How long does it take to attain a level 5 in chinese study?

[Bluntashell]

I recently joined a chinese institute in the hope of increasing my chances of getting a scholarship. I was told that only after attaining a level 5 can I be eligible for any masters scholarships. How long does it take to achieve this level?? Thanks.

[linguaholic]

hy bluntashell

Level 5 would mean Level 5 in HSK (汉语水平考试). This is the most popular international Chinese test and you can do this test almost in every country in the world (takes place something like twice a year in most countries).

I did this test about two years ago in China. At this time, I had probably studied Chinese for about 2-3 years, one year of those 3 years I was studying in Nanjing, China.

So, if you study Chinese in your own country, I would say you will need 3 years to get to a decent level 5 (usually you would need to get a good grade in HSK 5 in order to be able to study a master in china...total points are 300, 180 is minimum and you would probably need something like 240). If you can go to China and study there, you can probably reach this level after 1,5 - 2 years.

It's a crazy bunch of work to learn all the characters and learn how to write and in HSK 5 you will also need to read pretty difficult texts in a very short time. Still, if you have passion for languages and especially passion for Chinese, I am sure you will be able to pass it as well.