, 789, 709, and 592, all inside 501-1,000. The answer key labels this part 参考答案, a reference answer, so those sentences are not the only wording the paper prints as acceptable. This page does not copy them. The same five words are not five handwriting characters. 饱 is handwriting 6 and recognition 9. 爬 is recognition 159 and is not on the handwriting list. In 结婚, 结 is handwriting 66 and recognition 112, and 婚 is recognition 88 and is not on the handwriting list. In 地图, 图 is handwriting 113 and recognition 215, and 地 is on neither Level 3 list. In 羽毛球, 羽 is recognition 260 and is not a handwriting character, 毛 is on both lists, and 球 is on neither Level 3 list. The task prints the word. It does not say that every character in the word is one of the 150.

The answer key, HSK/HSK（三级）样卷答案.pdf, states no full score and no pass mark.

The speaking sample: 15 items, about 15 minutes

Level 3 is the first level in the official sample set with a speaking file. Levels 1 and 2 have none. Levels 4, 5, and 6 each have their own file, and the part-by-part comparison is in HSK 3.0 Speaking Test. This section is only the Level 3 paper.

The file is HSK口语/HSK（三级）口语样卷.pdf. Three parts, 15 items. Listen and repeat, 听后重复 (tīng hòu chóngfù), is 8 items, marked 每题 10 秒. Picture talk, 看图说话 (kàn tú shuō huà), is 5 items, marked 每题 15 秒. Answering questions, 回答问题 (huídá wèntí), is 2 items. Item 14 is 请介绍一下你的一位家人. Item 15 is 你喜欢做什么样的工作？为什么？ Each of those two lines says 准备时间 3 分钟 and 回答时间 1.5 分钟. The paper does not call the 10-second and 15-second lines preparation or answer time, and it prints no separate preparation line for items 1-13. The two 3-minute preparations add to the 6 minutes named on the cover. The cover says the whole exam is about 15 minutes, including that preparation. Adding the printed lines, and setting them beside the other speaking papers, is the speaking post's job.

The two 3-minute preparations are the 6 minutes on the cover. Items 1-13 have no separate preparation line.

No speaking answer key for Level 3 was in the set. The paper states no rubric and no pass mark.

The September trial is not the December sitting

The notice at chinesetest.cn/notice, titled HSK3.0第二轮全球试行考试通知, is the second global trial on 20 September 2026. For this trial only, it says HSK 3-6 must be registered together with the speaking test of the same level. The Chinese line is 重要提示：HSK3-6级需与对应级别口语同时报名。 On that notice, Level 3's written sitting is 14:00 local time, about 83 minutes, and the speaking sitting is 16:20, about 15 minutes. A note says the times are local, that a paper exam includes 5 minutes for personal information and 3 to 5 minutes for the answer sheet, and that speaking includes preparation. The sample cover says 5 minutes for the answer sheet, not 3 to 5. Both figures are printed. They are not the same sentence.

The trial fee table equates HSK（三级） plus HSK（三级）口语 with HSK（三级） plus the elementary HSK Speaking Test (HSKK). The HSKK overview says that test has three levels, elementary, intermediate, and advanced, and that it is an audio recording. The page fetched on 20 October 2026 states no item counts and no minutes. The fee line has no currency amount. It does not describe the 15 items.

The launch notice does not copy the pairing rule, the 14:00 and 16:20 starts, a pass mark, or a paper structure onto 13 December 2026. It says further test information will be released on the Chinese Test Service website.

How to check recognition

The list, the recognition test, and the two sample papers answer different questions.

The Level 3 word list is the 500 new entries, numbers 501 to 1,000. Chinese Copilot's free HSK 3.0 level test is a recognition estimate: 119 words drawn fresh each run, 17 from each of Levels 1 to 6 and 17 from the combined Levels 7-9 list. You mark whether you recognize the word. There is no account. Answers stay in the browser. It typically takes 5-10 minutes. The result is an approximate level from 1 to 6, or the combined HSK 7-9 range, plus a stage: Elementary (初等), Intermediate (中等), or Advanced (高等). That stage is the label this test returns, not a digit map from the overview. The test does not measure listening, speaking, timed reading, or handwriting, and it is not an official exam, a score, or a pass. It does not include the 10 handwriting items or the 15 speaking items. The word source and the thresholds are on the methodology page. Nothing read for this page says how many months the level takes.

The list is the 500 entries. The test is a recognition estimate. The samples are the 70-item written paper and the 15-item speaking paper.

For single words, the Chinese word dictionary has entries with pinyin, senses and example sentences. Level 3 words to start with: 一定, 一直 and 不同.

More on the new exam, level by level, is in our HSK 3.0 guide.

Sources

• Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, English Wikipedia, read 20 October 2026. Secondary overview. The lead gives Zhongwen Shuiping Kaoshi as the current name and Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi as the older name. Not a source for word counts, item counts, or minutes.
• HSK overview: About the New HSK, CTI Co., Ltd., chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. Three stages and nine levels without a digit map, five syllabus components, and the links to the syllabus, the competency file, and the sample set. No Level 3 item count on this page.
• HSK 3.0 competency descriptions, Center for Language Education and Cooperation, one-page PDF, fetched 20 October 2026. The national-test sentence and the Level 3 competency line. English glosses in this post are not a second official text.
• Pinyin, English Wikipedia, read 20 October 2026. Secondary overview. Pinyin is the official romanization system used in China, Singapore, and the United Nations.
• Syllabus for the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), Center for Language Education and Cooperation, cover 2025-11 发布, 2026-07 实施, fetched 20 October 2026. Vocabulary numbers 501-1,000, the Level 3 recognition list of 284, and the Level 3 handwriting list of 150. No grammar-point total and no task total.
• Chinese characters, English Wikipedia, read 20 October 2026. Secondary overview of the script beside the character lists.
• HSK (Level 3), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. The 80-item prose, the table of about 85 minutes, the 13:30 local start, and the 180/300 and two-year lines for the paper that page describes.
• Introduction to the New HSK (2009), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. The six-level written test's vocabulary cell of 600 words for its Level 3. Not the 2025 list.
• HSK 3.0 will be officially launched worldwide on December 13, 2026, CTI notice, fetched 20 October 2026. Test date. No paper structure, pass mark, pairing rule, start time, or score validity.
• HSK 3.0 second global trial notice, chinesetest.cn, in Chinese, fetched 20 October 2026. The 20 September 2026 trial: Level 3 written at 14:00 for about 83 minutes and speaking at 16:20 for about 15 minutes, the pairing rule for levels 3-6, the fee equivalence to the elementary HSK Speaking Test, and the 3-to-5-minute answer-sheet note.
• HSK Speaking Test (HSKK), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. Three levels and an audio recording. No item counts or minutes.
• Level 3 files inside the official sample set linked from the HSK overview: HSK/HSK（三级）样卷.pdf (70 items, about 83 minutes, and the task headings above), HSK/HSK（三级）样卷答案.pdf (writing characters 方, 该, 毛, 成, 法, and 参考答案 for items 66-70, no score), and HSK口语/HSK（三级）口语样卷.pdf (15 items, about 15 minutes, no rubric). Read 20 October 2026. Not rehosted here.
• Third-party pages compared on 20 October 2026, and not used as the source of official counts: Pass HSK, HSK 3 requirements, Literate Languages, HSK 3.0 levels, Du Chinese, what you need to know about HSK 3.0, Shangke, HSK 3.0, Pass HSK, 2026 syllabus guide.