HSK 3.0 vs HSK 2.0: What Changed in the New HSK?

Hanzi Grove · 2026-11-07

The old HSK (often called HSK 2.0) has six levels and a top vocabulary list of 5,000 words. In 2021, China published a new national standard, GF0025-2021, which reorganises Chinese proficiency into 3 stages and 9 levels with 11,092 words in total. The new HSK exam, usually called HSK 3.0, is built on that standard, with a separate exam syllabus published in late 2025.

This guide sets out what changed, level by level, with every number taken from the sources listed at the end. Where the details are still unclear, we say so.

What is HSK 2.0?

HSK (汉语水平考试, Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì) is China’s standard Chinese proficiency test for non-native speakers. The six-level format most learners know was introduced around 2010 and is now usually called HSK 2.0, though “HSK 3.0” and “HSK 2.0” are informal names rather than official titles.

The HSK 2.0 written tests cover listening, reading and (from level 3) writing. Each level comes with a cumulative word list:

HSK 2.0 level	New words	Total words	Total characters
HSK 1	150	150	174
HSK 2	150	300	348
HSK 3	300	600	618
HSK 4	600	1,200	1,064
HSK 5	1,300	2,500	1,685
HSK 6	2,500	5,000	2,663

The word counts are the widely published official totals. The character counts are as reported in the HSK article on Wikipedia, and published word lists may differ slightly from one source to another.

A common criticism of HSK 2.0 was that the jump between levels was uneven, that there was no level above HSK 6 for advanced learners, and that the tests did not require handwriting or speaking. Speaking was tested separately, in the HSKK.

What is the 2021 standard (GF0025-2021)?

The new framework is a national language standard, not an exam. Its full English title is the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (国际中文教育中文水平等级标准), standard number GF0025-2021.

Key facts:

Issued by: China’s Ministry of Education and the State Language Commission.
Published: announced in late March and early April 2021.
Took effect: 1 July 2021.
Structure: “three stages and nine levels”.
Four basic elements: syllables, characters, vocabulary and grammar.
Five skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation (interpreting and translating).

The standard is a reference for teaching, textbooks and testing. It sets out what learners should know at each level, including lists of syllables, characters, words and grammar points.

What are the 3 stages and 9 levels?

The nine levels are grouped into three stages:

Elementary stage: levels 1, 2 and 3.
Intermediate stage: levels 4, 5 and 6.
Advanced stage: levels 7, 8 and 9, treated as one band with a single shared list.

Compared with HSK 2.0, the biggest structural change is the advanced stage. HSK 2.0 stopped at level 6. The 2021 standard adds levels 7 to 9 for learners heading into university study, professional work or translation.

How many words are in each level of the 2021 standard?

Here are the vocabulary and character counts in the 2021 standard, as reported in the tables summarised on Wikipedia:

Level	New words	Total words	Characters to recognise (total)
1	500	500	300
2	772	1,272	600
3	973	2,245	900
4	1,000	3,245	1,200
5	1,071	4,316	1,500
6	1,140	5,456	1,800
7–9	5,636	11,092	3,000

Totals across all nine levels: 1,110 syllables, 3,000 characters, 11,092 words and 572 grammar points.

Handwriting is set by stage rather than by level in the summaries we checked: 300 characters to write by the end of the elementary stage, 700 by the end of the intermediate stage, and 1,200 by the end of the advanced stage. We did not find a reliable per-level breakdown for handwriting, so check the official standard if you need one.

How do HSK 2.0 and the 2021 standard compare?

The headline difference is scale. Here are the cumulative word counts side by side for the levels that exist in both:

Level	HSK 2.0 words	2021 standard words	Difference
1	150	500	+350
2	300	1,272	+972
3	600	2,245	+1,645
4	1,200	3,245	+2,045
5	2,500	4,316	+1,816
6	5,000	5,456	+456
7–9	none	11,092	new

What this means in practice:

The lower levels are much bigger. Level 1 of the 2021 standard has more than three times as many words as HSK 2.0 level 1. Level 3 has almost four times as many.
Level 6 is similar in size. By level 6 the two lists are close: 5,000 against 5,456 words.
There is a new advanced band. Levels 7 to 9 roughly double the vocabulary again.
Characters and grammar are now explicit. HSK 2.0 published word lists. The 2021 standard adds separate lists for syllables, characters to recognise, characters to write and grammar points.
Handwriting and translation are included. These were not part of the HSK 2.0 written tests.

The word lists themselves also changed. Words were added, removed and moved between levels, so an “HSK 4 word” under HSK 2.0 may sit at a different level in the new list.

What is the new HSK exam (HSK 3.0)?

The exam had to change to match the standard. This has happened in two steps.

Step 1: HSK 7–9 (from 2022)

The first new exam was HSK 7–9, a single advanced test that places candidates at level 7, 8 or 9. According to the Wikipedia HSK article, it was launched in March 2022. The official test centre page states that it is set according to GF0025-2021 and is currently an internet-based test.

Its official description lists five parts: listening, reading, writing, translation and speaking. The result is reported as one of four outcomes: below level 7, level 7, level 8 or level 9.

There is one detail to watch. The official page describes the test as 91 items over about 200 minutes, while some older guides describe 98 items over about 210 minutes. The format appears to have been revised, so check the official page before you prepare.

Step 2: the new HSK 1–6 (from 2026)

For several years after 2021, HSK levels 1 to 6 continued in the old HSK 2.0 format. The replacement exam came later:

November 2025: the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (中外语言交流合作中心) published the new HSK exam syllabus (新版HSK考试大纲). Its cover gives the release as November 2025 and implementation as July 2026.
31 January 2026: a global trial exam for the new HSK 1–6 was held at selected test centres, as reported by Guangming Online. Candidates for levels 3 to 6 had to register for the matching speaking test as well.
2026: worldwide rollout. One secondary source reports that the first regular new-format HSK 1–6 exams are on 13 December 2026, following a second trial in September 2026. We have not confirmed this date on an official page, so check the official test calendar.

Does the new exam use the 2021 word counts?

Not exactly, and this is the most confusing part of the change. The 2025 exam syllabus sets its own vocabulary targets for levels 1 to 6. As reported by Wikipedia and by the Chinese Language Institute, which cites the syllabus, the cumulative targets are:

Level	2021 standard words	2025 HSK syllabus words (reported)
1	500	300
2	1,272	500
3	2,245	1,000
4	3,245	2,000
5	4,316	3,600
6	5,456	5,400
7–9	11,092	about 11,000

So the new exam is lighter than the 2021 standard at the elementary and intermediate levels, though still larger than HSK 2.0 at every level. Reported changes also include making the speaking test part of the exam from level 3 upwards.

We could not read these counts directly from the official syllabus PDF, so they are reported figures. If your goal is a specific exam date, use the official syllabus and word list for that exam.

What is still unclear?

Several important details have not been fully settled in the public sources we checked:

Pass marks and score scales for the new HSK 1–6 are not given in the published sample papers, according to the Chinese Language Institute.
The end of HSK 2.0. The official test centre has not clearly stated when the old format will stop being offered. One test centre reports it ends in December 2026, but this is not confirmed officially.
Level conversion. There is no official table that converts an HSK 2.0 level to a new HSK level. Your old certificate remains a record of the level you passed, but universities and employers may treat old and new levels differently.
University requirements. Many universities still state HSK 2.0 levels in their admission rules.
Speaking test rules. It is not yet clear whether every level 3 to 6 candidate must take the speaking test on regular exam dates, as in the trial.
Exact list contents. Different publishers’ versions of the word lists vary slightly, and the 2025 syllabus lists differ from the 2021 standard lists.

What should learners do now?

Check your exam version. If you are booking a test, confirm with your test centre whether it is HSK 2.0 or the new format.
Study from the larger list if you are not in a hurry. The 2021 standard’s lists include more words at each level. Learning them prepares you for either exam.
Practise handwriting and speaking early. Both carry more weight in the new framework.
Learn characters by their parts. With more characters required at each level, understanding how Chinese characters are built and the common radicals saves a lot of time.

Hanzi Grove’s HSK 1 list follows level 1 of the 2021 standard, with 500 words in 50 groups of 10. For a step-by-step route through it, see the HSK 1 study plan.

Keep learning

The fastest way to get comfortable with the new levels is to start building vocabulary now. Begin with HSK 1 group 1, and follow the HSK 1 study plan to cover the full level in four weeks.