Enter the exam: Everything you need to know about taking TOPIK I

You want to flex your Korean skills and take TOPIK, but how should you prepare and what should you know beforehand?

If you’ve got a fascination with K-dramas and K-pop, you might have already taken a shot at learning Korean. Or you could be living in the country and you’ve begun to think that it’s high time that you practice the language. You’ve begun your Korean journey, wading through verb conjugations and vocabulary flashcards. You’ve tried your pronunciation skills out on the locals and feel like you’re making steady progress. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a more measurable method to see your development? You want to know what areas you’re falling behind on and the parts of your studying where you excel. Well, that’s where TOPIK comes into play.

What is TOPIK?

Difference between TOPIK I and II

TOPIK stands for Test Of Proficiency In Korean. What does this mean? It’s basically a formalised way of finding out how good at Korean you are. You might be a newbie learner or an old hat at language learning. Don’t worry if you are just starting your Korean journey though. Beginners and pros are not forced to take the exact same exam. The TOPIK is split into two different tests: TOPIK I and TOPIK II. Within this, TOPIK I is separated into levels 1 and 2, and TOPIK II ranges from levels 3 to 6. These levels are important as they may open up different opportunities for you in Korea. For example, most Korean universities require you to have at least TOPIK II Level 3. Professional work may even require Level 6.

What’s tested?

But today we’re talking about TOPIK I. Achieving Level 1 or 2 might not open many doors for you but TOPIK I remains a good benchmark for understanding your language ability – well, at least your listening and reading ability. TOPIK I will only test these two skills while there is an additional writing section in TOPIK II. You’ll also see a greater difference in difficulty between these two tests. TOPIK II seems nearly inaccessible to a beginner learner due to its inclusion of questions for advanced learners.

Both tests are over an hour and a half long. Yet, they are typically sat at different times of the day – TOPIK I followed by TOPIK II. If all of these juicy details about the test sound very appealing, consider signing up. If it all sounds a little convoluted, perhaps consider trying another type of Korean language exam. You can assess your ability with tests like KLAT (Korean Language Ability Test) or KPE (Korean Proficiency Examination).

How should I prepare?

What skills does it test?

So how do you prepare for this test? Should you be pouring over textbooks late into the night, or do you need to install Duolingo and achieve a 300-day streak before committing to the exam? Everyone has their own method of studying and what works for one person may not work for another. Some of my early study techniques certainly didn’t work (read here). But it’s important to note that TOPIK I won’t require you to perfect every language skill (reading, writing, listening and speaking).

You actually don’t need to practice things like pronunciation and speaking to pass this test. Instead, it’s better to focus on reading comprehension and listening exercises. All questions will be asked and answered in Korean. Therefore, you need to understand what the text is getting at before even beginning to circle the answers. All this being said, focusing on only two of the four language skills will only get you halfway to Korean proficiency. Can you truly call yourself a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner if you can’t speak or write at all?

Can you learn independently?

However, because speaking and writing are not the focus of this exam, you don’t have to spend all your time and money on things like one-to-one pronunciation lessons and hangeul writing classes. I enjoyed studying for this test independently, showing the accessibility of TOPIK I for a language learner. My routine consisted of past papers, past papers, past papers. These resources, which are available for free online, are a great place to start to see how much you know. You can then hone in on the words and grammar that you don’t understand.

Past papers, past papers, past papers

Then it’s a good idea to move onto past papers. After doing tons of past papers, I discovered that each test followed a similar format. All TOPIK I exams were fairly basic – written in formal Korean (brush up on those honorific endings) with seventy questions. Every test was multiple-choice. The tests usually started with short questions consisting of only a couple of sentences. For these starting questions, you might have to choose a word to describe the dialogue or fill in the gap. As the test progresses you’ll have longer questions where you’ll have to provide two answers for one spoken or written piece of text. 

Getting bored? Other resources

If you’re getting bored of just doing past papers and nothing else, there are other resources that you can use to prepare. Check out the media produced by Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK). They produce great content for their YouTube channel or study books. I liked the free resources on their website, particularly the practice dialogues, which prepared me for the listening segment of the TOPIK exam. I also used the TOPIK Guide’s list of common TOPIK vocabulary to make flashcards and learn the words that appear most frequently in the test. By preparing for the exam in varied ways, you’ll be able to sustain your revision and push through to exam day. And once you get there, you’re sure to ace it.

How do I sign up?

Use the website

There’s one easy and direct way to sign up. Through the TOPIK website. You might get a little nervous when you first navigate your way to the homepage as it’ll likely be in Korean. Never fear. The website is offered in multiple languages from English to Japanese. Therefore, you should have no problem understanding the drop-down menus after translating the page.

When do I sign up?

You’ll have to make an account and fill in some details, and then you’ll be all ready to sign up for the next text. Use the schedule to find out when that test will be and, importantly, when registration will open. This date will likely be a month before the actual test date. However, spaces run out quickly so you might have to jump onto an online queue when you try and sign up.

Finishing touches and payment

Choose a test centre that you can easily make your way to and don’t forget to attach an ID photo to your application. There are details and guidelines on the website to help you with this. Lastly, you’ll have to pay a registration fee so be prepared to fill in some card details. As easy as pie. Once you’ve done all this, don’t be alarmed if you don’t receive any confirmation from TOPIK. Just remind yourself to print your admissions slip out from your page on the website a week before the test. After lumbering your way through all these steps, you should have no problem checking your score when they’re released over a month after you’ve completed the exam. Best of luck! 

What is test day like?

I was frustrated that there wasn’t much information about the test day itself out there. I felt ready to open the exam but I was confused about the logistics of getting to the test site and some of the rules of the exam. After doing many tests at school, I’d assumed some regulations would be in place: no phones, no talking and no cheating! However, I was ill-prepared for other areas of the test.

1. Finding the test site

This is slightly embarrassing, but I’ve actually applied for the TOPIK I exam on two separate occasions in the past. I applied once in October and again in March. Why did I waste my money, I hear you ask? I didn’t exactly fail it the first time. I just never showed up. Unfortunately, I made it the whole way to where I thought the test centre was and got lost. Therefore, this is my cautionary tale: try to figure out where you’re going long before the test day.

First attempt

When applying through the TOPIK website you should know the rough location of the test centre. It’ll usually be at a university if you’re taking the test in Korea. But a university campus can be pretty big. My exam room was very poorly signposted and I quickly realised I had no hope of finding the room (especially after I discovered I’d entered the campus from the wrong gate entirely). I saw similar lost souls clutching their admission slips, trying to make some sense of the address. Clearly, I wasn’t the only person who was thwarted by their lack of direction, and I definitely won’t be the last person to miss the TOPIK exam because of it.

Second attempt

On my second attempt, I printed my admission slip in good time and used the online campus map to pinpoint the exact location of my exam. I also brought a friend along to sit the test with me – two heads are better than one. Together, we found the building with people loitering outside so we knew we were in the right place. Don’t let a logistical mishap be the reason you fail your TOPIK exam. If you’re late for the exam, you’ll have to wait months until the next one. Get out your map and mark the spot.

2. Filling in the answer sheet

Okay, I’m going to put this out there now. Everything is conducted in Korean. The examiners will speak only Korean to you and your answer sheet is the same. I know, I know, you’re taking a Korean language exam and not everyone taking the test will speak the same language as you. However, as a beginner in Korean, this was tough. The many miscommunications that occurred led to several people making mistakes when we were getting seated and preparing to open the test booklet.

Common mistakes

People forgot to turn off their phones, or filled in the wrong boxes of their answer sheets. Some candidates didn’t put their IDs away or ran out to go to the toilet at the wrong time. Honestly, it was a little shambolic before the test officially began. I would have preferred if we could have been handed the test procedure on a piece of paper in our native language so that we all knew what we were doing. I made a couple of mistakes and was made to fill out my details again. However, I was not the only one (no surprise that they had a stack of answer sheets waiting for this very purpose).

Steps to filling in the answer sheet

To fill in the answer sheet correctly you’ll need to write your name in both English and Korean. You’ll also need to mark the digits of your identification number using the pen they provide. Don’t worry this identification number will be on both your entry slip and should be taped to your desk. Don’t tick any of the other boxes, unless explicitly told to. Additionally, make sure your examiner comes over and stamps the bottom of the page.

Using the answer sheet in the exam

Once you’ve filled in all these details you can glance over to the right side of the paper where the multiple-choice answers are. When the test begins, just blot in the circle of the answer you want to choose and make sure you’re answering the right question by checking the number next to the row. You don’t need me to tell you to check that every row is filled in at the end. Check your answers and check them again. The examiners should be there to help and make sure that you’ve filled in everything correctly, but they won’t remind you to answer a question. That one is up to you.

What are some important rules and procedures?

You know the drill. There’s no point trying to sneak your flash cards in and you can’t look anything up on your phone while the TOPIK is in progress. But as the whole exam is conducted in Korean it’s easy to misunderstand some of the finite details about the testing procedure. Here are four rules and procedures (and maybe inconsistencies) that you should be aware of:

1. No break between the listening and reading sections

You’ve prepared for TOPIK I for months so you know that there is a listening and reading section of the test. But you might have expected a short break between these two segments. You’d be wrong. You might not even be instructed to begin the reading portion after the listening recording has finished. It’s up to you to just crack on with it. So don’t waste time and make sure to get ready to sit comfortably for over an hour.

2. Skipping ahead

Listening to long passages of Korean can be frazzling. This is especially true when the answers to the questions are also written in Korean. To counteract this and to keep pace with the recording, I had always read ahead in the test paper and translated the answers to future questions before the recording had reached that point. The official rules say that skipping ahead to the reading portion before completing the listening section of the test isn’t allowed. But whether or not you’re allowed to pursue future questions within a segment is ambiguous. I did it, while my friend in another test room was prohibited. Just be aware that the method you usually use to complete the test might be disrupted by a strict examiner, so be prepared to answer each question on the fly.

3. Using correction tape

The TOPIK guidelines suggest that you bring correction tape along with you. I did just that. However, after using it to modify my personal details on the answer sheet, I was given a fresh piece of paper and asked to do it again. This begged the question about whether the correction tape worked and was even allowed. I continued to use it to correct answers that I filled in poorly, so I hope for my sake it’s allowed (we’ll see when I get my results back). If you don’t think your answer sheet is readable, don’t be afraid to ask for a new one to fill in, but make sure you allow yourself time at the end of the test to do this.

4. Bags and personal belongings

Last but not least, I’m here to put your mind at rest. Don’t worry about your bag and possessions during the exam. I had expected to leave my bag outside of the testing room or place it in a locker of some kind. Nope. It sat right there on the chair next to me throughout the test. Of course, I wasn’t allowed to dive in it at any point, but it was nice to know that, first, I could bring a bag at all and, second, there was no hassle concerning depositing and retrieving it at any point. One less thing to stress about on exam day.

Banish your exam anxiety…

To be completely honest, given that this is a government-run test and that it has been available for over twenty years, I felt that some of the procedures could have been tightened up so there was less faffing at the beginning of the exam. Nevertheless, it was a fun experience and gave a nice reflection of my Korean ability. I felt proud knowing I could finish my time in Korea with something to show for it. Now just to wait a long month before my results get returned and I can boast about being a Beginner Korean learner.

Update: I passed 🙂