HSC Chinese Beginners (NSW) study guide
HSC Chinese Beginners (NSW) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The HSC Chinese Beginners course is a New South Wales senior secondary qualification for students who are new to Chinese. It is designed for learners with little or no prior experience, typically those who have not studied Chinese formally before Year 11. The HSC Chinese Beginners (NSW) study guide has 5 sections and about 1,733 words.
01The Personal World: Talking About Yourself and Others
The Personal World section tests whether you can exchange information about yourself, your family, friends, daily routine, school life, hobbies, and future plans. You need vocabulary for family members (爸爸, 妈妈, 哥哥, 姐姐, 弟弟, 妹妹), ages and birthdays (几岁, 生日), school subjects (中文, 数学, 英文, 科学), time expressions (早上, 下午, 晚上, 周末, 每天), and feelings and opinions (喜欢, 不喜欢, 觉得, 有意思, 无聊).
343 words, about 2 min02The Chinese-Speaking Communities: Culture, Places and Customs
The Chinese-speaking communities domain tests knowledge of Chinese-speaking societies - mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Chinese communities in Australia - including festivals, food, transport, shopping, geography, and everyday customs. You should be able to name and describe Chinese New Year (春节), Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), Dragon Boat Festival (端午节), and explain customs such as giving red envelopes (红包), eating mooncakes (月饼), and dragon boat racing (赛龙舟).
352 words, about 2 min03Listening and Responding: Strategies for Chinese Audio
Listening and responding tests your ability to understand spoken Chinese - announcements, conversations, phone messages, and short talks - and to respond in English or Chinese depending on the task. The recordings use familiar vocabulary from the Personal World and Communities domains, but the speed and connected speech are the challenge.
355 words, about 2 min04Reading and Responding: Decoding Chinese Texts
Reading and responding requires you to understand short authentic-style texts - emails, messages, notices, menus, timetables, and short articles - and to answer in English or Chinese. Texts recycle Personal World and Communities vocabulary, so a solid character base is your main asset.
355 words, about 2 min05Writing in Chinese: Producing Accurate, Varied Text
Writing in Chinese requires you to produce short texts - messages, emails, diary entries, notices, and short descriptions - of roughly 50 to 150 characters depending on the task. Marks reward task fulfilment, range of vocabulary and structure, accuracy, and character correctness .
328 words, about 2 min