Guide · 2025 syllabus
HSK levels explained
The HSK exam has nine levels, from 300 words at HSK 1 to 10,920 at HSK 7–9. Here is what each level asks for on the syllabus in use since July 2026.
Each level
Open a level for its full word list, free as an Anki deck, PDF or spreadsheet.
HSK 1
300 words in all
- New words
- 300
- Characters to read
- 246
- Characters to write
- 100 for HSK 1–2
HSK 2
500 words in all
- New words
- 200
- Characters to read
- 371
- Characters to write
- 100 for HSK 1–2
HSK 3
1,000 words in all
- New words
- 500
- Characters to read
- 655
- Characters to write
- 250
HSK 4
2,000 words in all
- New words
- 1,000
- Characters to read
- 1,096
- Characters to write
- 400
HSK 5
3,600 words in all
- New words
- 1,600
- Characters to read
- 1,527
- Characters to write
- 550
HSK 6
5,400 words in all
- New words
- 1,800
- Characters to read
- 1,940
- Characters to write
- 700
HSK 7–9
10,920 words in all
- New words
- 5,520
- Characters to read
- 3,088
- Characters to write
- 1,200
The 2025 syllabus
The HSK is the Chinese proficiency exam run by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation. Its new syllabus, the HSK 考试大纲, was published in November 2025 and has been used for the exam since July 2026. It lists the words, the characters and the grammar for each level.
What changed from 2021
The 2021 list put many more words in the first levels. The 2025 syllabus spreads them out, so the first four levels are much smaller and the totals meet again at HSK 6.
| Level | 2021 list | 2025 syllabus |
|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 500 | 300 |
| HSK 2 | 1,272 | 500 |
| HSK 3 | 2,245 | 1,000 |
| HSK 4 | 3,245 | 2,000 |
| HSK 5 | 4,316 | 3,600 |
| HSK 6 | 5,456 | 5,400 |
| HSK 7–9 | 11,092 | 10,920 |
Many words also moved level. Of the words on both lists, only 5,622 of 9,633 kept theirs, so an old “HSK 3 word list” is a different list from the one the exam uses now. Every level on this site follows the 2025 syllabus.
Reading and writing characters
Each level lists the characters to recognize and a shorter list to write by hand: 371 to read and 100 to write by HSK 2, 3,088 to read and 1,200 to write by HSK 7–9. Tap a character above to see it written stroke by stroke.
Questions
How many HSK levels are there?
Nine. Levels 1 to 6 each have their own word list and exam, and levels 7, 8 and 9 share one list of 5,520 more words and one exam, which sets your level by your score.
How many words do you need for HSK 1?
300 words on the 2025 syllabus, with 246 characters to read. The 2021 list asked for 500.
How many words do you need for HSK 4?
2,000 words in all on the 2025 syllabus, counting levels 1 to 3, and 1,096 characters to read.
Is the new HSK harder?
The early levels are smaller than on the 2021 list: HSK 3 is 1,000 words, not 2,245. From HSK 6 up the totals are close, and HSK 7–9 still asks for about eleven thousand words.
More free tools
Level test: find your HSK level in a few minutes. How hard is this text?: paste any Chinese and see its level. Chinese words by HSK level: every word, one page each. The most common characters: the 1,000 that make up most of a page.
Words, characters and levels from the HSK 考试大纲 (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, November 2025); the 2021 totals from the GF0025-2021 standard.