말하기The TOPIK Speaking Test
6 tasks in 30 minutes, taken on a computer, with its own registration and its own certificate. It is not a section of TOPIK I or TOPIK II and does not add a point to either.
The tasks run from answering a question about yourself to arguing a position on an abstract topic — the same ramp the writing section climbs, produced out loud and against a clock.
- 문항Tasks
- 6
- 총점Points
- 200
- 시험 시간Minutes
- 30
- 급수Grades it can award
- 1급–6급
별도 시험A separate exam, not a section
The single most misunderstood thing about it.
A separate test with its own registration, taken online (IBT). It is not a section of TOPIK I or II and does not contribute to their scores.
So the certificate is separate, the registration is separate, and a 6급 on TOPIK II says nothing at all about whether you can hold a conversation — which is precisely why this test exists.
여섯 문항The six tasks
In order, and the order is a ramp: it starts with your own name and ends with an argument.
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1 질문에 대답하기
Answer a simple question about yourself
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2 그림 보고 역할 수행하기
Play a role in a situation shown as a picture
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3 그림 보고 이야기하기
Narrate a sequence of pictures
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4 대화 완성하기
Complete a conversation by taking one side of it
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5 자료 해석하기
Interpret a chart or set of data aloud
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6 의견 제시하기
State and support an opinion on an abstract topic
무엇을 보나What the ramp is testing
Tasks 1–2 — can you respond
A question about yourself and a short role-play from a picture. Everyday material, everyday register, and the only thing being tested is whether you can answer at all without a long silence first.
Tasks 3–4 — can you sustain
Narrating a sequence of pictures and taking one side of a conversation. Now it is connected speech: tense agreement across several sentences, connectives, and keeping one thread going.
Tasks 5–6 — can you reason
Reading data aloud and stating a position on an abstract topic. This is the same skill as writing items 53 and 54, produced live — which is why practising one helps the other.
공부할 것What to practise with
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
Is speaking part of TOPIK I or TOPIK II?
Neither. TOPIK 말하기 is a separate exam with its own registration and its own certificate, and no part of it contributes to a TOPIK I or TOPIK II score. Those two papers contain no spoken component at all.
How does the TOPIK speaking test work?
It is taken on a computer rather than with an examiner: 6 tasks in 30 minutes, each one prompted on screen, with a set preparation time and a set answer time per task, and your answers recorded for later marking. The per-item timings are published in the 시행 계획 and are not reproduced here.
What level does the speaking test award?
A grade on the same 1급 to 6급 scale, from a single paper that everyone sits regardless of level. The cut-off scores are not carried in this site's dataset, so they are not printed here — check the current ones at topik.go.kr rather than anywhere else.
How do I practise for TOPIK speaking?
By speaking to the clock, which is the part that catches people. The six tasks rise from answering a question about yourself to arguing an abstract position, and each has a fixed preparation window — so the skill being tested is producing a structured answer immediately, not producing a perfect one eventually.
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.