HSK 1 Study Guide

What the exam covers

HSK 1 tests whether you can understand and use very simple Chinese phrases — the level of a careful first semester. The paper has two sections, about 40 minutes in all:

• Listening — 20 questions: matching pictures to phrases, short dialogues, single sentences read twice.
• Reading — 20 questions: matching, true/false against pictures, and fill-in-the-blank with word choices.

Every question shows pinyin alongside the characters, so at this level you are being tested on the language, not yet on reading characters unaided. There is no speaking or writing section — the speaking exam (HSKK Beginner) is separate.

The vocabulary, by theme

The official HSK 1 list is 150 words. They cluster into themes you can learn as conversations rather than as a list:

• Greetings & people — 你好 nǐ hǎo (hello) · 谢谢 xièxie (thank you) · 老师 lǎoshī (teacher) · 朋友 péngyou (friend)
• Numbers & time — 一 yī to 十 shí (one to ten) · 今天 jīntiān (today) · 明天 míngtiān (tomorrow) · 现在 xiànzài (now)
• Family — 爸爸 bàba (dad) · 妈妈 māma (mum) · 儿子 érzi (son) · 女儿 nǚ’ér (daughter)
• Food & drink — 吃 chī (to eat) · 喝 hē (to drink) · 米饭 mǐfàn (rice) · 茶 chá (tea)
• Places & getting around — 中国 Zhōngguó (China) · 北京 Běijīng (Beijing) · 学校 xuéxiào (school) · 商店 shāngdiàn (shop)
• Doing things — 是 shì (to be) · 有 yǒu (to have) · 看 kàn (to look/watch) · 买 mǎi (to buy)

Learn each theme as five or six tiny sentences — 我喝茶 wǒ hē chá, “I drink tea” — and the grammar of HSK 1 comes along almost free.

How long it takes

As a planning guide from our course tables: roughly 100–150 study hours from zero, depending on your pace and whether you study alone or with a teacher. Students in our spoken-first classes typically cover the HSK 1 ground while learning to survive in Beijing — the vocabulary is the same.

Study tips from our teachers

1. Train your ear before exam day. Half the paper is listening; play each theme’s words and sentences until recognition is instant, not translated.
2. Read the pinyin second. It is printed on the paper, but glance at the characters first — you are building the habit HSK 2 and 3 will demand.
3. Do one full mock paper. Past papers are freely available; one timed run removes the format surprise, which at HSK 1 is most of the difficulty.
4. Speak everything you learn. A word you have said out loud twenty times cannot hide from you in a listening question.