HSK 3.0 Level 6: The Top Separate Paper

HSK 3.0 Level 6 is the top paper that still has its own booklet. On the 2025 syllabus it adds 1,800 new words and ends that slice at number 5,400. On the written sample it is 82 items and about 125 minutes, and two of those items are compositions of at least 150 and 300 characters. A separate speaking sample has 5 items and about 23 minutes. The live English page for this digit still describes a 101-item paper. After Level 6, the next exam is the combined Levels 7-9 paper, one sitting rather than another numbered booklet. This page names the document for each figure, then walks the 82-item sample by item range.

English Wikipedia, fetched on 20 October 2026, titles Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) the Zhongwen Shuiping Kaoshi and treats Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi as the older name. The short description calls it a test of Standard Chinese proficiency 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 6 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 6 is entries 3,601 to 5,400.

What still ranks for this level

On 20 October 2026, the pages compared for "new hsk 6" were the English HSK (Level 6) page, OpenExamPrep's HSK 6 practice page, HSKLord's HSK Anki deck page, Chill Chinese's Level 6 list, Mandarin Zone's Level 6 guide, and Pass HSK's 2026 requirements page. The English page and OpenExamPrep still describe 101 items. HSKLord's deck page prints "HSK 6 (5,000 words)". Chill Chinese and Mandarin Zone print 5,400 words, with 1,800 new at this level. Mandarin Zone also prints 82 items, about 125 minutes, a listening split of 8, 20, and 12, writing minima of 150 and 300 characters, 413 recognition characters, 150 handwriting characters, and a speaking sample of 5 questions in about 23 minutes. None of those pages walks the sample's reading ranges, including 选词填空 and 选句填空 with one distractor sentence, or quotes the two writing prompts, beside that live 101-item English page. This page does that walk-through. The entries themselves are on the Level 6 word list.

101 items on the live English page. 82 items and the two prompts are the walk-through on this page.

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. Pass HSK prints 1,800 new words and 413 new characters, then adds a CEFR C1 label and a cumulative writing-character figure of 850. The syllabus does not print either of those extra figures. OpenExamPrep prints a passing total of 180 out of 300 for the 101-item paper it describes. How the 2009 list, the 2021 standard, and the 2025 syllabus compare is in Chinese Vocabulary Size vs HSK Level.

Who Level 6 is for

The competency file states Level 6 in one sentence: HSK（六级）能用中文就职场、学业、一般专业场景进行丰富、顺畅交流。 The English on this page is a gloss, not a second official text: can communicate richly and smoothly in the workplace, in study, and in general professional situations. The file attaches no score and no study-time estimate to that sentence.

The Level 5 sentence on the same page is work and academic study, done accurately and appropriately. The Level 5 guide quotes it: HSK（五级）能用中文就工作、学业场景进行准确、恰当交流。 Level 6 keeps 学业, study, and changes 工作 to 职场, the workplace. It adds 一般专业, general professional situations. The manner changes from 准确、恰当 to 丰富、顺畅. 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 6 page, fetched on 20 October 2026, says the level is designed for intermediate-level Chinese learners and proficient users who have developed specific listening, reading, and writing skills in Chinese. That sentence sits above the 101-item exam. The 2009 introduction, titled Introduction on New HSK Test and issued on 2009-10-14, says its Level 6 is for learners who can easily understand any information communicated in Chinese and can express themselves smoothly in written or oral form. The same table's vocabulary cell says "Over 5000". This site calls that six-level test HSK 2.0. The 2009 page does not. Neither sentence translates the competency line.

The 2009 table also has a CEF column. Its Level 6 cell is Grade Five, C2. That column belongs to the 2009 introduction. Pass HSK's C1 label belongs to that third-party page. No document read for this page maps HSK 3.0 Level 6 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.

1,800 new words, number 5,400

The vocabulary outline is one numbered list from 1 to 11,000. Level 6 is the slice tagged 6, numbers 3,601 through 5,400. That is 1,800 new entries, and the cumulative figure is the last number, not a second list. On the Level 6 word list, number 3,601 is 岸 (àn) and number 5,400 is 罪 (zuì), in pinyin, the official romanization used in China, Singapore, and the United Nations. The Chinese and the sequence numbers come from the syllabus. The pinyin on that page is the reading stored with those rows. Number 3,600 is 作出, tagged 5, so it is the last row of the previous slice. Number 5,401 is 挨, tagged 7-9, so it is the first row of the combined advanced list. A few rows inside 3,601-5,400 carry the tag 6（7-9）. Three such rows keep their sequence numbers. This page does not name those three words, because the pairing from the printed columns was not confident, and it 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?.

Chill Chinese's list says the older Level 6 had 2,500 words, with 5,000 including the lower levels. The 2009 introduction's Level 6 vocabulary cell says "Over 5000", not a bare 5,000 and not that split. Those are two different sentences. The 2025 list's Level 6 slice is 1,800 new entries ending at 5,400. Chill Chinese also prints a third-party overlap split of the new words. The syllabus does not say that.

413 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 character minimums on the writing tasks below are counts of 字. They are not counts of syllabus words.

The Level 6 recognition list, 认读字 (rèndúzì), has 413 items, from 1. 碍 to 413. 罪. The handwriting list, 书写字 (shūxiězì), has 150 items, from 1. 岸 to 150. 壮. Those character lists do not print pinyin. The character 罪 closes both the word slice and the recognition list. The character 岸 opens both the word slice and the handwriting list. They are still different outlines. The syllabus does not print a running total for either list. Adding the earlier recognition lists, 246, 125, 284, 441, and 431, to this level's 413 gives 1,940. Adding the shared Levels 1-2 handwriting list of 100, then 150 at each of Levels 3, 4, and 5, to this level's 150 gives 700. There is no separate Level 2 handwriting list. Both 1,940 and 700 are sums of the printed new counts. They are not headings in the syllabus. Pass HSK's figure of 850 is a third-party cumulative. This page keeps the added sum, 700.

413 characters to recognize and 150 to handwrite. The sums 1,940 and 700 are added. The syllabus does not print them.

The written sample: 82 items, about 125 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 6. 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（六级）样卷.pdf in the set linked from the HSK overview, an 18-page file. CLEC compiled it (编制). The cover says three parts and 82 items. Listening, 听力 (tīnglì), is 40 items and about 30 minutes. Reading, 阅读 (yuèdú), is 40 items and 40 minutes. Writing, 写作 (xiězuò), is 2 items and 45 minutes. After listening there are 5 minutes to fill the answer sheet. The whole exam is about 125 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. How the Level 6 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 125. Adding the printed figures gives about 30 + 40 + 45 + 5 + 5 = 125. The cover says 约, "about", so the total is those numbers added. The listening audio is a separate file in the same set. This page uses the cover's "about 30 minutes" and does not time that file.

The English Level 6 page, fetched on 20 October 2026, still describes another paper. The prose says 101 questions and about 140 minutes, including 5 minutes for personal information. The table on the same page says 101 questions and about 135 minutes: listening 50 items and about 35 minutes, split 15, 15, and 20, then 5 minutes to copy listening answers onto the answer sheet, reading 50 items and 50 minutes, split 10, 10, 10, and 20, and writing 1 item and 45 minutes. The local start time on that page is 09:00. The 5 minutes between the prose and the table are the personal-information minutes the prose names. The item count on that page stays 101. The sample cover stays at 82 items and about 125 minutes.

Document	Level 6 as that document prints it
CTI English page, prose	101 items. About 140 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening, reading, and writing.
CTI English page, table	101 items. About 135 minutes. Listening 50 / about 35. Answer sheet 5. Reading 50 / 50. Writing 1 / 45. Local start 09:00.
Level 6 sample cover	82 items. About 125 minutes, including 5 for personal information. Listening 40 / about 30. Answer sheet 5 after listening. Reading 40 / 40. Writing 2 / 45.

82 items and about 125 minutes on the sample. 101 items on the English page: about 140 in the prose, about 135 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. OpenExamPrep's practice page, a third-party page, prints 180 as a passing total and describes writing as one summary task. That writing description matches the single writing row on the English page, not items 81 and 82 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. No pass mark for the 3.0 Level 6 sample was in the files read for this page.

The sharpest section conflict is the writing block. Both documents give writing 45 minutes. The English table counts 1 item. The sample cover counts 2 items. The five personal-information minutes do not explain that difference.

The 82 items, range by range

Listening is three parts. Items 1-8 say 请选出与所听内容一致的一项, choose the option that matches what you hear. That is 8 items. Items 9-28 say 请选出正确答案, choose the correct answer. That is 20 items. Items 29-40 use the same heading, 请选出正确答案. That is 12 items. 8 + 20 + 12 = 40. The paper does not label those parts as dialogues or talks. 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, 40 items and 40 minutes, with no further split of the clock.

Items 41-50 are 选词填空 (xuǎn cí tián kòng), choose a word for each blank. Two passages, 41-45 and 46-50. Each blank has four choices, A through D. 5 + 5 = 10.

Items 51-60 are 选句填空 (xuǎn jù tián kòng), choose a sentence for each blank. The heading adds 注意：其中一句为干扰项，需排除. One sentence is a distractor and has to be left out. Two passages, 51-55 and 56-60. Each passage prints six sentences labeled A through F and five blanks. 5 + 5 = 10. The passages stay in the PDF.

Items 61-80 are questions on five passages: 61-64, 65-68, 69-72, 73-76, and 77-80. The heading is 请选出正确答案. 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 20. The passages stay in the PDF.

10 + 10 + 20 = 40. Another divider says the writing section is next, and to begin it when writing starts.

Listening is 8 + 20 + 12. Reading is 10 + 10 + 20. Writing is two tasks. 40 + 40 + 2 = 82.

Items 81 and 82

Writing is items 81 and 82. The cover gives both of them 45 minutes and does not split the block. What follows is only these two tasks. This page does not offer a model composition or a score for one.

Item 81 is 应用文写作 (yìngyòngwén xiězuò), a practical piece of writing. The instruction reads: 你租了一套两居室的房子，现在需要在网上发布一则信息，找一名室友跟你合租，发布的内容包括你对室友的要求、房间设施的介绍等。请根据要求，写一则招租信息，字数不少于 150 字。 The gloss on this page, not an official translation: you have rented a two-bedroom place and need to post online for a roommate to share it. The post should include what you want in a roommate and what the rooms provide. Write a rental notice of at least 150 characters.

Item 82 is 话题作文 (huàtí zuòwén), a topic composition. The stem says technology has greatly changed how we live, then asks whether scientific development promotes or holds back a person's all-round development. The task reads: 科技极大地改变了我们的生活方式，你觉得科学发展是会促进还是抑制人的全面发展？请就这个话题谈谈你的观点，字数不少于 300 字。 The gloss: say whether you think scientific development helps or limits a person's all-round development, in at least 300 characters. That English line is a gloss of the prompt. It is not a model answer.

The answer key, HSK/HSK（六级）样卷答案.pdf, gives letter answers for items 1-80. Items 81 and 82 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 5 sample, the two writing tasks share 40 minutes and ask for at least 100 and 200 characters. The Level 5 guide walks that pair. Level 6 lengthens the shared block to 45 minutes and raises the minima to 150 and 300 characters. The task types change as well: a rental notice, then an argument about scientific development. The next numbered rows, from 5,401, are the combined Levels 7-9 list. That exam is one paper, with translation and speaking inside the same booklet. What Is HSK 7-9? walks that cover. Level 6 is the last level that still has a separate written sample and a separate speaking sample.

At least 150 characters, then at least 300. The 45 minutes stay one block. The key marks both tasks omitted.

The speaking paper, at cover depth

The speaking file is HSK口语/HSK（六级）口语样卷.pdf in the same set, a 2-page file. 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. The Level 5 speaking cover uses the same shape: 5 items, about 23 minutes, including 10 minutes of preparation. 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 你觉得自己和父母那一代人有什么相同和不同的地方？ The gloss: where do you think you and your parents' generation are the same, and where are you different? Item 5 quotes 最好的投资就是投资自己 and asks whether you agree, and why. 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（六级） plus HSK（六级）口语 with HSK（六级） 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 6 it lists the written paper at 9:00 local time, about 125 minutes, and speaking at 11:30 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 6 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 82-item cover or the 101-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 09:00. The September trial's Level 6 written sitting is 9:00, and its speaking sitting is 11:30. The written hour looks the same on those two documents. They are still two documents. The sample cover prints neither clock.

The sample cover prints no start time. 09:00 and 9:00 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 6 word list is the 1,800 new entries, numbers 3,601 to 5,400. 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, a 150-character rental notice, a 300-character argument, and five speaking items. No syllabus page, sample cover, competency line, or CTI notice read for this page states how many months Level 6 takes. Mandarin Zone's Level 6 guide prints a third-party preparation range in months. This page does not copy that range.

The list is the entries. The test is a recognition estimate. The samples are the 82-item paper and the 5-item speaking paper.

Level 6 is where four-character idioms start to appear. The Chinese idioms dictionary explains each one with its story and examples; Level 6 idioms to start with: 一模一样, 人山人海 and 众所周知. Single words are in the word 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. 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 6 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 6 line on workplace, study, and general professional situations, and the Level 5 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 3,601-5,400 (岸 to 罪), the Level 6 recognition list of 413, and the Level 6 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 81 and 82.
• HSK (Level 6), chinesetest.cn, fetched 20 October 2026. The 101-item prose, the table of about 135 minutes, the 09:00 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 "Over 5000" for its Level 6, that page's audience sentence, and that page's CEF cell. 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 6 written at 9:00 and speaking at 11:30 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 6 files inside the official sample set linked from the HSK overview: HSK/HSK（六级）样卷.pdf (18 pages; 82 items, about 125 minutes, and the task headings above), HSK/HSK（六级）样卷答案.pdf (letter answers for 1-80, items 81 and 82 marked 略, no score), and HSK口语/HSK（六级）口语样卷.pdf (2 pages; 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: OpenExamPrep, HSK 6 practice, HSKLord, HSK Anki decks, Chill Chinese, New HSK 6, Mandarin Zone, HSK Level 6, Pass HSK, HSK 6 requirements 2026.