Cbt Exam Eps Topik
Arleen Jerdee
The test was first administered in 1997 and taken by 2,274 people. Initially the test was held only once a year.[1] In 2009, 180,000 people took the test.[2] The Korean government introduced a law in 2007 that required Chinese workers of Korean descent with no relatives in Korea to attain more than 200 points (out of 400) in the Business TOPIK (B-TOPIK) so they could be entered into a lottery for work visa.[3][4]
In previous years, the test was divided into four parts: vocabulary and grammar, writing, listening, and reading. Two versions of the test were offered: the Standard (S)-TOPIK and the Business (B)-TOPIK. There were three different levels of S-TOPIK: beginner (초급), intermediate (중급), and advanced (고급). Depending on the average score and minimum marks in each section it was possible to obtain grades 1-2 in beginner, 3-4 in intermediate and 5-6 in advanced S-TOPIK. In B-TOPIK the scores in each section (out of 100) were added together to give a score out of 400.[8]
TOPIK I is the basic level test containing two obtainable grades, while TOPIK II is the combined intermediate/advanced level with four obtainable grades. The evaluation is based on the total number of points earned.
Able to create simple sentences based on about 800 basic vocabulary items and possess understanding of basic grammar. Able to understand and compose simple and useful sentences related to everyday life.
Able to carry out daily routine, with fair use of public facilities and able to socialize without significant difficulty.Able to express or understand social subjects familiar to himself/herself, as well as specific subjects, based on the paragraph's subject matter. Able to understand and use written language and spoken language based on their distinctive basic characteristics.
Able to use various public facilities, socialize, and carry out some degree of ordinary work.Able to understand easy parts in news broadcasts, newspapers, and understand and use expressions related to social and abstract subjects relatively correctly and fluently.Able to understand social and cultural subjects, based on understanding of Korean culture and frequently used idiomatic expressions.
Able to understand and use expressions related to even unfamiliar aspects of politics, economics, society, and culture.Able to use expressions properly, depending on formal, informal, spoken/written context.
Able to understand and use the expressions related to even unfamiliar subjects of politics, economics, society, and culture.Experiences no difficulty in performing functions or conveying meaning, although the proficiency level is not quite at the same level as a university-educated native speaker.
The test consists of mostly multiple-choice questions; however, the TOPIK II level writing examination will require a short-answer. TOPIK I consists of multiple-choice questions for listening (40 minutes long with 30 questions) and reading (60 minutes long with 40 questions). Both examination areas are worth a score of 100 with a combining score of 200. TOPIK II has two slots. The first slot is the listening examination (60 minutes long with 50 questions) and writing (50 minutes long with 4 short-answer questions). The second slot is for the reading examination (70 minutes long with 50 questions). All three examinations of TOPIK II are worth a score of 100 with a combining score of 300.
There are 17 weeks until the TOPIK 2 Korean proficiency exam in April! Time to sit myself down and make a study plan, I thought. Bur first, before anything, I took an online past paper test to see what score I can expect and where I need to improve.
Then after crying about how badly I did on the test (kidding not kidding), I made the study schedule. I wrote down the weeks and dates, and what I plan on doing for studying. I also leave two weeks open before the exam to review all my work. I only made the schedule up to 3 weeks from now, which is by when I estimate to be finished with the current vocabulary book I am using.
This is just how I learn vocabulary. Listening, grammar and writing are other skills that need different study strategies. I believe neither of these should be done in isolation! When I watch Korean dramas, I make sure to write down new words too. It helps with my listening as well. Writing and reading go hand in hand, so I make sure to read as much Korean as I can through articles online or novels I have at home.
Okay, so for preparing for the Topik exam, for me, involved a lot of cramming about a week before the exam. In specific, I ended up buy a textbook from the Yonsei bookstore to aid my studies. This textbook provided example question types and gave advice on how to go about answering each type of question from the 3 sections. It also included to mock exams which I find the most helpful--practicing taking the test in the allotted amount of time is very necessary so you can gauge pacing.
I also studied a lot of vocabulary because I think the higher the level you progress, the bigger role vocabulary plays in level distinctions. This includes studying proverbs because they always throw a question or two into the reading sections with random proverbs!! I made several Quizlets from my Topik mock exams so that I could study with flash cards on my phone whenever and wherever (I am really glad I invested in Quizlet Premium for Korean class because it also proved helpful in my Topik studies).
Also, the writing section is hard to study for but if you practice how to phrase sentences when analyzing graphs/survey results, I think you can pick up the proper format for answering such questions.
The official Topik website also posts past exams and other similar resources so you can definitely study for this test for free! I just like studying from a physical book and appreciated being able to take the mock exams using the same Topik scantron sheet to resemble the actual test day as much as possible.
Making sure I know where my weak spots are was very important so I could create a focused study plan. I realised pretty soon my vocabulary is lacking (by getting many questions wrong in the vocab section on the past paper) and made sure to consistently study vocab every day. I made flashcards, wrote example sentences, and tried to use my vocabulary in essays and daily conversation.
I planned my time and knew how many minutes I had for each section. I knew that near the end of the paper, the questions are aimed at level 6 students. That meant I had to do my best just up to a specific number, and thereafter, it was OK if it was too hard. I just did what I could, and that helped me stay positive.
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I haven't posted a blog in a few weeks because 3rd year has been super hectic and my dissertation has been close to impossible (which I might post about once I've finished University), but I took my TOPIK exam yesterday and wanted to share my experience since it was a little different to how I thought it would be.
For this post, I've decided to lay out a few of the assumptions I had before taking the exam and what actually happened, and then give some tips on how to prepare for the exam and what I would have done differently in hindsight.
Also, in case you were curious, I don't feel good about the exam (cries)... I don't think I got enough marks to be able to move to TOPIK 3, which I'll explain more about in this post. So I hope this post is useful for anyone who's hoping to take the exam in the future, and if you're not, maybe you can learn a thing or 2 about my mistakes either way!
I knew the kind of level I would need through taking mock exams, but let me tell you either way, it is NOT a matter of common sense. A lot of the later questions in both the listening and reading section are very complex, you can't just see the same word used in the extract and answer and assume it's the correct one. Also, both the questions and sample answers are in Korean, so you need to be able to understand all of the multiple choice options and the text.
Typically in the later questions you'll be asked what the gist of the extract is, why it was communicated and other questions about the context that aren't easily readable and need to be interpreted by yourself. For this reason, vocab should 100% be the focus of all your revision, if you don't understand even 1 word of the extract, interpreting the rest will be challenging.
Not knowing the topic word (apple) can make interpreting this sentence more challenging because it could mean anything, from the text was can interpret that it makes you feel healthy and exercise more, but it doesn't give any clues as to what the word actually is. Now you see the same word used in an extract about gift-giving at weddings and it becomes even more confusing. Sure, giving someone an apple at a wedding would be strange but you never know that the extract is going to say, and getting hung up on a word you don't understand can take a lot of focus away from the rest of the text.
I was quite shocked when I arrived at the test center to find 1 other person sitting outside waiting for the doors to open. Of course as time went on, around 3 other people joined us, but the original number of participants was only 8 people, 3 of which didn't show up.
The test took place inside of a small classroom, and felt a lot like any other standard exam you would take at school, apart from the fact they checked our ID twice. A mistake I made was putting my date of birth on the application form in the standard English order, which unbeknownst to me was not how it's displayed in Korea, so they had to take my passport and do extra checks on it during the exam which was quite terrifying and distracting. I also managed to misspell my Korean name which I only realized when the staff member who was checking my passport had my application in hand. She didn't correct me, but it was quite humbling to see moments before the exam.
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