Abstract：The testing result of standard absorption water content strongly depends on the initial moisture content，structural property，and moisture elimination and absorption procedure of the samples. It is important to study the standard absorption water content with different sampling methods. The research results show that the value of the undisturbed and remolded samples is greater than that of air-dried and oven-dried samples. A certain linear dependence relation exists between the standard absorption water content of the undisturbed sample and that of other three sampling methods，and the square of correlation coefficient is 0.94–0.97. After being modified，the testing results of other sampling methods can substitute for those of the undisturbed samples.
