It depends entirely on your test centre. Centres transition gradually, so one country may offer the new format while another still runs the old six-level exam for several more sittings.

No single hard global cutoff has been announced where every centre flips overnight. Old and new can coexist for a stretch, and announcements are regional — news that a centre abroad has switched tells you nothing reliable about your own city.

Read your nearest official centre's registration page directly and ask plainly whether a given sitting is the new nine-band standard or the old six-level test. Check registration windows too, since they usually close weeks before the sitting.

Paper suits learners who think better on a physical sheet and type Chinese slowly, at the cost of fewer sittings and slower results. Internet-based usually means more frequent sittings and faster turnaround, but you type characters, which rewards solid pinyin input habits.