Skip to main content

How to master the art of taking the HSKK

Everything you need to know about taking the HSKK online 

What is the HSKK? 

The 汉语水平口考试 or also known as the HSKK is the Chinese proficiency oral exam, there are three levels: beginner, intermediate and advance, usually you take the beginner HSKK when you take the HSK 3, the intermediate level when you take the HSK 4, and the advance level from the HSK5 and up.

Taking the HSKK at a test center vs at home 

Usually the exam is done by computer, and from what I have read even if you go to a test center you'll do it on a computer because they need to record your answers, so in theory it doesn't matter whether you go to a test center or take it at home, not like in the HSK. 

The only thing you should take into consideration is that if you take the HSKK in a test center you might get distracted by the voices of the other students that are also taking the exam, but on the positive note, in case that you have a problem, they'll likely be able to fix it easily. 

Taking the HSKK at home can also go very smoothly, but there are more things to take into consideration; the first thing is that you need a Windows device because it's not possible to download the exam on any of the IOS devices. You also need another device apart from your computer, because you need to join a Zoom session, so that a supervisor can monitor you during the exam; they also check your data and help you use the platform.

What to do if you are having problems with the system?  

If you are an unlucky person just like me, you might have some problems with the system that you downloaded, in my case I was not able to hear anything which is quite inconvenient if you are taking the HSKK which is all about speaking and listening.

You need to do the mock exam so that you can get used to the system, the mock is usually a week before the exam. It's very important that you do it, because if you have a problem, in there you'll be able to  identify it and the supervisor will try to help you, if they are not able to help you they'll give you a phone number, so an IT technician from China can help you.

You'll have to contact them or in my case they contacted me first, and luckily they spoke to me in my mother tongue (Spanish) so it was easy to follow the instructions; then you'll have to download a system in my case it was: SunLoginClient and you'll send them your username and password so that they are able to enter to your device via remote, and then they'll fix your issue.
To be honest, I have no clue of what they did. I saw the movement on my computer and the things they opened and downloaded and everything went quite smoothly, so don't worry that someone else will be on your computer, your privacy will still be intact as well as your data.
The only thing that was a slight inconvenience is that because of the time zone, I was awake a 2 in the morning watching them solve my problem.

My experience

So my experience was not so smooth because in my mock exam I realized that I was not able to hear anything, so I had no idea how to use the system and the day of my exam I was clueless.  I was super nervous, and I was not aware of the speed of the exam and how fast everything had to be, I  had 5 to 7 seconds to answer each question, and that was not enough for me.  
It was a bit chaotic, but I'm hopeful that everything will turn out all right, and in case it doesn't, it's okay. I can take it next time. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is going on with the 把 structure ?

The 把 structure The reason behind why you need he 把 structure The 把 structure is mostly used to add emphasis, the emphasis is added in the verb/result as it changes their usual position. This structure can be quite confusing, because in most western languages we don't have a structure that is remotely similar, so there is not a direct translation.  Even though this structure is quite hard, it's also really important, in my opinion it is fundamental. In addition, you will encounter this structure early on in your language journey. In my case I learned this structure in the GoChinese 400, and I'm also I'm pretty sure it's part of the HSK 3 coursework. What is the infamous 把 structure?  This structure is quite strict, from what I have learned up to now, the 把 structure never changes. It always follows its original pattern, which is : Subject+把+Object+Verb+ Result   The main uses of the 把 structure: 1)To emphasize that an action has finished Subject+把+Object+Verb+好了/忘了 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

有面子什麼意思?

 The meaning of "Have face"  You probably have heard the question 你有沒有面子? or some variation of it. This expression is really popular, and it's often used in TV shows, videos, movies, etc. The direct translations of 面子 is face, but in most cases that's not the meaning that they are referring to. In most cases this expression refers to someone's reputation, honor or pride. But depending on the situation, the meaning can slightly change.  Common Phrases  To care about your reputation / have a reputation   - 有面子 : To have a reputation. This reputation has been giving to you because of the power you hold or your place in society.  -面子很大 : To be well respected by people (have a big reputation). Usually this expression refers to someone that's famous, rich or simply someone that's perceived positively by people. -愛面子 ： Someone who really cares about their reputation and they are constantly trying to protect it.  -要面子 : Someone who is constantly protecting th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Study Chinese by using comics, novels, etc.

How to choose the perfect novel or comic to learn chinese  Where to buy Chinese books  To find books written in Chinese can be a bit complicated, there are a lot of websites that are usually recommended, for example: books.Taiwan, book depository, purple culture, cypress books and more;   In my case, I opted for another option because I tried buying from books.Taiwan but for a strange reason the order never went through, I think the problem was that all of the cards I tried to pay with were from Mexican banks, so I decided to buy them from Amazon, but as you can imagine there's not a lot of variety, additionally Chinese novels, comics, etc. are hard to find in that platform, because a lot of them don't appear if you look up their title in Chinese, in my experience the way I found the most books, was by searching: the title of the book (Chinese edition), and also by searching for the author instead of the book, another thing that's important to mention is that I used the U...
Post a Comment
Read more