I am prepping for the old Basic HSK (aiming for a 3). Stuff has been going well so far, I can get about 70% of the questions right on all the sections... except the reading. For whatever reason, the first half of the reading section just crushes me. I know roughly 1000 characters, good for most of the exam, but whenever I get one of those goddam passages I feel like half the words are new. Is this normal? Are you expected to know every or most of the characters? How can I improve that section (besides learning another 1000 characters, my exam is in two weeks and I have been prepping for two months)? All help would be appreciated.

It seems that you already have a good grip on other sections. My suggestion is to go back to all the Old HSK questions and study the heck out of the new words that are comprised of known characters. Don't try to cram new characters if the test is in two weeks.

This would most benefit you, if my experience is any indication.

Seconded - you've probably got an adequate character base - the key is to broaden your vocabulary with words that those characters are in now. I've found myself largely in the same boat with a book I'm reading (per my Chinese teacher's request/assignment), I've been writing down all of the words I don't quite get, and at least half of the entries in my list are made up entirely of characters I know, just in formulations that I don't know.

Hopefully this will all be moot soon. Honestly, I'm surprised that they would have developed a new HSK while still offering the old one, especially since most places don't even offer the new one yet, seems like it would be more trouble to keep writing old-version tests now that they're replacing that system...

Short-term preparation for an exam like the HSK is not about acquiring broad knowledge, it's about targeting expected question patterns as precisely as possible, obviously by answering as many HSK test exams as possible and eliminating the most "expensive" gaps.

Short-term retention is quite powerful. -- 2 weeks are enough to study tons of frequently occurring terms and characters, given that you know you are "allowed" to forget the words after 2 weeks.

if you need to find words made up of known characters in a reference list (i.e. the next HSK level up) then let me know, i have an excel for it

@ Fatdragon - It is my understanding that the old HSK is actually designed by one of the more prestigious colleges in China. The new one is done by the Chinese government. I am surprised that the Chinese government hasn't been overly heavy handed and forced them to stop the old one all together. As for which one is commonly accepted, that question is kind of in limbo. Some schools accept the old and new. Some only accept the old. My research into taking the test in the states has so far only found testing centers offering the new one, though I wouldn't be surprised if some places are offering the old.

It seems to be a jumbled mess right now.

I see - two different testing bodies making the 'same' test - I'll withhold an opinion. I will say, however, that the old one has a reputation of being obscenely difficult and that it's supposedly more of an indicator of your ability to study to pass a test than an indicator of your language level - recalling a kid I knew a year ago who trounced the Basic but spoke exceedingly poor Chinese, even for the 'basic' level.

Almost every piece of feedback I've heard from people in China but outside of the First-Tier cities has been that their city only offers the old - basically you have to be in Beijing or Shanghai if you want to take the new one in China, as far as I've heard. I hope that changes sometime soon though, because if I take the HSK here in Wuhan, I'd prefer to take the new one, as I don't have the time or the interest to cram for a largely-meaningless test at this current point in my life.

@winslowalrob - perhaps you can try to cram the Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters list - it's based on HSK Level A, and in addition to the characters, it includes any and all words in that list as well. You can search it up as a custom list and try using the cram feature to get those words into your head before the test, though there are a couple thousand...

Another idea would be to pinpoint the words that give you trouble in the practice tests' reading sections, write them down, and look them up.

@ Neil:
Thanks, I would love to check that out!

Thanks for the support guys, I have been cramming for this for a while, and I have finally started to see the patterns of my screwups (on any given passage with five questions, you are going to get a measure word, sentence pattern, an easy question, and two synonym questions (为了, 由于, etc). Every time I think I FINALLY have all my bases covered, I get hit with a new set of synonyms or new sentence pattern. Not really stuff I can Skritter for, but on everything else it has been pretty valuable.

I am in Sichuan province, I like the challenge of the old HSK and in prepping for it I have really gotten my Chinese game up.

sure - drop me an email spuds七四七 在 hotmail点com (no chinese in the address)

do you have an electronic copy of HSK basic example? I've never seen any, only elementary/int which I have not taken. I have done New HSK4 though.

I just got thrashed taking the old HSK (the proctors totally screwed me up). I am going to skritter like crazy and pass it the next time I get the chance.

Sorry to hear that winslowalrob--was there something to watch out for that the proctors did? You'll show them next time!

They would not let me turn to the second half of the grammar section (thinking that I wanted to move up a section, but I just wanted to finish the section I was already on). Basically none of the other students listened to the proctors (people were talking, skipping ahead, et al.) so I probably should not have been so passive and just not listened to them. Kind of a dick idea, but a possibility for the future.

The proctors were real awesome in my room too, trying to talk to me several times during the listening section, rearranging student seating during the test, and even laughing at students who didn't understand instructions in Chinese. Thanks HSK administration, we all love you.

Sounds like China to me!
Was just at seven-eleven here in Brisbane Australia, was paying for a bottle of water and a newly arrived Chinese guy comes and stands right in front of me to get served :)

When in Brisbane, as I always say!

Just a different style of doing stuff, and had I studied more, I woulda finished my sections faster.