TOPIK Scoring
- Grades in total
- 6
- Lowest cut-off
- 80 / 200
- Highest cut-off
- 230 / 300
- Section minimums
- None
How a score becomes a grade
Sections are added, not weighted
Each section is marked out of 100 and the totals are summed. TOPIK I comes to 200, TOPIK II to 300.
The total alone decides
There is no minimum in any single section. A weak writing score is survivable if the listening and reading carry it, and that happens constantly.
The first grade is the cheap one
3급 asks for 40% of TOPIK II, and 1급 for 40% of TOPIK I. Every step after that costs another 30 to 40 points.
TOPIK I — every cut-off
Exam formatTOPIK II — every cut-off
Exam format| Grade | Score needed | Of 300 | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOPIK 3 | 120 | 40% | Lower Intermediate — Live day to day in Korean without much difficulty, use public services and hold social relationships. |
| TOPIK 4 | 150 | 50% | Upper Intermediate — Follow the news and straightforward newspaper articles, and handle general social and abstract topics. |
| TOPIK 5 | 190 | 63% | Advanced — Carry out research or professional work in your field and use formal and written registers correctly. |
| TOPIK 6 | 230 | 77% | Mastery — Perform research and professional duties accurately and fluently, close to a native speaker. |
The distance between grades
The steps are 30, 40, 40 points. Getting the first grade is a different problem from moving up one, and the last 40-point step is the one that takes a year.
Writing is marked differently
Listening and reading are machine-marked against a key. The 100 points of writing are marked by people against published criteria — whether the task was completed and the content is on point, how the writing is organised, and how accurate and varied the language is.
That is worth knowing for one practical reason: partial credit exists there and nowhere else. An essay that is half the required length still scores something, and a blank one scores nothing at all.
Where to go next
Common questions
How is TOPIK scored?
Every section is marked out of 100, the section scores are added, and the total decides which grade you are awarded. There is no pass mark and no minimum per section — a total of 120 on TOPIK II is a 3급 however it was assembled.
What score do I need for TOPIK level 4?
150 of 300 on TOPIK II — 50% of the paper. TOPIK I cannot award it: its ceiling is 2급.
Is there negative marking on TOPIK?
No. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer anywhere on the exam, which makes leaving an item blank strictly worse than guessing. Fill in every bubble before the section ends, including the ones you never read.
What happens if I score below the lowest cut-off?
No grade is awarded — the certificate says 불합격. On TOPIK I that means under 80 of 200; on TOPIK II, under 120 of 300. It is the one real risk of sitting the harder paper.
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.