official HSK books (www.amazon.cn)
posted by zjv5002 on February 17, 2012 | 4 comments
Any ideas from the HSK veterans out there as to whether these things are worth picking up? I'm going to take a first crack at the test and, in addition to Popup Chinese, have wondered if a more traditional study aide is worth pursuing, especially as the HSK seems to favor an old-school memorize-memorize-memorize style of study.Thanks for any advice!
j.stewartwallace on February 17, 2012 | reply
Hi, I recently bought a few HSK exam books which were quite good. They didn't really teach me anything except for the kind of vocab that cropped up and also the format of the test but it was useful to know what kind of level of I was at. (struggle at level 4!) It was also interesting to see that I had covered the vocab to this level just by using regular beginner to elementary text books and this site.
Thanks for the advice! I've always heard that knowing the format is the most important thing for these kinds of tests. At least the current series of books carry an unoffensive design sense, unlike the past masters:[http://www.amazon.cn/HSK%E5%88%9D-%E4%B8%AD%E7%AD%89%E5%85%A8%E6%94%BB%E7%95%A5%E6%95%99%E7%A8%8B/dp/B0026FBPW4/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1329570601&sr=8-11]
drummerboy on February 19, 2012 | reply
As you probably know there are several options out there. I personally have had success with this series from BLCU http://www.amazon.cn/新汉语水平考试模拟试题集-董萃/dp/B004EHLEUA/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329585116&sr=1-3Good luck!
j.stewartwallace on February 19, 2012 | reply
Ah, these are ones I am using too.