As school bells knelled classes to a close, Laura looked down once more at her test paper. She had managed to answer perhaps half of the questions. And who was to say how many of her guesses would be correct? Tears of despair filled her eyes. She stared at the stubborn blanks that remained, and they stared back into her, monstrous beasts swollen beyond all reasonable proportion.

And thus it was that her soul approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the HSK dead. It swooned slowly as she heard the invigilator calling faintly through the dim recesses of her consciousness, and the exam period closed like the descent of their last end upon all the students in the hall.

HSK Tip #4212: Be sure to answer all of the questions. You've got a 25% chance of being right.
 said on
December 27, 2008
I got perfect but I think this would've been very difficult when I was a beginner.

I don't get the rational for taking the beginning HSK: If you pass the fairly difficult test you get a certificate saying that you're a beginner. And if you fail..
 said on
December 27, 2008
Interesting. I wonder what would happen if someone actually got all of the questions wrong. We should find out. :)

--dave
 said on
December 28, 2008
You can bomb the test and they'll still send you home with level one HSK beginner certification. It makes that level pretty meaningless, which is why most organizations insist on at least the intermediate level if they hire and expect Chinese proficiency.

HSK and test prep stuff should be part of the game for anyone serious about mastering Chinese, but it isn't any guarantee of fluency alone imho.
 said on
December 28, 2008
Yeah, this seemed a little harder than beginner to me, so it was good practice. I agree with orbital that it's really only worth your money and time to start at HSK intermediate. I'm curious where you guys are getting these questions. Are they all from the official HSK test bank? Looking forward to the Mac OS version of the HSK practice software!

 said on
April 18, 2009
How can I go to my homepage? Please tell me where to click????? thank you.
 said on
April 18, 2009
Click "Home" at the top of the page. Or sign in and visit http://popupchinese.com.
 said on
February 3, 2010
7. The difference between 下去 and 下来 is something I can vaguely remember studying but not paying too much attention to, as it didn't seem very important at the time... More fool me...
 said on
February 4, 2010
@Dave,

下去is leaving you, 下来is coming up to you.

O(∩_∩)O~
 said on
February 5, 2010
I've always found the 下去/下来 distinction pretty tough. I always get in the habit of saying 下去 even when it's not appropriate. Something I have to work on, but that I think takes time more than actual theoretical understanding (I get it!).
Mark Lesson Studied