Vocabulary base
Begin building your Pleco deck from the HSK5 word list — by hand, one card at a time. The act of building each card is the first review. Premade decks skip that exposure, and it shows three weeks later when you can't recall them.
Every unknown word you meet in reading gets written down with the sentence it lived in, not as an isolated character. Context-anchored words stick in a way glossary entries never do.
Reading habit
Start with graded readers at HSK3–4 level — below your target on purpose. The goal in month one is volume and consistency, not difficulty. Reading slightly easy material fast beats grinding through hard material slowly.
Listening exposure
Start 抖音 consumption deliberately: follow only native-produced Mandarin accounts and let the algorithm personalise. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day of passive native content trains your ear without feeling like study. Supplement with a podcast during commutes.
Grammar foundation
Work through the core HSK4/5 grammar patterns using a reference grammar. You do not need to memorise every pattern. You need to recognise them on sight when they appear in reading and listening.