Michael Stone stared glumly at the package before him. After months of waiting, the results from his first attempt to take the HSK test had arrived, and they were not pretty. Tucked away in the envelope was a formal certificate of non-fluency. As the accompanying letter explained, "your score of twenty percent is less than we expect students to get simply guessing at random... perhaps you should consider studying Spanish instead."

HSK Tip #95: points are not taken away for incorrect or missing answers on multiple choice questions, so guess if you don't know the answer.