Elementary

HSK 3 speaking test 口语

The HSK 3 oral test is a separate exam from the written paper. This is what is on it: every part, how many tasks it asks, how long you get to answer each one, and the criteria your answers are marked against. The structure and timings below are the same ones used to assemble the speaking tests on this site.

HSK 3.0 · 3 parts · 15 tasks · scored out of 100 · timed per answer, not per section

What HSK 3 asks of you, officially

At this level the standard expects you to work at the sentence level: general skills in oral expression; can use a small amount of relatively complex sentence patterns for simple conversations or discussions.

Pronunciation requirement: basically correct pronunciation. That is a floor to clear, not what separates a strong candidate from a weak one. Content, structure and logic are what move the mark.

Quoted from GF0025-2021, 《国际中文教育中文水平等级标准》, the official standard published by China's Ministry of Education and effective from 1 July 2021.

The structure

Part	Tasks	Time per answer	Points each
Listen and repeat 听后重复	8	10 seconds	4
Describe the picture 看图说话	5	15 seconds	6
Answer the question 回答问题	2	1.5 minutes	19

Listen and repeat 听后重复

One sentence of audio. You repeat it, word for word.

Speak into your microphone within the response time. Your speech is transcribed automatically.

Copy the rhythm you heard, not only the words. Pacing carries a surprising share of the accuracy.

Example task

Show the transcript

我打算明天下午去图书馆借几本书。

请听后重复你听到的句子。

There is no answer key for a spoken task. What you say is judged against the criteria below.

How it is marked

Marked against HSK 3 口语 (spoken, CEFR A2) — HSK 3 on a 10 point scale, holistically. This is the same scheme the grader on this site uses, not a summary of it.

Repetition accuracy

worth 10 of 10

Compare the transcript to the target sentence. Minor STT artefacts (homophones, punctuation) should not be penalised; judge whether the CONTENT was reproduced.

No credit 0 pts: no answer, off-task, or unintelligible.
Weak 1 to 4 pts: the repetition bears little relation to the target sentence (相关性很差).
Adequate 5 to 7 pts: cannot repeat the sentence completely — partial or with notable omissions/changes (不能完整地重复).
Strong 8 to 10 pts: accurately repeats the sentence heard (准确地重复).

Describe the picture 看图说话

One photo, or a picture story of several panels in order. You describe what is happening.

Speak within the response time. When there are several panels, cover them in order so the story stays intact.

Name the people, the place and the action first. Add detail only once the whole story has been told.

Example task

Describe the picture task picture: A young East Asian woman cooking at the stove in a modern home kitchen: she is stir-frying vegetables in a wok, steam rising, more vegetables and a cutting board on the counter beside her.

请看图，说一段话。

There is no answer key for a spoken task. What you say is judged against the criteria below.

How it is marked

Marked against HSK 3 口语 (spoken, CEFR A2) — HSK 3 on a 10 point scale, holistically. This is the same scheme the grader on this site uses, not a summary of it.

Picture description

worth 10 of 10

Judge relevance to the picture first, then coherence and amount of information. Fluency/pauses can only be judged from the transcript's content, so weight relevance and coverage most.

No credit 0 pts: no answer or off-task.
Weak 1 to 4 pts: basically unrelated to the picture, low information and disorganised (与图片内容基本无关，信息量小且零乱).
Adequate 5 to 7 pts: basically matches the picture, but with many pauses/repetitions/grammar errors (基本相符，停顿、重复、语法错误较多).
Strong 8 to 10 pts: matches the picture, fluent, with only minor pauses/repetitions (与图片内容相符，表达流利).

Answer the question 回答问题

A printed question, answered aloud in Chinese.

Speak your answer within the response time.

A direct answer plus one reason is a complete answer. Long lists of reasons trail off under the clock.

Example task

你平时周末喜欢做什么？请说一说。

There is no answer key for a spoken task. What you say is judged against the criteria below.

How it is marked

Marked against HSK 3 口语 (spoken, CEFR A2) — HSK 3 on a 10 point scale, holistically. This is the same scheme the grader on this site uses, not a summary of it.

Answer quality

worth 10 of 10

First check the answer actually addresses the question (答非所问 is 低). Then weigh amount of information and coherence. Judge fluency only from what the transcript shows.

No credit 0 pts: no answer.
Weak 1 to 4 pts: off-question, low information and incoherent (答非所问，信息量少且不连贯).
Adequate 5 to 7 pts: answers the question but with little information and many pauses/repetitions/grammar errors (信息量较少，停顿、重复、语法错误较多).
Strong 8 to 10 pts: answers the question with rich content and fluent, mostly-correct expression (内容丰富，表达流利).

Two ways to start

Take a free written mock first

A full HSK 3 written paper under the real clock, with audio that plays once. No account needed to start, and your first one is graded free. It is the fastest way to see whether the grading here is worth paying for.

Start a free HSK 3 mock exam

Sit the speaking test

The oral test is part of the HSK + 口语 plan. You record your answers under the real per-task clock and get them marked against the criteria above, with pronunciation scored separately.

See the 口语 plan

Still working out what is on the written paper? Read the HSK 3 exam format guide, or see free HSK 3 practice questions.