How to Pass HSK 4 | Adrian Language Coach

Hi, I’m Adrian, a language enthusiast passionate about learning and teaching languages. Last year, I passed the HSK 4 exam after just one year of learning Chinese. In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to pass HSK 4 by yourself, based on my own study journey and tips.

Why I Decided to Take the HSK 4

I wanted to measure my progress in Chinese and open more study and career opportunities. The exam was not only proof of my level for others, but also a personal challenge.

Signing up for an exam is a great way to push yourself. It gives you something to work towards instead of just drifting through the ups and downs of language learning. I saw it as an experiment — to see how much progress I could make in the shortest time possible.

The price of the exam was about 140€, which was another reason I took it seriously. Whether I was in the mood or not, whether I had time or not, I knew I had to prepare. If you struggle with procrastination like I do, this is a great motivation hack.

How I Prepared for the Exam

Flashcards App: I used Anki to go through the HSK 4 vocabulary list. I wasn’t aiming to memorize every word perfectly — just to get familiar with them. You can also use Memrise if you prefer a more smartphone-friendly option.
Practice Exams: I took mock exams online to get familiar with the format. I like to look it up on YouTube and go through some videos where they show the structure of the exercises.
Textbooks: Honestly, I don’t like using textbooks. Instead, I watched YouTube videos and Spotify playlists that cover the textbook content. It’s a smoother and more relaxed way to learn.
Reading Practice: The exam has a lot of “fill-in-the-blank” style exercises. I recommend practicing those and reading Chinese subtitles while doing listening exercises. Avoid using subtitles in your native language — train yourself to guess meanings from context. It’s okay to translate a few words when you’re stuck, but struggling is where real progress happens.
Listening Practice: I listened to Chinese podcasts and watched Chinese TV shows, especially those that use exam-like vocabulary. I recommend:
Speaking Practice: HSK 4 requires you to take the HSKK Intermediate (口语中级) exam. Speaking wasn’t too difficult — daily conversations were enough to get me ready. One exercise caught me by surprise: you have to imitate phrases they give you, so whenever you watch Chinese content, make sure to repeat out loud.
Writing Practice: I took the exam online, which is much easier than handwriting. In HSK 4, you often get an image and a word, and you need to make a sentence. As long as your sentence is grammatically correct, you’ll get full points. I practiced this
by making flashcards with pictures and creating short, simple sentences, no need to reinvent the wheel or overcomplicate stuff.

Shows to watch

Ode to Joy (欢乐颂)
虎妈猫爸 (Tiger Mom, Cat Dad)
Dashu Mandarin (大叔中文)

Challenges I Faced

Personally, I struggled the most with listening. Speaking was my strength, but this will vary from person to person.

The hardest part overall? Being consistent with flashcards. It’s easy to skip them, but it’s so important. Even when it felt boring or tiring, I forced myself to review them. I made it easier by doing flashcards while listening to music or doing house chores.

If you haven’t built a listening habit yet, start right now. You’ll thank yourself later.

Tips to pass HSK 4

Practice Listening Every Day: Listen to podcasts or videos you enjoy. This is the most important skill. Pay attention to the context and guess what’s being said.
Use Flashcards: Like I said before, like it or not, you can always incorporate this in an easy way, and it makes a huge difference.
Take Mock Exams: Manage your time and get familiar with the structure. I used the HSK 4 app and HSK SuperTest app — they were the only two things I spent money on during my Chinese learning journey. Not mandatory, but super useful.
Write and Speak Actively: Don’t just passively read or listen. Make your own sentences. Repeat after native speakers. You can also look into Shadowing, which is about imitating native speech, since there is an imitating exercise (for which I didn’t prepare)…
Be Consistent: Do your flashcards, videos, reading. Don’t make excuses, but also don’t be too hard on yourself. Everyone can find at least 10 minutes a day. Although, being completely honest, you need more than 10 minutes a day, this is just the bare minimum one can do to stay consistent.

Exam day experience

I was slightly nervous, but nothing extreme. My advice:

Get a good night’s sleep.
Eat properly before the exam.
Trust your preparation and don’t panic or doubt yourself.

The reading and writing sections went smoothly. The listening was fast and a bit stressful, but manageable.

A heads-up: after the written exam, I had about 20 minutes to prepare for the speaking part. We were allowed to write small notes for the image description exercise — but this might vary depending on your exam center.

Surprisingly, my biggest strength — the speaking section, turned out to be harder than expected. You’re supposed to talk for about two minutes describing the images. I improvised, but if you want to feel fully confident, make sure to practice this in advance.

My Result and Final Thoughts

I passed with a solid score. I’ll leave the exact result below. I’m now aiming for HSK 5, and I’ll post updates on my progress soon. I will also leave down below the links of the resources I used to prepare.

Thanks for reading! I hope this post inspires you to take the HSK exam or pursue any language certification you’re aiming for. If you have any questions or want to share your experience, feel free to drop a comment. I’d love to help!