1. The HSK (Basic) is appropriate for those beginners who have had 100-800 hours of formal education in modern Chinese, and have a basic vocabulary of 400-3,000 common Chinese characters (at the A and B levels), and who understand the corresponding Chinese grammar structures (at the A and B levels).

2. The HSK (Elementary-Intermediate) is appropriate for elementary and intermediate students of Chinese who have had 400-2,000 hours of formal education in modern Chinese, have a basic vocabulary of 2,000-5,000 common Chinese characters (at the A, B and C levels), and who understand the corresponding Chinese grammar structure (at the A, B and C levels).

3. The HSK (Advanced) is appropriate for Advanced students of Chinese who have had 3,000 hours of formal education in modern Chinese, have a basic vocabulary of 5,000-8,000 common Chinese characters (at the A, B, C and D levels), and who understand the corresponding Chinese grammar structure (at the A, B, C and D levels).

4. The HSK (for Young learners) is appropriate for young learners of Chinese under the age of 15. Level 1 is appropriate for those who have had 150 hours of learning Chinese; Level 2 is appropriate for those who have had 250 hours of learning Chinese; and level 3 is appropriate for those who have had 400 hours of learning Chinese.

5. The HSK (for Business), HSK (for Secretaries) and HSK (for Tourism) are appropriate for those who hold a HSK Level 3 (HSK Basic A or HSK Elementary C) or above that level.