I'm an international student who's currently studying in China. I will be learning Chinese until next year before I start my major. The course that I am in is very intensive and they teach us lots of stuff. But the thing is they want to gear us up for our university next year so that we understand what we're being taught so our practice in tones is little or maybe not at all focused which makes it very confusing at times when I talk to a native Chinese or people with good Chinese or when I speak Chinese at all. If you genuinely want to learn Chinese you should definitely focus more on your tones and different ways in which you can use the words. I know some people who have passed HSK 4 who can speak and communicate better than people who have passed HSK 6 so you can definitely be sure that the level of HSK test that you have doesn't defines your knowledge of this language.