HSK 6 – Vocabulary list and content

By Felipe / Last updated October 22, 2024

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HSK level 6 is the last of 6 levels in the official Chinese proficiency test HSK. Let's see what you need to learn to pass the exam and whether you will be actually good at Chinese afterwards.

Quick disclaimer: This guide is about HSK version 2.0. An update to the HSK test (version 3.0) has been officially announced in 2021 and brings some significant changes. However, textbooks are still being updated to fit the new curriculum and you can not take the new HSK tests, yet. So for the foreseeable future, the current HSK 2.0 is going to stay relevant.

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How many words are in HSK 6?

HSK level 6 introduces 2,500 new words and 978 distinct new characters. That means that you will know a total of 5,000 words and 2,663 characters after HSK 6.

What you will learn in HSK 6

Generally speaking, with a total of 2,663 characters that you should be able to recognize, you are getting close to what native speakers know. HSK 6 has a lot of everything: More characters, more words, and a lot more proverbs (成语/成語, chéngyǔ). Futhermore, HSK 6 shifts the focus away from daily Chinese and more towards formal Chinese. Many of the new words are only used in formal writings, like newspapers, and you won't ever encounter them in a conversation. Many of the words are also very niche. There are plenty of HSK 6 words that I have never encountered outside of HSK 6 learning material although I have already read quite a few books in Chinese by now.

A whole section of the HSK 6 exam is dedicated to "language mistakes" (语病/語病, yǔbìng). You basically get to look at four different sentences and have to pick the one that has some grammatical mistake in it. This sounds like an easy task but even native speakers struggle to get these questions right! This goes to show how advanced HSK 6 is in some aspects. It's like having to know with 100% certainty when to use "who" vs "whom" or "can" vs "may" in English.

What studying HSK 6 will feel like

By now you know the drill: You finish one level and need to double the time it takes for the next level. HSK 6 is no exception in this regard. Learning 2,500 new words is going to take a while no matter what. If you study full-time and study exclusively HSK 6 vocabulary, it might take you just 3-6 months. Studying Chinese as a hobby or not focusing exclusively on HSK 6 means that you will probably need years (plural) to get there.

However, you know what you are doing and why you are doing it by now. You know what works for you and how to study Chinese sustainably. Just keep doing whatever you are doing, trust the process, try to have fun along the way, and you'll get there.

Don't get discouraged if you are still feeling like your Chinese is bad despite having put in so much time and effort. In the eyes of most Chinese learners (and natives), you have already achieved more than what can reasonably be expected from a foreigner. You should give yourself a pat on the back every now and then for what you have achieved already.

Closing thoughts

In contrast to HSK 5, I don't think that HSK 6 is super helpful for getting good at Chinese. There are hundreds of words in the HSK 6 vocabulary that you will probably never encounter in real life and there are also no ground-breaking new grammar structures. That means you will spend time learning hundreds of words exclusively to pass the exam. This issue gets exacerbated by having to drill grammar mistake exercises ad nauseam.

So should you take the HSK 6 exam? Only if it is a requirement for your study program or job or if you have a completionist mindset. If you don't fall into any of these categories I would highly recommend that you find other Chinese learning goals to pursue. The HSK 6 curriculum is not the most exciting and there is so much more to learn outside of it. If you want to take the test regardless, good luck with those 语病.

Until next time, happy learning! 🚀