Last verified: August 26, 2026 · we re-check the official sources and update this page
So, is HSK 3.0 actually happening?
Short answer: yes, but slowly, and not the way most articles tell it. Everything below comes from the official announcements and the official word list files, which we downloaded and counted ourselves.
The short version
- The new nine-level HSK (people call it HSK 3.0) is still in trial runs. The second worldwide trial exam is on September 20, 2026.
- The regular HSK you can book today still uses the old six levels. Your old prep materials are not wasted.
- There is no official date for the full switch yet. You may have seen "December 13, 2026". That date comes from test centers, not from a dated official announcement. Treat it as a rumor with decent sources.
- The famous "99.2% of old words carry over" number? We compared the two official lists word by word: it is 97.06%. More on that below.
What is HSK 3.0, in one breath
The HSK is the standard Mandarin test. For years it had six levels. The new system stretches that staircase into nine bands, adds speaking earlier, and roughly doubles the total vocabulary. Nine levels sounds scarier. For beginners it is actually gentler: the first steps got smaller, so fewer people rage-quit at step one.
Where things stand right now
- July 2021. China publishes the new standard behind all of this: three stages, nine bands, about 11,092 words.
- November 2025. The actual exam syllabus finally lands, four years later, with its own adjusted word list of exactly 11,000 words.
- January 31, 2026. First worldwide trial exam, levels 1 to 6. Results came out March 14.
- September 20, 2026. Second worldwide trial exam. Levels 1 to 6, and levels 3 and up include a speaking part.
- Today. Regular test dates still run on the old six-level system. The official site calls the new exams "trial runs", which is our best signal that the big switch has not happened yet.
The three word lists problem
Here is the thing nobody tells you: there are three different "HSK word lists" floating around, and most websites mix them up.
| List | Words | Who should care |
|---|---|---|
| The old exam list (2012, current file from 2015) | 5,000 | Anyone taking a regular HSK today. This is still the real exam. |
| The 2021 standard list | 11,092 | Almost nobody, anymore. Most "HSK 3.0 word lists" online were built from this one, and it is already outdated. |
| The 2025 exam syllabus list | 11,000 | Anyone learning for the new exam. This is the list the trial exams actually use. |
Quick test for any word list you find online: if it was published before November 2025, it is probably the wrong one.
About that "99.2%" number
Articles everywhere say the old and new lists overlap by 99.2%. We tried to find the official source for that number and could not. So we did it the boring way: we took the official old list (5,000 words) and the official new list (11,000 words) and compared them word by word.
4,853 of 5,000 old words made it into the new list. That is 97.06%. The other 147 words got dropped.
Is 97 instead of 99 a big deal? For your studying, no. For trusting what you read online, maybe. When a number appears everywhere but nobody can point to where it came from, count it yourself.
What should you do?
If you have a test booked
Relax. Your exam is the old system unless you specifically signed up for a trial. Study the old list for your level, take your test, done. Scores keep their normal validity.
If you are learning for life, not for a certificate
The overlap means you can barely go wrong. If you like following a list, follow the 2025 one. If you learned from older materials, you have lost almost nothing: 147 words out of 5,000 is a rounding error in a lifetime of Mandarin.
The new band sizes
| Band | New words | Share of the 11,000 | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 300 | 300 | |
| 2 | 200 | 500 | |
| 3 | 500 | 1,000 | |
| 4 | 1,000 | 2,000 | |
| 5 | 1,600 | 3,600 | |
| 6 | 1,800 | 5,400 | |
| 7 to 9 | 5,600 | 11,000 |
Yes, band 2 has only 200 words. Not a typo. The early bands were made small on purpose so beginners get wins early.
How we checked
We read the official announcements and downloaded the official files, then counted everything ourselves instead of quoting other articles. The official files even contain a few small typos, which we cataloged along the way. When the internet and the official files disagree, we go with the files.
- Official notices, chinesetest.cn (the second trial exam announcement)
- The 2021 standard, Ministry of Education
- The 2025 exam syllabus files, official download (bands 1 to 6, plus the combined syllabus)
- The old official word list, chinesetest.cn