HSK Exam Guide HSK 2 vocabulary: how many words, and where the official list is
The HSK (Level 2) page on chinesetest.cn says the level has "an expanded vocabulary of 300 Chinese words." The vocabulary list in the HSK syllabus gives level 2 the serial numbers 301 to 500, which is 200 new words and 500 in total up to and including level 2, by our count.
This page is an unofficial summary. The two figures come from different documents, and this page does not say which one applies to a given test date.
What the level page says
The sentence on the HSK (Level 2) page names 300 words. It describes an "expanded vocabulary of 300 Chinese words" as part of what the level covers, next to listening, reading, topics, tasks and grammar.
The sentence does not give a serial-number range or a list of words. The word list is on a separate tab, described below.
The vocabulary list in the syllabus
The HSK syllabus has a vocabulary part. Each word in that list has a serial number. Our count of the serial numbers for level 2 gives these figures:
| Item | Figure | Source of the figure |
|---|---|---|
| Serial numbers for level 2 | 301–500 | Read from the numbered list in the syllabus |
| New words at level 2 | 200 | Our count from the serial numbers |
| Cumulative total up to level 2 | 500 | Our count from the serial numbers |
The 200 and 500 figures are our count. The syllabus does not print them as totals.
By our reading of the list, each entry shows four things: a serial number, a level, the pinyin and the part of speech. This page does not reproduce any entries.
The syllabus cover gives an issue month of November 2025 and an implementation month of July 2026. The cover is in Chinese, and the syllabus PDF is in Chinese only.
Where the lists are
The HSK (Level 2) page has a tab named "Vocabulary." That tab holds the word list for the level. The page is published by Chinese Testing International.
The syllabus PDF is published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (中外语言交流合作中心). Its vocabulary part, titled HSK 词汇大纲, starts on printed page 76. The numbered list is in that part.
For questions about which list or figure applies to a particular test, the test centre or the university that asks for the result is the place to ask.
Sources
- HSK (Level 2) page, Chinese Testing International
- HSK 考试大纲 (Syllabus for the Chinese Proficiency Test, PDF, Chinese), Center for Language Education and Cooperation
Checked 11 October 2026
This page is an unofficial summary; it is not published by Chinese Testing International, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation or the Ministry of Education, and the official page prevails if they differ.