Just to clarify, Huayu means Mandarin.
The Test of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP) is a Taiwanese government initiative for Chinese learners worldwide to assess their Chinese proficiency. TOP has been running since 2003. In that time about 3000 students have taken the tests. From what I can gather from the available statistics about 50% of them failed!
Last year (2007) they added a beginner level which I will take next month. I’ve been surprised by the lack of available resources. There’s only one mock test available for each level and no targeted word lists for the different levels. Perhaps the lack of resources is one of the reasons so many fail the tests.
I wrote a letter to the Taipei Times about these issues.
As I understand it, if you are in Taiwan on a mandarin scholarship you must pass TOP. I’ve heard that students can be fined an entire month’s stipend. For me that would be NT$25,000.
TOP is administrated in four levels, For Beginners, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced.
For the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels of TOP, each level has three sections, including listening, vocabulary and grammar, and reading . The total number of test items is 120, and the total testing time is 110 minutes.
The For Beginners level of TOP measures both listening and reading skills of non-native Chinese speakers at the beginning level. The total number of test items is 80, and the total testing time is 80 minutes.
TOP is given in multiple-choice items . Test takers get one point for each correct answer. There is no penalty deduction for the incorrect answer.
TOP is held on the first Saturday in May and November.
For more information: www.sc-top.org.tw
Related posts:
Resources for Beginners Test Of Proficiency-Huayu
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kang-wei
There are too many questions for the 2 hour period. The listening section is too fast, you only get 5 seconds in between each question. If you missed something in the listening section, you get no chance to repeat question. The TOP steering committee could learn something from the GEPT test.
Hi Peter,
I guess you’re referring to Basic TOP. I listened to the Basic mock test the other day, and I agree that it’s really fast. I’ll be attempting it in November this year and I’m not that optimistic about passing because of the time limit.
I’ve been using ChinesePod.com everyday to improve my listening. Actually my scooter blew up the other day so I had to take the bus for about a month. I listened to up to 2 hours a day of CP and it has really improved my listening.
I highly recommend it if you want to pass TOP.
Further, you should email your concerns to SC-TOP.
Kung Wei
I’ll be attempting the basic test again next spring. So, I will definitely practice listening comprehension more. I’ve been watching a lot of children’s shows on Momo and Disney. In addition to that I will also practice listening to the online mock tests.
Chinese pod is good too, like you mentioned, because the accent is similar to the one used in the Basic test.