How does HSC Beginners/Continuers roughly align with HSK levels? & Taking this subject as a non-heritage speaker? (1 Viewer)

[Duskheaven]

1. How does HSC Beginners/Continuers HSC bands roughly align with HSK levels for these subjects?

2. If someone takes Chienese as a non-heritage speaker are they basically screwing their ATAR due to the shear amount of heritage speakers taking the subject ? I, also, imagine that students from non-heritage speaker background's parents may be less willing, on average, to pay for Chinese weekend school / cram school.

Asking out of pure interest as I've been in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong for the last year and I'm deeply interested in language pedagogy.

My guess is that the vast majority of Chinese continuers are HSK2.5-3.3 equivalent (2021 course). However, the listening section is a lot slower than what I would expect at HSK3. This is just my guess.

btw. check bio for free resources

 

[...xD]

1. How does HSC Beginners/Continuers roughly align with HSC bands for these subjects?

2. If someone takes Chienese as a non-heritage speaker are they basically screwing their ATAR due to the shear amount of heritage speakers taking the subject ? I, also, imagine that students from non-heritage speaker background's parents may be less willing, on average, to pay for Chinese weekend school / cram school.

Asking out of pure interest as I've been in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong for the last year and I'm deeply interested in language pedagogy.

My guess is that the vast majority of Chinese continuers are HSK2.5-3.3 equivalent. However, the listening section is a lot slower than what I would expect at HSK3. This is just my guess.

btw. check bio for free resources

1. In the past chinese continuers has scaled decently well (and beginners in comparison a bit worse ofc), although recently the papers has been getting harder in difficulty (maybe to account for the increase in heritage ppl)

2. Not sure about the atar screwing part, but all I can say is, non heritage speakers do need to put in much more effort to get similar grades to heritage speakers (probably 1.5x ish) - from what I've seen though, the average heritage student has an advantage in speaking and listening (like ofc right), but reading and writing capabilities still stay kinda minimal unless they went to saturday school (even then though most ppl dont improve like too much- talking from personal experience here)

But tbh, at this point I feel like unless you're quite certain you are passionate about the subject and ready to put in lots of effort daily, it'll be quite hard to get a band 6 for non heritage.

The subject is unfair. They need to open up a separate continuers course for non heritage people too.

The old regulations made it hard for heritage students, and the new regulations have made it hard for non- heritage students. Still kinda mad at my old teacher for recommending me to do context, like even though in year 3 I spent 2 months in China studying nothing, and spoke chinese at home, I am not and will not catch up to my peers who had lived in china till they were like 9 years old with 2 months to spare before they turned 10 (the cut off for in context)

 

[Duskheaven]

1. In the past chinese continuers has scaled decently well (and beginners in comparison a bit worse ofc), although recently the papers has been getting harder in difficulty (maybe to account for the increase in heritage ppl)

2. Not sure about the atar screwing part, but all I can say is, non heritage speakers do need to put in much more effort to get similar grades to heritage speakers (probably 1.5x ish) - from what I've seen though, the average heritage student has an advantage in speaking and listening (like ofc right), but reading and writing capabilities still stay kinda minimal unless they went to saturday school (even then though most ppl dont improve like too much- talking from personal experience here)

But tbh, at this point I feel like unless you're quite certain you are passionate about the subject and ready to put in lots of effort daily, it'll be quite hard to get a band 6 for non heritage.

The subject is unfair. They need to open up a separate continuers course for non heritage people too.

The old regulations made it hard for heritage students, and the new regulations have made it hard for non- heritage students. Still kinda mad at my old teacher for recommending me to do context, like even though in year 3 I spent 2 months in China studying nothing, and spoke chinese at home, I am not and will not catch up to my peers who had lived in china till they were like 9 years old with 2 months to spare before they turned 10 (the cut off for in context)

Sorry, it was extremely late at night when I posted this and I originally wrote HSC instead of HSK. Edited!

 

[Duskheaven]

1. In the past chinese continuers has scaled decently well (and beginners in comparison a bit worse ofc), although recently the papers has been getting harder in difficulty (maybe to account for the increase in heritage ppl)

2. Not sure about the atar screwing part, but all I can say is, non heritage speakers do need to put in much more effort to get similar grades to heritage speakers (probably 1.5x ish) - from what I've seen though, the average heritage student has an advantage in speaking and listening (like ofc right), but reading and writing capabilities still stay kinda minimal unless they went to saturday school (even then though most ppl dont improve like too much- talking from personal experience here)

But tbh, at this point I feel like unless you're quite certain you are passionate about the subject and ready to put in lots of effort daily, it'll be quite hard to get a band 6 for non heritage.

The subject is unfair. They need to open up a separate continuers course for non heritage people too.

The old regulations made it hard for heritage students, and the new regulations have made it hard for non- heritage students. Still kinda mad at my old teacher for recommending me to do context, like even though in year 3 I spent 2 months in China studying nothing, and spoke chinese at home, I am not and will not catch up to my peers who had lived in china till they were like 9 years old with 2 months to spare before they turned 10 (the cut off for in context)

It's a huge shame that the system disincentives learning chinese for non-heritage speakers. Not just on an individual level, but, also on a societal level encouraging non-heritage speakers to learn Chinese would go a long way in promoting cultural understanding.

 

[Duskheaven]

1. In the past chinese continuers has scaled decently well (and beginners in comparison a bit worse ofc), although recently the papers has been getting harder in difficulty (maybe to account for the increase in heritage ppl)

2. Not sure about the atar screwing part, but all I can say is, non heritage speakers do need to put in much more effort to get similar grades to heritage speakers (probably 1.5x ish) - from what I've seen though, the average heritage student has an advantage in speaking and listening (like ofc right), but reading and writing capabilities still stay kinda minimal unless they went to saturday school (even then though most ppl dont improve like too much- talking from personal experience here)

But tbh, at this point I feel like unless you're quite certain you are passionate about the subject and ready to put in lots of effort daily, it'll be quite hard to get a band 6 for non heritage.

The subject is unfair. They need to open up a separate continuers course for non heritage people too.

The old regulations made it hard for heritage students, and the new regulations have made it hard for non- heritage students. Still kinda mad at my old teacher for recommending me to do context, like even though in year 3 I spent 2 months in China studying nothing, and spoke chinese at home, I am not and will not catch up to my peers who had lived in china till they were like 9 years old with 2 months to spare before they turned 10 (the cut off for in context)

It's a shame that saturday school doesn't seem to be paying off but it also makes perfect sense. I can imagine how bad and boring that is. If you have any reflections on the expected progress, tell me.

For what it's worth, I was in Chinese language schools for about 4 months in China - 20hrs a week class, expectation of perhaps another 10-20hrs a week of self study at one school / 10-20hrs of speaking Chinese with Chinese friends at the other school. Everyone loved it and had rapid progress. (I'd guess HSK 0 to HSK3 for non-heritage speakers in ~3.5months). 30RMB an hour. No one was especially smart, it's just a reflection on the learning environment.

 

[Duskheaven]

if someone finds this post in 5yrs time, please still respond. I check boardofstudies at least biannually.

 

[evchai]

1. How does HSC Beginners/Continuers HSC bands roughly align with HSK levels for these subjects?

2. If someone takes Chienese as a non-heritage speaker are they basically screwing their ATAR due to the shear amount of heritage speakers taking the subject ? I, also, imagine that students from non-heritage speaker background's parents may be less willing, on average, to pay for Chinese weekend school / cram school.

Asking out of pure interest as I've been in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong for the last year and I'm deeply interested in language pedagogy.

My guess is that the vast majority of Chinese continuers are HSK2.5-3.3 equivalent (2021 course). However, the listening section is a lot slower than what I would expect at HSK3. This is just my guess.

btw. check bio for free resources

1. im taking hsc chinese continuers now as a non native and i feel the level is roughly 3, maybe 4 (i completed hsk4 with an average score without directly studying for hsk), although in reading and listening I tend to find 1, maybe 2 characters I may not understand, but definitely not to the extent where i can't understand the general texts.
2. I dont think it screws ur atar, especially as if you have a geniuene interest in the language/subject and have performed decently well, e.g. my 7/9 heritage speakers class (top 3). There are many schools who I have seen only have non-natives and will probably do veyr well, the only thing that is imbalanced now is that the stae ranks will mot likely be all heritage speakers. + I dont do any sunday schools for chinese
3. Listening is slower and you here the text twice, but hsk is multi choice which tbh I find musch easier than short answer quesitons in hsc which have longer texts

Hope this helps

 

[Duskheaven]

1. im taking hsc chinese continuers now as a non native and i feel the level is roughly 3, maybe 4 (i completed hsk4 with an average score without directly studying for hsk), although in reading and listening I tend to find 1, maybe 2 characters I may not understand, but definitely not to the extent where i can't understand the general texts.
2. I dont think it screws ur atar, especially as if you have a geniuene interest in the language/subject and have performed decently well, e.g. my 7/9 heritage speakers class (top 3). There are many schools who I have seen only have non-natives and will probably do veyr well, the only thing that is imbalanced now is that the stae ranks will mot likely be all heritage speakers. + I dont do any sunday schools for chinese
3. Listening is slower and you here the text twice, but hsk is multi choice which tbh I find musch easier than short answer quesitons in hsc which have longer texts

Hope this helps

Thank you so much. Honestly, higher than I expected. Completing HSK4 with an average score without directly studying for the HSC seems pretty wild to me honestly. It is 4 years but still, HSK4 is quite a good foundation - especially if you'd consider yourself HSK4 equivalant at speaking. 加油.

BTW, for maintance & improvement I reccomend hellotalk (or tandem). I did french continuers and wish I knew about this sooner.

 

[fromthethickofit]

Having studied both Chinese Continuers and Chinese Extension while also exploring the HSK system, I’ve developed a general sense of how the HSC bands align with the various HSK levels in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and performance expectations.

In my experience, Chinese Continuers aligns roughly with HSK Levels 1 to 4. HSK 1 introduces around 150 characters, HSK 2 expands that to 300, HSK 3 to 600, and HSK 4 to approximately 1200 characters in total. A student with a solid grasp of HSK 4-level vocabulary and grammar, particularly in reading comprehension and listening, would be well-positioned to achieve a Band 6 in Continuers, provided they can also meet the demands of writing and speaking tasks. Someone with HSK 3 proficiency could still perform quite well, potentially reaching a Band 5, though they may struggle slightly with complex written expression and subtle nuances in comprehension.

In contrast, Chinese Extension demands significantly more advanced understanding. The course revolves around responding to contemporary global issues and requires strong analytical, persuasive, and expressive skills. To perform at a high level in Extension, particularly to achieve a Band 6, students generally need to operate at around HSK 5 to HSK 6 level. HSK 5 introduces around 2500 characters, while HSK 6 covers 5000 or more. This level of fluency is necessary not just for comprehension but also for producing sophisticated and structured arguments in writing and monologues. Essentially, the Extension course expects near-native proficiency in both receptive and productive skills.

I’ve also reviewed Chinese Beginners materials and exam papers and would estimate that the course corresponds roughly to HSK Levels 1 through early HSK 3. Since HSK 3 includes up to 600 characters, and Beginners is far less demanding in terms of vocabulary and grammar, a student with HSK 2 proficiency, around 300 characters, would likely do quite well. From what I’ve observed, the reading sections contain very few unfamiliar words, often just two or three, which students are permitted to look up using a dictionary during the exam. This allowance, combined with the relatively basic sentence structures and predictable context of questions, makes the exam very manageable for non-heritage learners with foundational skills.