HSK
How long does it take to reach each HSK level?
2 November 2026 · 6 min read
"How long until HSK 4?" has an honest answer, and it's mostly arithmetic: how many words the level needs, divided by how many new words you can learn a day and actually keep. Here are the numbers.
The arithmetic
These are the HSK 3.0 totals, from zero, at three steady paces. Every day counts, weekends included.
| Level | Total words | 5 a day | 10 a day | 20 a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 500 | ~3½ months | ~7 weeks | ~4 weeks |
| HSK 2 | 1,272 | ~8½ months | ~4 months | ~2 months |
| HSK 3 | 2,245 | ~15 months | ~7½ months | ~4 months |
| HSK 4 | 3,245 | ~1¾ years | ~11 months | ~5½ months |
| HSK 5 | 4,316 | ~2⅓ years | ~1¼ years | ~7 months |
| HSK 6 | 5,456 | ~3 years | ~1½ years | ~9 months |
| HSK 7–9 | 11,092 | ~6 years | ~3 years | ~1½ years |
Already know some Chinese? Subtract what you know. Someone with most of HSK 2 who wants HSK 4 needs about 2,000 more words — roughly seven months at 10 a day.
Why 20 a day usually isn't faster
New words are only half the work. Every word you learn comes back for review — often the next day, then a few days later, then a week, then a month, each gap longer than the last. That's spaced repetition, and it's what makes words stick. It also means today's new words become tomorrow's reviews.
At 20 new words a day, after a few weeks you're reviewing well over a hundred words a day on top. Sessions grow from ten minutes to forty, and most people who start at that pace stop within a month. Stopping for three weeks costs more than going at half speed would have.
The pace that gets you to HSK 4 fastest is the fastest one you'll still be keeping in six months. For most people with a job, that's somewhere between 5 and 10 new words a day.
What actually moves the date
- Not skipping days. A short session every day beats a long one twice a week, because reviews land on time instead of piling up.
- Learning the common words first. Common words show up again outside your lessons, which works as free review.
- Not relearning what you know. If you've studied before, starting from HSK 1 again can waste months.
- Hearing the words. Words you can recognise by ear as well as by sight are the ones you'll understand in a conversation.
Vocabulary isn't the whole exam
These numbers are for words. The exams also test grammar, listening, reading speed and, from the elementary stage, writing characters. Words are the biggest single part, though — you can't understand a sentence in which a third of the words are new, whatever your grammar.
How Ming paces it
Ming starts with a level test so you don't relearn what you know, then gives you a few new words a day, most common first, with reviews scheduled for the moment before you'd forget. When reviews pile up, it slows the new words down instead of letting the backlog grow. Five minutes a day is enough to keep going — and keeping going is what gets you there.
See every level's words in the HSK 3.0 word lists, or read what each level's word count gets you.