토픽The TOPIK Exam
한국어능력시험, the Test of Proficiency in Korean. Two papers, six grades and one separate speaking exam, and the level you come out with is decided by your total score rather than by which paper you sat.
Everything here — item counts, timing, cut-offs — is the published shape of the exam rather than advice about it, so you can see exactly what you are registering for before you do.
- 시험Papers
- 3
- 급수Grades awarded
- 6
- 문항Items, TOPIK I + II
- 174
- 시험 시간Minutes, TOPIK II
- 180
두 개의 시험Two papers, six grades, and a third test on its own
You do not pick a level. You pick a paper, and the score decides the level.
TOPIK I
1급 · 2급 — beginner. 70 items, 100 minutes, 200 points, one sitting. Listening and reading only, multiple choice throughout.
TOPIK II
3급 · 4급 · 5급 · 6급 — intermediate to advanced. 104 items, 180 minutes, 300 points, two sittings, and the only paper with writing in it.
TOPIK 말하기
A separate exam with its own registration, taken on a computer: 6 tasks in 30 minutes. It does not feed into either paper above, and neither of them tests speaking at all.
시험 구성The shape of each paper
Items, points and minutes — with the seconds per item, which is the number that decides how you prepare.
TOPIK I — 100 minutes, one sitting
| Section | Items | Points | Minutes | Per item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 듣기listening | 30 | 100 | 40 | 80s |
| 읽기reading | 40 | 100 | 60 | 90s |
| Total | 70 | 200 | 100 |
TOPIK II — 180 minutes over two sittings
| Section | Sitting | Items | Points | Minutes | Per item |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 듣기listening | 1 | 50 | 100 | 60 | 72s |
| 쓰기writing | 1 | 4 | 100 | 50 | — |
| 읽기reading | 2 | 50 | 100 | 70 | 84s |
| Total | 104 | 300 | 180 |
Reading is where the clock hurts. TOPIK II gives you 84 seconds an item across 50 items, and the last passages are the longest ones — which is why finishing is a skill practised separately from understanding.
어느 시험을Which paper to sit
Take TOPIK I if
You are still building the first two thousand words, or you want a grade on the certificate rather than a risk. 2급 at 140 of 200 is a real, useful result and the paper has no writing to prepare.
Take TOPIK II if
You can plausibly reach 120 of 300. Nothing below that scores a grade, but the same paper can award 6급, and every requirement worth meeting — university admission, most visa points, most employers — starts at 3급 or above.
급수별 공부What to study for each grade
Every level on this site is graded on the same 급 scale the exam awards.
The vocabulary, grammar and idiom lists here carry the 국립국어원 dictionary's own 급 grading, which is the same 1–6 scale TOPIK awards. That makes them a syllabus by level, not a prediction of the paper: no question on this site is a past TOPIK question, and none of it is published by 국립국제교육원.
자세히The rest of this section
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
What is TOPIK?
한국어능력시험 — the Test of Proficiency in Korean, run by the Korean government's National Institute for International Education. It is the standard proof of Korean ability for university admission, for several visa categories and for employment, and it awards a level from 1급 to 6급 rather than a pass or a fail.
Should I take TOPIK I or TOPIK II?
They are different papers, and you choose. TOPIK I can award 1급 or 2급 and no more; TOPIK II starts at 3급 and goes to 6급. Sitting TOPIK II and scoring under 120 means no grade at all, so the usual advice holds: take TOPIK I if you are unsure you can reach 3급, and TOPIK II as soon as you can.
Is there a speaking test?
Yes, and it is a separate exam. TOPIK 말하기 has its own registration, is taken on a computer, runs 30 minutes over 6 tasks, and does not contribute to your TOPIK I or TOPIK II score. Neither of those two papers contains any spoken component at all.
How long is a TOPIK result valid?
Two years from the date the results are announced. That is the standard published validity, and it is why the certificate you need for an application has to have been earned inside that window rather than at any point in the past.
Do I need a minimum score in each section?
No. Both papers award the grade on the total score alone, which is why a strong reading score can carry a weak writing one. On TOPIK II that matters more than anything else on this page: 120 of 300 — 40% — is a 3급.
Check before you rely on this. The shape of the exam — sections, item counts, timing and the score each 급 is awarded at — is hand-entered from TOPIK's published 시행 계획 and is the one part of this site with no machine-readable source behind it. It is reviewed once a year. Confirm the current figures at topik.go.kr before you register, and treat the exam calendar as theirs alone — it is not published here, because a stale date is worse than no date.