How to pass HSK 4
HSK 4 is the level people actually need. It is the common entry bar for degree programs taught in Chinese, and it is the point where the exam stops testing whether you know words and starts testing how fast you process them. Twelve hundred words, 100 questions, about 105 minutes, and 180 of 300 to pass.
What the exam asks
| Section | Questions | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Listening | 45 | Short dialogues with one question, then longer exchanges and short monologues with two or three. Played once. |
| Reading | 40 | Gap-fill from a word bank, sentence-order questions, and passages of two to four sentences with one or two questions each. Forty questions in about 40 minutes. |
| Writing | 15 | Ten scrambled sentences to order, five picture-and-word sentences to compose. |
Total: 100 questions, about 105 minutes, 300 points, 180 to pass. See the HSK exam format for the full series.
Which format are you sitting? Under the revised standard taking effect from July 2026, level 4 asks for roughly 2,000 words rather than 1,200, the paper drops to about 70 questions, and a spoken component is compulsory alongside it. A new level 4 is therefore a larger claim than an old one — worth knowing when a university requirement names a bare number. See the new HSK, explained.
Reading speed is the score
At HSK 3 you can decode a sentence you half-know and still finish. At HSK 4 the reading section gives you roughly a minute per question across 40 questions, several of which sit under a passage you have to read first. A learner who recognizes every word but reads at four characters a second runs out of time with ten questions unanswered, and those ten cost more than any vocabulary gap.
Speed comes from volume, not from drills. Read graded material slightly below your ceiling, every day, for longer than feels useful. The 600 new words will be met dozens of times in that reading, which also solves the vocabulary problem as a side effect.
In GraphChinese: HSK 4 is 128 topics and 1193 cumulative words, with 1 narrated graded readings at the level. The readings exist because reading volume is the mechanism that turns HSK 4 vocabulary into HSK 4 speed, and a course that only drills cards never delivers it.
The grammar that carries the level
- Complements — 得 (说得很好), resultative (看完, 听懂), directional (走进来), and potential (吃得完 / 吃不完). This is the largest single area at HSK 4 and the one that makes Chinese sound Chinese.
- 把 and 被 — moving the object in front of the verb, and the passive. Both appear in the scrambled-sentence writing items constantly.
- Connectors — 不但…而且, 只要…就, 无论…都, 既然…就. The reading section is built out of these; recognizing the second half tells you what the first half must have said.
- Adverb position — 就, 才, 再, 又, 还. Small words, precise meanings, and the exam tests the difference between 就 and 才 more often than any single vocabulary item.
A twenty-week plan from HSK 3
| Weeks | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1–12 | The ~600 new words at about 50 a week, always in sentences, with daily spaced review. One grammar area a week from the list above. |
| 13–16 | Reading volume: a graded passage every day, timed. Listening at natural speed, played once, ten minutes a day minimum. |
| 17–18 | Writing: scrambled sentences until word order is automatic, then picture-and-word sentences written to a two-minute limit. |
| 19–20 | Three full past papers under time, spread out, with repair between them rather than after all three. |
The three things that decide it
- Old material has to be automatic. An HSK 4 sentence is mostly HSK 1–3 vocabulary plus one new element. If the old material still needs decoding, the new element is unreachable. Spaced review of everything below the level is not optional at this point.
- Time discipline in reading. Answer, mark, move. A minute spent rescuing one question costs two questions at the end of the section.
- Listening at natural speed, daily. The listening section is the one people underestimate because it improves slowly and invisibly. Ten minutes a day for twenty weeks beats a listening binge in week 19.
Frequently asked questions
How many words do you need for HSK 4?
1,200 cumulative — about 600 new words on top of HSK 3, which is the largest single jump so far in the series.
How long does HSK 4 take?
About five to eight months after HSK 3 at an hour a day. The vocabulary doubles, and the reading passages get long enough that speed rather than knowledge starts to decide the score.
Is HSK 4 enough for a Chinese university?
It is the common bar for degree programs taught in Chinese, frequently in science and engineering, with HSK 5 more common for humanities and business. Requirements vary by university and program, and many add a minimum score well above the 180 pass mark, so read the published requirement rather than the general rule.
What is in the HSK 4 writing section?
Fifteen items: ten scrambled sentences to put in order, and five that give you a picture and a word and ask for a sentence using both. It tests word order and controlled production rather than composition.
Is HSK 4 fluent?
No. HSK 4 is roughly CEFR B1 in practice: comfortable on everyday topics, still slow with unedited native material, and unable to follow a fast conversation between two native speakers. It is the level at which serious study becomes possible, not the end of it.
HSK 4 is a consolidation problem. GraphChinese schedules reviews of every level below the one you are working on, so the old material stays automatic while the new material arrives. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
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