All HSK-related information on this website is sourced from the Chinese Tests Service Website.
Original source:www.chinesetest.cn
The BCT (Chinese Proficiency Test Business) is an internationally standardized examination designed to assess proficiency in the Chinese language. It is primarily intended for learners of Chinese as a foreign language and focuses on evaluating their ability to communicate effectively in Chinese within general workplace situations as well as in business and professional contexts. Its practical orientation toward business environments and its emphasis on communicative competence constitute the key characteristics of this examination.
The test consists of a written and an oral component, which are administered independently of each other.
The written examination comprises the levels BCT (A) and BCT (B), while the oral examination is conducted as BCT (Speaking).
*At the Munich Test Center, only paper-based BCT examinations (without the speaking component) are offered.
BCT (A) focuses on assessing the ability of non-native speakers of Chinese to communicate effectively in authentic business and general professional contexts. At the same time, the examination evaluates the extent to which candidates are able to successfully accomplish relevant communicative tasks.
The BCT (A) consists of a total of 70 tasks and is divided into three sections: Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, and Writing.
The total test duration is approximately 70 minutes, including a five-minute period for candidates to fill in their personal information.
Section | Number of Tasks | Duration (minutes) | ||
Listening Comprehension | Part 1 | 10 | 30 | approx. 20 |
Part 2 | 10 | |||
Part 3 | 10 | |||
Reading Comprehension | Part 1 | 10 | 30 | 30 |
Part 2 | 20 | |||
Writing | 10 | 10 | ||
Answer Sheet Transfer (transferring listening answers) | 5 | |||
Total | 70 | approx. 65 | ||
The examination begins at 9:00 a.m. (local time of the test center).
The BCT (A) overall examination comprises the three sections of Listening, Reading, and Writing. The maximum total score is 300 points, and there is no fixed passing threshold.
After the results are released, candidates may access and download their electronic score report online using their admission ticket and name.
The BCT (A) is primarily aligned with levels of linguistic proficiency. On this basis, and taking into account word frequency data from several authoritative Chinese language corpora as well as the practical conditions of international Chinese language teaching, a reference vocabulary of approximately 600 words has been established.
BCT (B) focuses on assessing the ability of non-native speakers of Chinese to communicate effectively in authentic business and general professional contexts. At the same time, the examination evaluates the extent to which candidates are able to successfully accomplish relevant communicative tasks.
The BCT (B) consists of a total of 92 tasks and is divided into three sections: Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, and Writing.
The total test duration is approximately 145 minutes, including a five-minute period for candidates to fill in their personal information.
Section | Number of Tasks | Duration (minutes) | ||
Listening Comprehension | Part 1 | 20 | 50 | approx. 35 |
Part 2 | 15 | |||
Part 3 | 15 | |||
Reading Comprehension | Part 1 | 20 | 40 | 60 |
Part 2 | 10 | |||
Part 3 | 10 | |||
Writing | 2 | 40 | ||
Answer Sheet Transfer (transferring listening answers) | 5 | |||
Total | 92 | approx. 140 | ||
The examination begins at 9:00 a.m. (local time of the test center).
The BCT (B) overall examination comprises the three sections of Listening, Reading, and Writing. The maximum total score is 300 points, and there is no fixed passing threshold.
After the results are released, candidates may access and download their electronic score report online using their admission ticket and name.
The BCT (B) is primarily aligned with levels of linguistic proficiency. On this basis, and taking into account word frequency data from several authoritative Chinese language corpora as well as the practical conditions of international Chinese language teaching, a reference vocabulary of approximately 4,000 words has been established.
Link to Audio file for sample exam
