HSK 7–9 test format: five parts, 98 questions and the afternoon schedule

The HSK (Levels 7-9) paper has five parts: listening, reading, writing, translation and speaking. It has 98 questions in all, made up of 67 objective and 31 subjective questions. The afternoon test runs in three blocks from 13:00 to 17:10, with a break between 16:10 and 16:40.

Test structure

The page names five parts, with the objective and subjective question counts and the minutes for each.

Test content	Objective questions	Subjective questions	Total	Duration (minutes)	Content types named on the page
Listening	34	6	40	about 30	news reports, business negotiations, debates, interviews, speeches/lectures, documentaries, conference speeches, etc.
Reading	33	14	47	60	news reports, scientific articles, survey reports, academic literature, Chinese culture, overview of China
Writing	0	2	2	55	description and analysis of charts; express and defend opinions on given topics
Translation	0	4	4	41	translate explanatory, narrative, and argumentative texts from foreign languages to Chinese, both in written and oral forms
Speaking	0	5	5	about 24	paraphrase or express perspectives on application documents, narrative texts, argumentative texts, etc.
Total	67	31	98	about 210	—

The total is 67 objective questions, 31 subjective questions, 98 in all, about 210 minutes.

Afternoon schedule

The page prints three time blocks for the test day.

Time block	Covers
13:00–16:10	Listening, Reading, Writing, Translation; one break is set during the test
16:10–16:40	Take a break, then log back into the test system to wait for the next part of the test
16:40–17:10	Translation, Speaking

Scoring and test form

The HSK (Level 7-9) report provides five scores, including listening, reading, writing, translation and speaking, and provides the rating results. The ability value for each skill is calculated by using the IRT model, based on the raw scores, and the report score of each skill ranges from 0 to 100.

Currently, the HSK (Levels 7-9) is only available in internet-based test.

The HSK (Levels 7-9) page names no pass mark.

Sources

• HSK (Levels 7-9) page — Chinese Testing International (CTI), Chinese Tests Service Website chinesetest.cn 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.