At the advanced level, HSK listening exercises transition towards longer passages which place a greater emphasis on memory. Not only does the exam give you much more to absorb before it asks its first question, but it also requires greater independent thought: the correct answer is as often inferred as stated directly.

In order to ease you into the challenge, we've picked a relatively colloquial recording to get started. Our future recordings at the advanced level will tend to have more specialized vocabulary, chengyu and formal diction. But there is still the occasional colloquial discussion as follows. So if we haven't scared you off, just open up our online quiz in a new window, start playing the test recording, and good luck.
bbishop
 said on
February 2, 2009
the radio buttons on all the quizzes are tricky. i keep thinking i have selected an answer but when i hit submit it tells me i picked something else
trevelyan
 said on
February 2, 2009
@bbishop,

We use some javascript to add extra features to the quiz, so it's always possible that there's something haywire going on there. If you can let us know what browser and OS you're using I can take a closer look.

Another possibility is that you've got "on demand answers" in the right sidebar selected. If this is on the system will tell you right away if your answer is right or wrong when you select an answer (your choice will flash either green or red) but will also freeze your choice once you've made it. We try not to be the HSK police: more an effort to keep everyone honest about choices and making sure we're all thinking before answering. Anyone truly dedicated to changing their answer can always just reload the page. :)