HSK 2 Study Plan: Learn 200 New Words in 4 Weeks
Hanzi Grove · 2026-11-09
You can learn the 200 new words of HSK 2 (2025 exam syllabus) in four weeks by studying one group of 10 words a day, five days a week, in about 15 minutes. HSK 2 brings your total to 500 words, and it is also the level where handwriting starts: you need to write 100 characters by hand.
This plan covers both jobs. It shows the daily routine, a week-by-week schedule, how to fit in handwriting, and how to keep your HSK 1 words fresh. It uses the HSK 2 list on Hanzi Grove, where the 200 new words are split into groups of 10.
What is in HSK 2?
In the HSK exam syllabus released in November 2025 (HSK 3.0), HSK 2 adds 200 new words to the 300 words of HSK 1, for 500 in total. The syllabus is marked for implementation in July 2026.
HSK 2 is the first level with handwriting. By the end of HSK 2 you should be able to write 100 characters by hand. You do not need to write every word in the list, but you do need a working set of common characters you can produce from memory.
You may see other numbers for HSK 2. The 2021 standard lists 772 words at level 2, and the old HSK 2.0 adds 150. If you are not sure which list you need, read How many words are in HSK 1?, which compares all three. The 2021 list is at /hsk-2021/2 and the old list at /hsk-2/2.
Before you start: check your HSK 1
HSK 2 builds on HSK 1. Before starting, open the HSK 1 list and run through it quickly. Mark any word you cannot read and say aloud in two or three seconds.
If you miss more than about one word in ten, spend a few days reviewing HSK 1 first. New words stick better when the old ones are solid, because many HSK 2 words reuse HSK 1 characters. If you have not studied HSK 1 yet, start with the HSK 1 study plan.
The daily routine (about 15 minutes)
Do the same steps every learning day.
- Review first (5 minutes). Repeat the group you learned yesterday and the group from three days ago. On Hanzi Grove these repeats come after 1 day and after 3 days.
- Learn one new group (6 minutes). Open the next group of 10 words. For each word, look at the breakdown: which parts make up each character, and what each part means. Say the word aloud with its tones.
- Take the quick check (2 minutes). Test yourself on the new group straight away. Any word you miss goes back into the next review.
- Write two characters (3 minutes). Pick two characters from today’s group and write each one five times, following the stroke order. More on this below.
Do the review before the new words. If you only have five minutes on a busy day, do the review and skip the new group.
The four-week schedule
Each week has five learning days, one checkpoint day and one rest day. Twenty learning days cover the 20 groups.
| Week | Learning days | Groups | Checkpoint day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Days 1–5 | 1–5 | Test groups 1–5; write 10 characters from memory |
| 2 | Days 8–12 | 6–10 | Test groups 1–10; review HSK 1 words you missed |
| 3 | Days 15–19 | 11–15 | Test groups 6–15; write 20 characters from memory |
| 4 | Days 22–26 | 16–20 | Test all 200 words; list every word you missed |
On a checkpoint day, learn no new words. Go through the groups for that week, note the words you miss, and add them to your next reviews. Use the final checkpoint to decide what to review in week five before moving on.
If four weeks is too fast
Four weeks is a steady pace, not a race. If it is too much, learn one group every other day. That takes about eight weeks and still works, because the reviews keep everything fresh. The order and the review timing matter more than the deadline.
How to handle handwriting
Handwriting is new at HSK 2, so give it a little time every day instead of one long session a week.
Learn the tools first. If you have never written characters, spend one session on the basic strokes and one on the stroke-order rules. These two pages cover almost everything you need to write any HSK 2 character correctly.
Start with simple, common characters. Characters like 人, 大, 小, 口, 日, 月, 中 and 好 have few strokes and appear in many words. Once you can write them, larger characters become combinations of shapes you already know. For example, 明 is 日 next to 月, and 好 is 女 next to 子.
Write from memory, not by copying. Look at the character, cover it, then write it. Check, and repeat. Copying while you look feels productive but teaches much less.
Aim for about 100 characters. Two characters a day on 20 learning days gives 40. Add the characters you already wrote during HSK 1 and a few extra on checkpoint days, and you will reach 100 by the end of the plan or soon after.
Use the parts to learn faster
By HSK 2, you will start to see the same parts again and again. That is your biggest advantage.
The left part 亻 is a form of 人 (person), and it appears in characters about people. The part 口 (mouth) appears in many characters about speaking or sounds. The part 氵 is a form of 水 (water). See the radicals page for the 214 radicals and their side forms, or open a single radical such as 亻 to see which characters use it.
When a new character appears, ask two questions: which parts do I already know, and how are they arranged? Many HSK 2 characters follow a left–right or top–bottom pattern.
Tones and listening
Keep saying every word aloud. Tones are part of the word, not decoration. If two words share the same syllable but different tones, learn them as two separate words.
For listening practice, play the audio for each word in a group, then try to write the pinyin with tone marks before you look. Ten words take about two minutes. If tones are still difficult, our Mandarin tones guide explains the four tones, the neutral tone and the common tone changes.
Common mistakes at HSK 2
- Dropping HSK 1 reviews. The 300 HSK 1 words are the base of HSK 2. Keep them in your weekly checkpoint.
- Learning words without characters. Pinyin alone does not prepare you for reading or handwriting. Always look at the characters and their parts.
- Writing in the wrong order. Wrong stroke order makes characters look odd and slows you down. Fix it now, while the characters are simple.
- Cramming before the exam. Words learned the night before fade fast. The 1-day and 3-day repeats are what make them last.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are in HSK 2?
In the HSK exam syllabus released in November 2025, HSK 2 adds 200 new words, for 500 words in total including HSK 1.
Do I need to write characters for HSK 2?
Yes. Handwriting starts at HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus. You need to write 100 characters by hand by the end of HSK 2.
Can I study HSK 1 and HSK 2 together?
You can, but it is easier to finish HSK 1 first. Many HSK 2 words build on HSK 1 characters, so a solid HSK 1 makes HSK 2 faster.
What comes after HSK 2?
HSK 3 adds 500 new words, for 1,000 in total, and raises handwriting to 250 characters. See the HSK 3 study plan.