TOPIK Study Resources
After shamelessly plugging the blog telling people about the TOPIK on daveseslcafe, some people have been PM-ing me asking me about study resources for it. As I honestly don’t know how to post a picture up on daves (never done it), and it’s not like me to give up a legitimate opportunity to direct people to the blog, I thought I’d write about them here.
If you click on the picture, you’ll see at the bottom 3 test books, one each for levels 2, 3 and 4. Of course they have them for 1, 5 and 6 as well. They’re 18,000 won each, with the tapes for the listening sections, and most stores which sell any English books at all have them. In each book they have all the tests for that level from the 2nd test offered in 1998, to the 7th offered in 2003 (back then they were only offered once a year). Since then there’s been the 8th test in 2004, the 9th in 2005, the 10th in 2006, and then the test was finally offered twice a year, so there was the 11th in March and now the 12th is coming up. There’s been a new blue and white book of tests available since last year too, one which has all the tests for levels 1-6 for one year in them, but I don’t know for which year.
If you’re considering doing the Level 1 or 2 test, then as its soooo easy you can get probably get away with just studying normally and not buying the test book and practicing tests beforehand. But 3 and 4 are a huge jump up, and you probably should buy them just to get a feel for the test, although if you doing the test at that level then I probably don’t need to convince you. But I admit, weeks before every test I say I will sit down and do some practice tests at home, but in preparing for 3 tests I’ve done that precisely zero times. Only having Sundays off, 3 hours is a big chunk of my free time. But I did use the books for studying with, and the listening sections of the tests are so damn quick you really should check out the tapes.
Having said all that, I plan to pass Level 5 this time, so difficult that some of my Korean friends have to think a bit about some of the answers, so I think I’ve really no choice but do a lot of practice tests, otherwise my 30,000 won fee would probably be much better spent practicing Korean with my favorite bargirls.
In case you do buy and use any of the test books, remember that the writing section now has a short composition section. I know, how could they make us actually have to write a little in the writing section? Five years from now, they may be expecting us to speak Korean too!
The top 2 books are 15,000 won each and go over all the grammar and vocab you should know, according to the books, for the level 3 and 4 tests and above. But jeez, they’re all in Korean, and very dense, so I think that saying you have to passed the Level 3 and 4 tests to understand the books would be much more accurate. But they are literally jam-packed with absolutely all grammar and vocab you need to pass Level 6, so they’re definately a real resource.
At this level, they have many of the flaws that TOEIC and TOEFL tests have, being full of a lot of vocab and grammar that you need to know inside-out to pass the test, but which my Korean friends say they’ve never actually used in their entire lives. So if you’re serious about becoming fluent in Korean, make sure not to study too much, and get out and smell the sun, sand, and dried squid and actually use Korean as much as possible. Otherwise you’ll get sick of Korean very quickly, and forget what you’re studying for.
Get cracking boys!
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I am finally gonna give TOPIK a go. I kept forgetting to register so I only did it at the last minute (about 2pm on July 31) so I somewhat randomly selected 초급 figuring I should be able to pass level 2. I have the previous test book for that and am finding it not overly difficult. I have two questions for you: i)how much of a jump to level 3 is it from 2 and ii)do you know if you can change your level after registration?
Are the Korean classes still going on? I’m officially on vacation as of yesterday (woo!) so if you’d like to have coffee/lunch sometime let me know.
Hi Anne, glad to hear it. I don’t have your number ever since my daughter gave me my phone by dumping it the sink while I was washing dishes, so could you please text me it?
As for the test, I haven’t tried but I’d be suprised if you can change your level after you register. The good news is that Level 2 is very easy, especially so with the new format of the tests meaning you need only a 50% average instead of 60%. I think you’ll whiz through it with plently of time to spare.
Not that it’s relevant now, but Level 3 is a HUGE step up. Not that I’m the most studious of people, but I didn’t pass it until my 3rd time, the 2nd time getting 59.75% when I still needed 60% to pass back then! Now that you only need 50% it is much easier, but it’s still a bit of a jump.
Hello,
I just wondered how everyone found the TOPIK exams this year? How did your advanced and intermediate papers go, James? I took the S-TOPIK beginner paper and B(business)-TOPIK yesterday in the UK, which made for quite a marathon of Korean examination!
It was my 3rd attempt on the beginner paper and I really hope I can get level 2 this time. At least the essay was simple - just a self-introduction. The first 1/3rd of the business exam was straightforward, but it rapidly got more difficult and by the end I was just making pretty patterns on the answer grid!
By the way, how many people take TOPIK in the Korean test centres? In the UK there were about 8 of us taking beginner TOPIK, 3 doing intermediate and a couple doing advanced. I was the first and only person to take B-TOPIK in the UK! Hence I think it’s unlikely that they’re going to offer two TOPIK exam sessions per year here (despite my requests).
Hi Dan,
I planned to but didn’t do the advanced test this year. I did apply, but then decided that I hadn’t studied enough and so pulled out. I did the intermediate test again. I think I’ll do better than last time but still be shy of Level 4.
I didn’t think that there’d be many people in the UK taking the test, but not as few as that! Thousands take the test in Korea, and I’d say about 85% of whom are Chinese students who have to take the test to go to or continue at a Korean University. 12.5% would be students from other Asian countries, especially Vietnam and Japan, and Westerners would be about 2.5% at most.
That’s the impression I got anyway. I think the TOPIK website has the actual statistics.