HSK 5 enough to start a PhD fully in Chinese? Yes, but… only on paper. What I mean by that is, my university’s requirement when I was applying for a PhD in China was only HSK 5. But personally, I don’t think it was enough. HSK did not prepare me to learn all the important words I needed for my major (专业)—there are always plenty of new words in each article, book, and during lectures. There were many new concepts (or old concepts that I knew but in English/Polish). All the names of foreign scholars I was familiar with were translated into Chinese, so I needed to connect the dots myself (many professors did not mention names in English transliteration, so I ended up making flashcards with the names of people I knew, but in Chinese, lol). HSK 5 did not prepare me for how to use the academic phrases I needed to write my thesis or articles. HSK 5 did not prepare me for how to read Chinese academic books and textbooks. HSK 5 did not prepare me for all the dialects and accents (口音) my professors have. HSK 5 was not enough. HSK 6 is also not enough, but it’s already better than HSK 5—it includes many advanced, useful words that actually show up in academic writing, essays, and that I could hear during lectures. I jumped into really deep water, and the first two years were hard. I didn’t know where my vocabulary list would end. Every day I ended up tired of Chinese, since there was a lot of material to cover, and as a person who had passed ONLY HSK 5—it was tough. I felt behind. No social life. Only books and textbooks. Drowning in new materials and textbooks, trying to keep up with weekly readings. If you want to do a PhD in China, in Chinese, do yourself a favor and first pass at least HSK 6. That way you won’t feel like I did—constantly overwhelmed with back pain. In the near future I will share some ideas how to prepare yourself to study in China*, in Chinese. *full major, not language exchange (two different things)Â
