TOPIK I
- Items
- 70
- Points
- 200
- Minutes
- 100
- Grades it awards
- 1급 · 2급
Section by section
| Section | Items | Points | Minutes | Per item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 듣기listening | 30 | 100 | 40 | 80s |
| 읽기reading | 40 | 100 | 60 | 90s |
| Total | 70 | 200 | 100 |
"Per item" is the section's own minutes divided by its own items — the pace the paper is set at, not a recommendation. Reading is the tightest of them and the one candidates leave unfinished.
What is on it
TOPIK I is built for people who have been studying for months rather than years, and it is deliberately gentle in a way TOPIK II is not. The listening is slow and repeated, the reading passages are short and practical — signs, notices, short messages, simple advertisements — and the whole paper is answered on one OMR sheet with four options per item.
The material it draws on is the first two levels of the ladder: greetings and self-introduction, numbers and counters, the 해요체 endings, past and future, and the connectives that join two clauses. There is no honorific subtlety, no idiom, and nothing you have to produce.
What each grade costs
Three things worth doing
Answer every item.
There is no penalty for a wrong answer on any part of TOPIK, so a blank is a point given away. Fill in something for anything you did not reach.
Read questions first.
Each listening item is played and the options are printed. Knowing what is being asked before the audio starts is most of the difficulty removed.
Learn the numbers cold.
Prices, times, dates, phone numbers and counters carry a disproportionate share of the beginner listening, and the two number systems are the commonest place a beginner loses a certain point.
The material this paper draws on
Common questions
Is there writing on TOPIK I?
No. TOPIK I is listening and reading only, both multiple choice. The writing section belongs to TOPIK II, and speaking is a separate exam altogether.
What score do I need to pass TOPIK I?
There is no pass. The paper awards 1급 or 2급 on your total score, and below the 1급 cut-off no grade is awarded — which is the closest thing to failing that exists.
How hard is TOPIK I?
It is the level of a learner about six months to a year in, studying steadily. If you know the first two thousand words on the graded lists, the 해요체 endings and the common connectives, the paper is within reach.
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.