Measuring Progress

An interactive test that could be used to periodically measure and track progress would be extremely valuable. I haven't found a good, comprehensive one yet.

Clavis Sinica offers a pretty good character recognition test. It generates an estimate of the number of characters the user knows. The test is located here.

The test seems to be well-designed. Characters are categorized by frequency of use. The "Beginner" level focuses on the 300 most frequently used characters. The higher levels progressively throw additional characters in to the mix. The estimated number of characters known is calculated from the percentage of characters correctly identified in each grouping. Since the Beginner level only samples from the 300 most frequently used characters, the highest possible score at this level is 300. The Low Intermediate level adds in the next 500 most frequently used characters, so the maximum score achievable at this level is 800. And, so on.

I took all four levels of the test and achieved the following scores:

I am not sure exactly how many characters I know, so I can't quantifiably gauge the test's effectiveness in that regard. But, the but the High Intermediate result of 656 seems plausible. Since I currently am studying in a "top down" manner (from Chinesepod lessons) instead of "bottom up", the order in which I am learning characters is only loosely correlated with their usage frequency. That is why I already know a fair number of characters in the 2nd 800 even though I still need to learn a large number in the first 800. I was 0-for-18 on characters beyond the first 1600, so there currently is no point in taking the Advanced level test. Doing so just reduces the sample size available for the more frequent characters.

I'll take the test again in a couple months and see where things stand then ...