The HSK 3.0 syllabus, in numbers
From the official 考试大纲 published November 2025, in force July 2026 · last checked 4 August 2026
How many words do you need for HSK 1? 300. For the whole of HSK 1-6? 5,400. Including the advanced 7-9 band? 11,000 words and 3,000 characters.
HSK 3.0 replaced the six-level HSK 2.0 with nine levels in three bands, and it raised the counts sharply at the bottom: HSK 1 went from 150 words to 300. It also split what you must read from what you must write by hand, which the older syllabus never did. The tables below are the per-level figures, not the cumulative ones, so you can see exactly what each level adds.
Words per level
| Level | New words | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 2 | 200 | 500 |
| HSK 3 | 500 | 1,000 |
| HSK 4 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| HSK 5 | 1,600 | 3,600 |
| HSK 6 | 1,800 | 5,400 |
| HSK 7-9 | 5,600 | 11,000 |
Reading characters (认读字) per level
| Level | New characters | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 246 | 246 |
| HSK 2 | 125 | 371 |
| HSK 3 | 284 | 655 |
| HSK 4 | 441 | 1,096 |
| HSK 5 | 431 | 1,527 |
| HSK 6 | 413 | 1,940 |
| HSK 7-9 | 1,148 | 3,088 |
The syllabus rounds the headline total to 3,000; the published lists add up to 3,088 characters.
Writing characters (书写字) per level
A smaller set: the characters you must produce by hand, not merely read.
| Level | New characters | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| HSK 1-2 | 100 | 100 |
| HSK 3 | 150 | 250 |
| HSK 4 | 150 | 400 |
| HSK 5 | 150 | 550 |
| HSK 6 | 150 | 700 |
| HSK 7-9 | 500 | 1,200 |
Grammar points per level
The 语法大纲 lists the patterns each level is examined on - 429 in total.
| Level | Grammar points |
|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 46 |
| HSK 2 | 48 |
| HSK 3 | 59 |
| HSK 4 | 67 |
| HSK 5 | 64 |
| HSK 6 | 49 |
| HSK 7-9 | 96 |
How long does each level take?
There is no official answer, and anyone quoting one precisely is guessing. What is calculable is the character load: at 3 new characters a day, HSK 1's 246 reading characters take about 12 weeks, and HSK 1-3's 655 take about seven months - with reviews on top, which is where most of the time actually goes. Doubling the daily rate does not halve the time, because the review load grows with everything you have already learned.
What HSK 3.0 changed from HSK 2.0
- Nine levels, three bands (1-3 elementary, 4-6 intermediate, 7-9 advanced) instead of six flat levels.
- Higher counts at the bottom. HSK 1 doubled: 150 words to 300.
- Reading and writing are separate lists. 3,000 characters to read, 1,200 to write.
- A published grammar syllabus, level by level, which HSK 2.0 lacked.
- Speaking is examined separately as HSKK, from HSK 3 upward.
Learning the list is not the same as learning the language
These are the numbers, and they are worth knowing before you start, because they tell you what you are signing up for. They do not tell you how to get there. A list of 3,000 characters memorised as isolated shapes falls apart under real reading; the characters that stay are the ones you can take apart.
Gushi teaches exactly this syllabus - every word, every character, every grammar point above - by giving each character a story built from its own components, then scheduling it with spaced repetition so it survives. Reading, listening, writing, speaking and mock exams for each level, on iOS, Android and the web.