The TOPIK works differently from the exams you may have read about for Chinese or Japanese, in one way that matters a lot for how you prepare: you don't sit a level. You sit one of two exams, and the level is whatever your score turns out to be.
Bill Edwards
·7 min read
The TOPIK (한국어능력시험) is the official Korean proficiency exam, run by the South Korean government. Six levels, numbered upward — level 6 is the highest — split across two separate exams.
| Exam | Levels it can award | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| TOPIK I | 1 or 2 | Listening and reading |
| TOPIK II | 3, 4, 5 or 6 | Listening, reading and writing |
You register for the exam, not the level. Sit TOPIK II and your score decides whether you walk away with a 3 or a 6.
This is genuinely different from the HSK and the JLPT, where you pick a level and pass or fail it. It has a practical consequence people underestimate: there's no failing TOPIK II, only scoring lower than you hoped. If you're near the boundary, sitting it costs you nothing but the fee.
| Level | Roughly | Who asks for it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Survival Korean, hangul, basic phrases | Nobody. It's for you |
| 2 | Everyday conversation, simple texts | Occasionally for visas |
| 3 | Comfortable daily life, some abstract topics | Some jobs; the real turning point |
| 4 | News and work contexts with effort | Common minimum for university admission |
| 5 | Professional and academic Korean | Graduate study, specialised roles |
| 6 | Near-native range | Translation, academia |
TOPIK II includes writing, and that makes it structurally more honest than the JLPT, which tests no production at all.
It's still not speaking — there's no oral component in the main exam — but you have to generate Korean rather than recognise it, including a longer essay at the higher levels. Recognition and production are different skills, and an exam that touches both gives a truer picture.
It also means TOPIK II preparation forces something useful on you: you have to have internalised the speech levels well enough to keep one consistently across several hundred words. That's not a thing you can fake with vocabulary, and it's exactly the skill that transfers to real conversation.
Voice and text conversation with partners who keep a consistent relationship with you — which is where speech levels stop being a decision and become a reflex.
The TOPIK's vocabulary and grammar lists are the most useful part of it, and they're free to use as a syllabus. They give a shapeless task a shape: here's what comes first, here's what comes next.
Two cautions from having watched people study for it. Don't let recognition run far ahead of production — the exam is mostly reading and listening, and it's entirely possible to score well and freeze in conversation. And don't chase the level for its own sake. The number is a snapshot of a subset of your Korean, and treating it as the goal quietly reshapes your study toward the parts that are easy to test.
The version of this that actually works: study Korean, sit the TOPIK occasionally to find out where you are, and let the result inform the plan rather than become it.
Frequently asked
They're two separate exams. TOPIK I covers listening and reading and can award levels 1 or 2. TOPIK II adds a writing section and can award levels 3 to 6. You register for the exam, not the level — your score determines which level you receive.
Not in the usual sense. Since the level is determined by your score, sitting TOPIK II and scoring below the level 3 threshold simply means no level awarded rather than a fail on your record. If you're near a boundary, sitting it costs you nothing but the fee.
Most commonly level 4 for degree programmes taught in Korean, sometimes level 3 with conditions attached. Graduate programmes and specialised fields often want 5 or 6. The requirement comes from the institution, so check the specific programme.
The main exam doesn't include an oral component, but TOPIK II does include writing, so it tests production rather than only recognition. That makes it structurally more informative than exams that are entirely multiple choice.
No. It's needed for study in Korea, some scholarships and certain visa categories. Otherwise it does nothing for your Korean. Its vocabulary and grammar lists are genuinely useful as a syllabus even if you never register for the exam.
The Korean courses in Lemma, level by level
Four courses running TOPIK 1 to 3, plus preloaded vocabulary decks by level.
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