Unofficial guide
HSK Exam Guide

'Three Stages, Nine Levels': the framework behind the new HSK

Sources checked

The 'Three Stages, Nine Levels' is the name of the new HSK structure. The About the New HSK page says the new HSK was upgraded from the current six-level system to a new 'Three Stages, Nine Levels' framework, comprehensively covering elementary, intermediate and advanced proficiency. It is guided by the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education.

What the framework covers

The new HSK assesses candidates' abilities in five language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation (at advanced levels). The About the New HSK section does not say which of the nine levels belong to the three stages. The new HSK introduces adjustments in question types, number of questions, test duration and listening speed. The new HSK test syllabus covers five components: tasks, topics, vocabulary, grammar and Chinese characters.

The nine levels

The HSK 3.0 ability document gives one-line ability descriptions for each of the nine levels. The English wording below is this site's own translation and is unofficial; the original text is Chinese only.

Level Description (unofficial translation)
HSK (Level 1) Can use Chinese for simple communication in daily-life situations.
HSK (Level 2) Can use Chinese for basic communication in daily-life, study and work situations.
HSK (Level 3) Can use Chinese for effective communication in daily-life, study and work situations.
HSK (Level 4) Can use Chinese for complete and coherent communication in daily-life, study and work situations.
HSK (Level 5) Can use Chinese for accurate and appropriate communication in work and academic situations.
HSK (Level 6) Can use Chinese for rich and fluent communication in workplace, academic and general professional situations.
HSK (Level 7) Can use Chinese for standard and fluent communication in workplace, general professional and general academic situations.
HSK (Level 8) Can use Chinese for appropriate and in-depth communication in workplace, general professional and general academic situations.
HSK (Level 9) Can use Chinese for precise and in-depth communication in vocational, professional, academic and other varied situations.

How the syllabus groups its chapters

The New HSK Test Syllabus has five parts: HSK 任务大纲 (task syllabus), HSK 话题大纲 (topic syllabus), HSK 词汇大纲 (vocabulary syllabus), HSK 汉字大纲 (Chinese character syllabus) and HSK 语法大纲 (grammar syllabus). Each part has one chapter for each level — 一级, 二级, 三级, 四级, 五级, 六级 — and one joint chapter 七—九级. The Chinese character syllabus has two kinds of lists: 认读字 (characters to recognise), one list per level, and 书写字 (characters to write), listed as 一级~二级 together, then 三级, 四级, 五级, 六级, 七—九级. The syllabus was issued in November 2025 and came into force in July 2026.

The Levels 7-9 page

The HSK (Levels 7-9) page refers to the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (GF0025-2021). The report provides five scores: listening, reading, writing, translation and speaking, and provides the rating results. Test takers are classified into four levels: "Below HSK (Level 7)", "HSK (Level 7)", "HSK (Level 8)" and "HSK (Level 9)", based on the ability values measured by the Item Response Theory (IRT) and the content and difficulty of the test items. The report score of each skill ranges from 0 to 100. Currently, the HSK (Levels 7-9) is only available in internet-based test.

Questions people ask

Which HSK levels belong to the elementary, intermediate and advanced stages?

The About the New HSK section does not say which of the nine levels belong to which of the three stages. For that detail, ask the test centre or the university.

Sources

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.

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