HSK 3.0 Level 5: Paper and Word List

On the 2025 syllabus and the Level 5 sample, Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) 3.0 Level 5 is a slice of a word list and a paper you can count. The syllabus adds 1,600 new words and ends that slice at number 3,600. The written sample is 72 items and about 110 minutes, and two of those items are compositions of at least 100 and 200 characters. A separate speaking sample has 5 items and about 23 minutes. The live English page for this digit still describes a 100-item paper. This page names the document for each figure, then walks the 72-item sample by item range.

English Wikipedia, fetched on 20 October 2026, titles the exam the Zhongwen Shuiping Kaoshi and treats Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi as the older name. It calls the test the Chinese Proficiency Test, a standardized test of Standard Chinese for non-native speakers. The one-page competency file published with the syllabus still prints 中文水平考试/HSK, and it calls that exam 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 counts below come from the syllabus and the sample files, not from Wikipedia.

The syllabus cover names the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) and says 发布. The competency file names no compiler. The HSK overview that links those downloads says the test is organized by CTI Co., Ltd. The overview calls the revision a move from the current six-level system to a "Three Stages, Nine Levels" framework, covering elementary, intermediate, and advanced proficiency. It does not assign the digits 1-3, 4-6, or 7-9 to those stages, so this page does not place Level 5 inside a stage by number. It says the syllabus covers tasks, topics, vocabulary, grammar, and Chinese characters. 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 5 is entries 2,001 to 3,600.

What still ranks for this level

On 20 October 2026, the pages compared for "new hsk 5" were the English HSK (Level 5) page, HSKMock's Level 5 guide, LingoAce's HSK 5 guide, HSKLord's New HSK 5 guide, Chill Chinese's Level 5 list, and That's Mandarin's vocabulary update. The English page and HSKMock still describe 100 items. HSKMock, LingoAce, and the 2009 introduction still use 2,500 words. HSKLord, Chill Chinese, and That's Mandarin print 3,600 words. None of them walks the 72-item sample, including the two writing tasks, beside that live English page. This page does that walk-through. The entries themselves are on the Level 5 word list.

Those pages are not equal sources. The English page is an official page, and it still describes the older paper. It does not call that paper HSK 2.0. The other five are third party. They are not the source of the official counts below. HSKLord prints a 1,527-character recognition sum and a 550-character handwriting sum, which are the same sums this page gets by adding the syllabus lists, and its guide still does not open the sample. Chill Chinese is a word list. That's Mandarin leads with a cut from its 2021 column to 3,600 words. How the 2009 list, the 2021 standard, and the 2025 syllabus compare is in Chinese Vocabulary Size vs HSK Level.

Who Level 5 is for

The competency file states Level 5 in one sentence: HSK（五级）能用中文就工作、学业场景进行准确、恰当交流。 The English on this page is a gloss, not a second official text: can communicate accurately and appropriately in work and academic situations. The file attaches no score and no study-time estimate to that sentence.

The Level 4 sentence on the same page is everyday life, study, and work, done in a complete and coherent way. The Level 4 guide quotes it. Level 5 drops 生活, everyday life, and names 工作 and 学业, work and academic study. The manner changes from 完整、连贯 to 准确、恰当. That is the step the competency file prints. It is not a hiring standard and not a course requirement.

Two other documents describe an audience, and each one belongs to a different paper. The English Level 5 page, fetched on 20 October 2026, says the level is for intermediate learners and proficient users, with the stress on listening, reading, and writing. That sentence sits above the 100-item exam. The 2009 introduction, titled Introduction on New HSK Test and issued on 2009-10-14, says its Level 5 is for learners who can read Chinese newspapers and magazines, watch Chinese films, and write and deliver a lengthy speech. The same table prints 2,500 in the HSK-Level 5 vocabulary cell. This site calls that six-level test HSK 2.0. The 2009 page does not. Neither sentence translates the competency line. No document read for this page maps HSK 3.0 Level 5 to a CEFR letter.

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. It is a different document from the 2025 syllabus and from the 2009 introduction. Why the same digit can mean a different list in 2009 and 2025 is in HSK 2.0 vs 3.0 Word-List Differences.

The competency file is the 3.0 line for this level. The English page and the 2009 introduction describe other papers.

1,600 new words, number 3,600

The vocabulary outline is one numbered list from 1 to 11,000. Level 5 is the slice tagged 5, numbers 2,001 through 3,600. That is 1,600 new entries, and the cumulative figure is the last number, not a second list. Number 2,001 is 哎 (āi), in pinyin, the official romanization used in China, Singapore, and the United Nations. Number 2,002 is 哎呀 (āiyā). The slice ends at 3,600, 作出 (zuòchū). Number 3,601 is 岸, tagged 6, so it is the first row of the next slice. A few rows inside 2,001-3,600 carry a tag such as 5（6） or 5（7-9）. They keep those sequence numbers. This page does not count the tags as extra words.

The syllabus cover prints 2025-11 发布 and 2026-07 实施, issued by 中外语言交流合作中心. The 2026-07 line is the implementation date on that cover, not the exam date. The launch notice sets the worldwide launch on 13 December 2026. The Beijing-time registration windows for that sitting are in Should You Take HSK 2.0 or HSK 3.0 in 2026?. The 1,600 entries, in syllabus order with pinyin and a short English gloss, are on the Level 5 word list. That page is the list. It is not the sample paper.

That's Mandarin's update says 1,000 of the 3,600 words already appear in HSK 4, with 1,600 new at this level. The syllabus does not say that. Level 4 of this list is 1,000 new words and ends at number 2,000. Level 5 adds 1,600 and ends at 3,600. The number 1,000 is Level 4's new-word count. It is not the 2,000 words the list has reached by the end of Level 4, and the syllabus does not call it an overlap with an older HSK 4. Adding 1,000 and 1,600 gives 2,600, not 3,600. It is a third-party sentence.

431 characters to recognize, 150 to handwrite

The character lists are separate outlines, and each one restarts at 1. A Chinese character (字, zì) is a logograph, one written sign. The vocabulary outline counts words (词). Chinese Characters vs Words is the page for that distinction.

The Level 5 recognition list, 认读字 (rèndúzì), has 431 items, from 1. 哎 to 431. 遵. The handwriting list, 书写字 (shūxiězì), has 150 items, from 1. 版 to 150. 追. Those character lists do not print pinyin. The syllabus does not print a running total for either list. Adding the earlier recognition lists, 246, 125, 284, and 441, to this level's 431 gives 1,527. Adding the shared Levels 1-2 handwriting list of 100, then 150 at Level 3 and 150 at Level 4, to this level's 150 gives 550. There is no separate Level 2 handwriting list. Both 1,527 and 550 are sums of the printed new counts. They are not headings in the syllabus.

431 characters to recognize and 150 to handwrite. The sums 1,527 and 550 are added. The syllabus does not print them.

The written sample: 72 items, about 110 minutes

The full ladder of covers, set next to the English pages that are still live, is in HSK 3.0 Exam Format. This section is only Level 5. The file inventory of the official set is in HSK 3.0 Sample Papers. This page does not rehost the PDF or the audio.

The written sample is HSK/HSK（五级）样卷.pdf in the set linked from the HSK overview. CLEC compiled it. The cover says three parts and 72 items. Listening, 听力 (tīnglì), is 35 items and about 25 minutes. Reading, 阅读 (yuèdú), is 35 items and 35 minutes. Writing, 写作 (xiězuò), is 2 items and 40 minutes. After listening there are 5 minutes to fill the answer sheet. The whole exam is about 110 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. How the Level 5 writing tasks compare with the other levels is in HSK 3.0 Writing Tasks by Level.

The cover places the answer-sheet minutes after listening. It does not place the personal-information minutes. It only says they sit inside the 110. Adding the printed figures gives about 25 + 35 + 40 + 5 + 5 = 110. The cover says 约, "about", so this is those numbers added, not a recording timed with a stopwatch. The listening audio is a separate file in the same set. This page uses the cover's "about 25 minutes" and does not time that file.

The English Level 5 page, fetched on 20 October 2026, still describes another paper. The prose says 100 questions and about 125 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. The table on the same page says 100 questions and about 120 minutes: listening 45 items and about 30 minutes, split 20 and 25, then 5 minutes to copy listening answers onto the answer sheet, reading 45 items and 45 minutes, split 15, 10, and 20, and writing 10 items and 40 minutes, split 8 and 2. The local start time on that page is 13:30. The 5 minutes between the prose and the table are the personal-information minutes the prose names. They do not turn 100 items into 72, and they do not turn about 120 minutes into about 110.

Document	Level 5 as that document prints it
CTI English page, prose	100 items. About 125 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening, reading, and writing.
CTI English page, table	100 items. About 120 minutes. Listening 45 / about 30. Answer sheet 5. Reading 45 / 45. Writing 10 / 40. Local start 13:30.
Level 5 sample cover	72 items. About 110 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening 35 / about 25. Answer sheet 5 after listening. Reading 35 / 35. Writing 2 / 40.

72 items and about 110 minutes on the sample. 100 items on the English page: about 125 in the prose, about 120 in the table.

The same English page says the score report has listening, reading, writing, and a total, that a full score is 300 points, and that the scores are valid for two years from the exam date. It does not print a passing mark. HSKMock's guide, a third-party page, prints 180 as a passing total and describes writing as eight sentence items plus two short texts of about 80 characters. That writing description matches a 10-item section, the table on the English page, not items 71 and 72 of the sample. The 180 line is not on the English page fetched on 20 October 2026, not on the sample cover, and not on the launch notice. This page does not treat 180 as an HSK 3.0 pass mark.

The 72 items, range by range

Listening is two parts, and both headings say the same thing: 请选出正确答案, choose the correct answer. Items 1-19 are the first part, 19 items. Items 20-35 are the second, 16 items. 19 + 16 = 35. The paper does not label the audio as a dialogue or a talk. The choices printed on the page are short phrases. The recording is the separate audio file.

A divider then says the reading section is next, and to begin it when reading starts. Reading is three parts, 35 items and 35 minutes, with no further split of the clock.

Items 36-45 are blanks in three short texts: 36-38, 39-41, and 42-45. Each blank has four choices. 3 + 3 + 4 = 10. The heading is 请选出正确答案. It does not use the name 选词填空.

Items 46-55 are 段落排序 (duànluò páixù), paragraph ordering. Two sets, five answers each. Each set prints five paragraphs labeled A through E and five slots for the order. 5 + 5 = 10. The first set is a notice about choosing courses. The second is a short narrative. The paragraphs stay in the PDF.

Items 56-70 are questions on four passages: 56-58, 59-62, 63-66, and 67-70. 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 15. The heading is again 请选出正确答案. The passages stay in the PDF.

10 + 10 + 15 = 35. Another divider says the writing section is next, and to begin it when writing starts.

Listening is 19 + 16. Reading is 10 + 10 + 15. Writing is two tasks. 35 + 35 + 2 = 72.

Items 71 and 72

Writing is items 71 and 72. The cover gives both of them 40 minutes and does not split the block. What follows is only these two tasks.

Item 71 is 看图写作 (kàn tú xiězuò). The instruction reads: 请根据下面四张图，写一篇不少于 100 字的作文，写出发生在李明和伙伴们身上的故事。 The gloss on this page, not an official translation: from the four pictures, write a composition of at least 100 characters telling what happens to Li Ming and his companions. The pictures are in the PDF. This page does not describe them and does not offer a model composition or a score for one.

Item 72 is 话题作文 (huàtí zuòwén). The stem says an attempt may succeed and may fail, and that never trying means never succeeding. The task reads: 请写一篇不少于 200 字的作文，分享你曾经做过的一次尝试，以及你尝试后的感受。 The gloss: write at least 200 characters about one attempt you made, and about how you felt afterward. That English line is a gloss of the prompt. It is not a model answer.

The answer key, HSK/HSK（五级）样卷答案.pdf, gives letter answers for items 1-70. Items 71 and 72 are marked 略, omitted. The key states no full score, no pass mark, and no rubric. The letters are not copied here.

On the Level 4 sample, writing is six items in 25 minutes: five picture sentences and one short text of at least 80 characters. The Level 4 guide walks that block. Level 5 replaces it with two compositions sharing 40 minutes. The next numbered slice is Level 6, entries 3,601 through 5,400. This page does not walk that paper, and there is no Level 6 guide here. Levels 7-9 are one exam rather than the next booklet in this series. That exam is What Is HSK 7-9?.

At least 100 characters, then at least 200. The 40 minutes stay one block. The key marks both tasks omitted.

The speaking paper, at cover depth

The speaking file is HSK口语/HSK（五级）口语样卷.pdf in the same set. Three parts, 5 items. Listen and retell, 听后复述 (tīng hòu fùshù), is 2 items. Picture talk, 看图说话 (kàn tú shuō huà), is 1 item. Answering questions, 回答问题 (huídá wèntí), is 2 items. The cover says the exam is about 23 minutes, including 10 minutes of preparation. That 10 minutes is inside the total. This page does not copy the per-item preparation split. HSK 3.0 Speaking Test sets those lines next to the other speaking papers.

Item 4 asks 你认为互联网对你的生活产生了哪些影响？ The gloss: what effects do you think the internet has had on your life? Item 5 quotes 活到老，学到老 and asks how you understand the sentence and what you think. Those glosses are not official translations and not model answers. No speaking answer key for this level was in the set read for this page. The paper states no rubric and no pass mark.

The cover counts 10 minutes of preparation inside the about 23. This page does not split that time.

The HSK Speaking Test (HSKK) overview says that test assesses oral Chinese, has three levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced), and is an audio recording. The page fetched on 20 October 2026 states no item counts and no minutes, so none are added here. The second-trial notice equates the fee for HSK（五级） plus HSK（五级）口语 with HSK（五级） plus HSK口语（高级）, the advanced HSK Speaking Test. That line is a fee equivalence. It prints no currency amount, and it does not describe these five items.

A September clock, and a December date

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 Level 5 it lists the written paper at 14:00 local time, about 110 minutes, and speaking at 16:20 local time, about 23 minutes. It says levels 3-6 register together with the matching speaking test. A note says the clock times are local, that a paper exam includes 5 minutes for personal information and 3 to 5 minutes to fill the answer sheet, and that speaking includes preparation. The Level 5 sample prints 5 minutes for the answer sheet, not a range of 3 to 5. Score reports for this trial are valid for two years. The notice also says computer-and-internet scores (机网考) are released 15 days after the exam and paper scores 30 days after, delayed by a week when a public holiday falls in between, and that this trial does not include a diagnostic report. All of that is about 20 September 2026.

The launch notice does not copy those rules onto 13 December 2026. It does not describe sections, items, a pass mark, a local start time, or whether speaking is booked with the written paper. It does not say whether that sitting will follow the 72-item cover or the 100-item English page. The two-year sentence and the 300-point full score on the English page belong to the paper that page describes. The sample cover prints neither. The launch notice prints neither.

The English page's local start is 13:30. The September trial's Level 5 written sitting is 14:00. Those times come from two documents. The sample cover prints neither clock.

The sample cover prints no start time. 13:30 and 14:00 are two other documents.

How to check recognition

The list, the recognition test, and the sample answer different questions. How to Estimate Your HSK Level is the page that sets a recognition check beside a timed paper.

The Level 5 word list is the 1,600 new entries, numbers 2,001 to 3,600. 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 tab. 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 label: Elementary (初等), Intermediate (中等), or Advanced (高等). That stage is the label this test returns. It is not a digit map taken from the syllabus overview. The test does not measure listening, speaking, timed reading, or handwriting. It is not an official exam, and it does not produce a score or a pass. Word sources and thresholds are on the methodology page. The sample is the other check: audio, four pictures, a 100-character story, a 200-character attempt, and five speaking items. Nothing read for this page says how many months the level takes.

The list is the entries. The test is a recognition estimate. The samples are the 72-item paper and the 5-item speaking paper.

For single words, the Chinese word dictionary has entries with pinyin, senses and example sentences; four-character set phrases are in the Chinese idioms dictionary.

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

Sources

• Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, English Wikipedia, fetched 20 October 2026. Secondary overview: the article's lead title is Zhongwen Shuiping Kaoshi, with Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi as the older name, translated as the Chinese Proficiency Test. 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. The test is organized by CTI Co., Ltd. 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 5 item count on this page.
• HSK 3.0 competency descriptions, one-page PDF linked from the HSK overview, read 20 October 2026. The file names no compiler. The national-test sentence, the Level 5 line on work and academic situations, and the Level 4 line it follows. Glosses in this post are not a second official text.
• Pinyin, English Wikipedia, fetched 20 October 2026. Secondary overview of the romanization beside syllabus entries: the official 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, read 20 October 2026. Vocabulary numbers 2,001-3,600 (哎 to 作出), the Level 5 recognition list of 431, and the Level 5 handwriting list of 150.
• Chinese characters, English Wikipedia, fetched 20 October 2026. Secondary overview of 字 as logographs, beside the character lists and the character minimums on items 71 and 72.
• HSK (Level 5), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. The 100-item prose, the table of about 120 minutes, the 13:30 local start, and the 300-point and two-year lines for the paper that page describes. That page does not state a passing mark.
• Introduction on New HSK Test, chinesetest.cn, issued 2009-10-14, fetched 20 October 2026. The six-level written test's vocabulary cell of 2,500 words for its Level 5, and that page's audience sentence. Not the 2025 list, and not a mapping for HSK 3.0.
• HSK 3.0 will be officially launched worldwide on December 13, 2026, CTI notice, fetched 20 October 2026. Test date and Beijing-time registration windows. No paper structure, pass mark, pairing rule, local 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 5 written at 14:00 and speaking at 16:20 local time, the pairing rule for levels 3-6, the fee equivalence to HSK口语（高级） with no amount, and two-year validity for that trial's score reports.
• HSK Speaking Test (HSKK), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. Three levels and an audio recording. No item counts or minutes.
• Level 5 files inside the official sample set linked from the HSK overview: HSK/HSK（五级）样卷.pdf (72 items, about 110 minutes, and the task headings above), HSK/HSK（五级）样卷答案.pdf (letter answers for 1-70, items 71 and 72 marked 略, no score), and HSK口语/HSK（五级）口语样卷.pdf (5 items, about 23 minutes, including 10 minutes of preparation). Read 20 October 2026. Not rehosted here.
• Third-party pages compared on 20 October 2026, and not used as the source of official counts: HSKMock, HSK Level 5 guide, LingoAce, HSK 5 guide, HSKLord, New HSK 5 guide, Chill Chinese, New HSK 5, That's Mandarin, HSK 5 vocabulary changes.