In our sample test for today, we present you with 15 questions which measure your knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar points tested for at the Intermediate level of China's standard test for mandarin acquisition for non-native speakers. And don't expect to be treated with kid gloves. These questions are trickier than you might expect, and while you may be familiar with the individual words themselves, you'll need to know them well enough to select their most accurate synonym given the actual context provided.In a real test environment, these fifteen questions should take no more than 12.5 minutes. But don't worry if you don't have a watch handy. Our system will track your time automatically, so you can see the improvement in your test-taking skills over time as you work through our vast archive of test-prep materials.
toneandcolor
said on March 15, 2009
虽然难题很多，但这次测试很不错。请问一下，《嫉妒》和《羡慕》有什么区别？
menglelan
said on March 16, 2009
@toneandcolor 我们最好问问Echo好像嫉妒就是hate out of jealousy 羡慕就是envy out of admiration or wish 比方说 乐岚是美国聋人， 可以上大学。 很多中国聋人不可以上大学， 很羡慕她。
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 16, 2009
@menglelan,
you are right. o(∩_∩)o...
Echo
said on March 16, 2009
亲们（亲爱的们），我来了。对，乐岚说得没错，嫉妒、妒嫉、忌妒的意思都是“你的好让我很生气，我希望你不好”，羡慕没有这样的意思，是一个褒义词，意思是“哇，你真棒，我好想像你一样！”
：）
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
gnotella100
said on March 19, 2009
Would you buy a test-prep book that didn't explain the answers? Think about it.
henning
said on March 19, 2009
gnotella100,
I have 3 Beginner + Intermediate HSK test prep books at home (maybe I should open them one day). None of those explains any answer.
Echo
said on March 19, 2009
@gnotella100,We provide live tutors :) You can write to me at anytime you want or post on the site.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
trevelyan
said on March 19, 2009
@gnotella and henning - I think it's reasonable to expect us to provide support in areas where people need help. The real question is how to accomplish this. Right now we have the discussion section and email support for helping people get their questions answered. Because our HSK materials are also premium-access only, there are a more limited number of users tackling them each day than listen to our podcasts. As we grow I expect the discussion page will be more valuable as a source for finding answers.Henning's right that the vast majority of HSK resources (at least those sold here in China) don't provide detailed answers. The reason is that it isn't necessarily obvious why the student got it wrong. Does one provide a different explanation for each incorrect answer? And in a lot of cases, there isn't even anything to explain. So I'm not sure the test page itself is the place to put this sort of thing. Maybe we need another kind of exercise or podcast to complement the tests that focuses on explaining common mistakes and how to avoid them, or the grammatical issues that are being tested for.For the advanced listening tests, we'll be including the transcripts for the spoken passages in the text section in the future for easy reference. Henning and a few other people requested this earlier and it is happening. So ideas on alternate approaches are welcome and will be seriously considered. It may take a while for the results to appear, but that is as much a function of our having an archive of material already prepared as anything else.
toneandcolor
said on March 20, 2009
Just to chime in: so far every question I've left on the discussion board about a particularly tricky question or something has been answered - always competently and usually quite promptly. Personally, I don't see a problem with just leaving things the way they are and using the discussion page of the relevant test/lesson to answer questions. That also helps future users who may be going back through old tests.Keep up the good work.
imron
said on March 21, 2009
It tracks it, but where does it display it? In the progress section, I see the score and date for each test saved but not the time. It'd be nice be able to see this too :-)
trevelyan
said on March 21, 2009
Good point. We are collecting it. I guess we should make it visible. :)
imron
said on March 21, 2009
Any comments on the likelihood/feasibility of my other suggestion here?
trevelyan
said on March 22, 2009
re: indicating bookmarked status on the Lesson page.I've looked into it. I think we can get to that with the next major iteration of the backend, but I'm unlikely to tackle it with this version because of architectural concerns: I don't want to fetch someones entire list of bookmarks simply in order to display the lessons page. We would presumably also have to make changes to the publisher/user archive page as well, so there are usability and design issues here as well.Our development priorities right now are improving the signup process, making it easier for people to figure out who we are and how to use the site, and better guiding people into using the features of the site that really matter to them. We also have a number of special projects that are in-the-works which will get released when were comfortable enough with them to put them out for public scrutiny.
imron
said on March 22, 2009
It's not so much the bookmarks I'm interested in, more the tests that that I've already taken (or rather tests that I haven't taken). For example, I've taken a handful of tests from each of the beginner, intermediate and advanced HSK but there are many I haven't taken. If for example I want to go back and do the ones I've missed, then currently the biggest problem is finding out which ones they are :-)
All I imagine you'd need, is an extra join on your SQL statement on the lesson id and the test tracking table and then a extra CSS class to make the lesson title appear in a different colour or something.
Anyway, it's not a huge priority, but definitely something that would make it easier to find untaken tests.
trevelyan
said on March 22, 2009
@imron - I think we could put up another page that is linked to through the test-tracking page that provides this sort of functionality. This would have to be a page that displayed only test materials.
It would make more sense to handle things that way than change the main Lessons page, since HSK tests and other types of content are treated identically there.
imron
said on March 22, 2009
That would work equally well :-) The main idea is just to be able to go find untaken tests.
FAPORT International
said on June 1, 2009
Good man, you have a great point for me, thanks
