I'm planning on signing up for HSK4 in for October.
I've used a practice test here:
http://www.chinesetest.cn/getinfor.do

Where the writing portion was basically the option of using copy/paste or a pinyin input method to type the phrases into the right order.

Have any of you taken the internet based version of HSK? I'm curious if they will have a real written part where I have to actually write or if it is just the typing and recognizing of characters/words.

The spoken part also seems to be separate with a real person. Was it on Skype or something like that or real face to face?

Thanks ahead of time for any feedback.

I think you will use the computer for the written section. I did the paper exam, though, so... trust me at your peril.

As I know you can use character input based on pinyin for Internet based exam..

When I made Oral exam we got a headphone and a microphone.. All of our sounds were recorded to a tape which was sent to China and they analyse and score it..

Oral exam had 3 parts:
- we had to retell the sentences that we heard
- talk about the 2 pictures we got (about 2 minutes/picture)
- answer 2 questions (about 2 minutes/question)

I took the HSK 4 computer based test early last year. You don't have to write anything. If memory serves me correctly, the first part is arranging words given to form a sentence. the second part is typing a sentence that describes the picture shown, using the word given.

hm, it seems that computer based exam is much more easier than normal written one