토픽 IITOPIK II — The Intermediate and Advanced Paper
Two sittings, three sections and the only writing on the exam. 180 minutes in total, 104 items, and a range that runs from 3급 all the way to 6급.
One paper covers four grades, so the same questions are answered by people at very different levels — which is why finishing matters as much as knowing.
- 문항Items
- 104
- 총점Points
- 300
- 시험 시간Minutes
- 180
- 급수Grades it awards
- 3급 · 4급 · 5급 · 6급
시험 구성Section by section
| 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 |
"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.
무엇이 나오나What is on it
The first sitting is listening and writing back to back with one clock over both, and the second is reading. That order is worth planning around: the writing comes when you are already an hour in, and the reading — the longest section, and the one people run out of time on — is sat fresh.
The material is the whole upper ladder: news and current affairs, workplace and academic Korean, the 한자어 layer that makes intermediate vocabulary compound, indirect speech, and the formal written register the essays have to be produced in. Idiom and proverb appear from 4급 upward.
쓰기The writing section — 100 of 300 points
4 items in 50 minutes, and the only part of either paper you have to produce rather than choose.
-
51 빈칸에 알맞은 말 쓰기 10 pts
Complete two blanks in a short practical text (a notice, an email)
분량 one sentence each
-
52 빈칸에 알맞은 말 쓰기 10 pts
Complete two blanks in an expository paragraph
분량 one sentence each
-
53 자료를 설명하는 글 쓰기 30 pts
Describe a chart, survey or set of figures in prose
분량 200~300자
-
54 주제에 대해 자신의 생각을 쓰기 50 pts
Argue a position on a given topic
분량 600~700자
등급What each grade costs
The grade is awarded on the total. No section has a minimum of its own.
| 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. |
준비Three things worth doing
Practise finishing, separately from understanding.
Reading is the section that runs out, and the longest passages are at the end. Working the last twenty items first is a legitimate strategy and many candidates use it.
Do not skip 쓰기.
It is a third of the paper and it is the section most candidates under-prepare, which makes it the cheapest place to gain twenty points.
Write in the plain style.
Items 53 and 54 must be written in 문어체 — the 한다체 you read in newspapers — not in 해요체. It costs marks every sitting.
공부할 것The material this paper draws on
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
What is a good TOPIK II score?
It depends entirely on the grade you need, and the bands are far apart: the first grade the paper awards asks for 40% of it, while the top grade asks for more than three-quarters. Aim at the cut-off for the grade you actually need rather than at a percentage.
Can I get 3급 from TOPIK II if I do badly?
That is exactly how it works — the paper awards whatever grade your total reaches, from 3급 up to 6급. What it cannot do is award 1급 or 2급: below the 3급 cut-off there is no grade at all.
How long is TOPIK II?
Two sittings on the same day. Listening and writing run together in the first, with reading in the second — three hours of exam in total, plus the break between them.
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.