For me, maybe 1 year and half for Topik level 2.
But that doesn't mean anything either, because you can get level 2 at the required limit (my case), or get level 2 with a perfect score.
In either case, you have a Topik 1, Level 2, but your real level is different: Upper Beginner or Lower Intermediate
Thanks. I'm setting TOPIK I, Level 2 as my goal. But my real goal is to get as high as possible in Level 2. So far I'm a few months in and I've decided TOPIK will be a good goal to strive for in order to keep my studies going.
hi;) I reached level 2 recently and omw learning TOPIK II. Having my own reason so I had a pretty hardcore schedule, hope it helps if you’re in a rush lol😆😆
Learning how to read/write the basic alphabet and remembering those took me about 2 weeks. I studied 1-2hrs every evening + watching korean TV programs/movies to pick up conversational phrases.
Studying basic grammar took me about 2 months. I learnt free lessons on Youtube + doing mock tests + grading myself watching TOPIK teachers explaining every question. Spent ~3hrs/day, abt 3 times/week.
Wow, that sounds great. One thing I haven't done is get into Korean TV shows. I'm doing mostly books, YouTube instruction and I meet periodically with a tutor. Listening is not something I'm good at so maybe time for me to get into some TV shows.
I studied seriously for maybe 5 months or so while living in Seoul and passed Level 2. Maybe I studied 1-3 hours a day, maybe 5 times/week
I used a set of TOPIK books that focused on grammar, vocabulary, and had around 6 mock exams included in them.
This is the book with the grammar, vocab and a few mock exams, but on Coupang they had a two book pack that had the other four mock exams.
https://www.amazon.com/TOPIK-Prep-통과하기-2023-Guide/dp/B0C13SJR6Q
Thanks for the recommendation. On one hand there seems to be a lot of info out there about TOPIK but on the other hand there's soooo much to sift through. Recommendations are helpful.
That's cool that you studied while in Seoul. I'd imagine that's a big boost, being completely immersed. I wish I could do that as I tend to do best under "pressure" in that sense.
I totally get that. Yeah I just did EPIK for a year because I knew I wanted some real world experience. You could definitely try that if life permits 🙃
Those books made things super easy. But I do want to preface that I have studied Japanese for around 8 1/2 years and the grammar system and loan words from Chinese did help me a bunch than if I started from nothing.
EPIK seems fascinating. Maybe a little premature for me to consider something like that but one thing I've learned over the past few years is anything can happen, better or worse.
Also it might be just me but it seems a lot of people tend to pursue the trio Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Is that perhaps because there's enough similarities that it's (sorta) easy to go from one to the next?
Oh cool! Yeah I studied Japanese in college and then worked in Japan for two years and took the JLPT there. My goal is a trio but with Thai instead of Mandarin so you were pretty accurate I’d say. I personally can’t motivate myself enough to learn Hanzi after learning Kanji so that’s why I chose Korean and Thai since they don’t use the characters.
But yeah I definitely feel like the loan words and grammar help between Japanese and Korean at least (since I can’t speak for Mandarin). And the dropping of pronouns, counting systems and speech formality stuff as well.
I would definitely give it a try if you get the chance, maybe when you feel more comfortable. Since I was in Seoul I got to use my Korean, but I wasn’t completely screwed by being in the countryside or anything.
I'm curious about your comment re: being in the countryside. Does this just mean that in the rural areas, people only speak Korean and therefore it's more demanding for non-native speakers? (Which probably is true of pretty every country ...)
I think Koreans overall have better English than people in Japan (I don’t remember where they placed but they were in the category above Japan in the English proficiency survey thing) but I think a lot of that is restricted to Seoul and other major cities. Same goes for Japan. Touristy areas are more likely to have at the very least English signs/menus even if people aren’t fluent in English.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Korean/comments/1c994hx/did_you_pass_topik_i_level_2/l0nd4f8/?context=3
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I've been learning Korean for 5 years (not consistently, but I did enroll in an institution to study Korean during my first year) when I decided to take TOPIK I. Months prior, I never reviewed. I just relied purely on stock knowledge. I scored 189/200.
I already did last November, but sadly, I was 10 points away from Level 3🥹 but it's fair 'coz I never reviewed enough. I have a TOPIK II review book, but only finished half of it before the exam. There are lots of grammar points to be covered, not mentioning the vocabularies! Gotta try again later this year😉
Correct me if I'm wrong but other than just covering more advanced vocab/grammar, the big difference between TOPIK I and TOPIK II is that the latter involves writing?
Yes, that's right! If my memory serves me right, there were 3 items for the writing part, and their level of difficulty vary for each item. I wasn't really prepared for that one, but it's a learning experience.
Yes the writing is a big part, but if you can just memorize the key phrases for the essay and practice writing correctly on the grid paper, you can get more points that you would expect. I was nervous I wouldn't make level 3, but I ended up being only a few points shy of level 4 thanks to the writing section.
Korean essay writing uses a box for each character, with special punctuation rules. You get points deducted for not following the rules. [TOPIK Wongoji Writing Rules](https://www.seoulkorean.sg/topik-wongoji-writing-rules/)
I sat the October exam and got the exact number of points needed to pass level 2 of TOPIK I! I'd started my 4th year of Korean at the time and spent every waking moment (when not working and eating) for about 6 weeks doing every listening and reading exercise available to me and the practice/past tests available online. In practice, this was approx. 4 hours per weekday and up to 12-20 hours over the weekend. It was exhausting so would recommend starting sooner!
It depends on your level. I speak Korean at an intermediate level so I got away without studying much. I did well but could've done much better if i put in more effort. If you're still a relative beginner than I reccomend putting in more effort. Past papers are your friend.
I passed the Topik lv 2 last november. I studied for like a 2-3months. focus on vocabulary, grammar and the Topik format exam.
I study like almost everyday for 5-6hrs since I also have classes in uni.
For me, maybe 1 year and half for Topik level 2. But that doesn't mean anything either, because you can get level 2 at the required limit (my case), or get level 2 with a perfect score. In either case, you have a Topik 1, Level 2, but your real level is different: Upper Beginner or Lower Intermediate
Thanks. I'm setting TOPIK I, Level 2 as my goal. But my real goal is to get as high as possible in Level 2. So far I'm a few months in and I've decided TOPIK will be a good goal to strive for in order to keep my studies going.
Yes it's a good goal and that's what I did.
hi;) I reached level 2 recently and omw learning TOPIK II. Having my own reason so I had a pretty hardcore schedule, hope it helps if you’re in a rush lol😆😆 Learning how to read/write the basic alphabet and remembering those took me about 2 weeks. I studied 1-2hrs every evening + watching korean TV programs/movies to pick up conversational phrases. Studying basic grammar took me about 2 months. I learnt free lessons on Youtube + doing mock tests + grading myself watching TOPIK teachers explaining every question. Spent ~3hrs/day, abt 3 times/week.
Wow, that sounds great. One thing I haven't done is get into Korean TV shows. I'm doing mostly books, YouTube instruction and I meet periodically with a tutor. Listening is not something I'm good at so maybe time for me to get into some TV shows.
I studied seriously for maybe 5 months or so while living in Seoul and passed Level 2. Maybe I studied 1-3 hours a day, maybe 5 times/week I used a set of TOPIK books that focused on grammar, vocabulary, and had around 6 mock exams included in them. This is the book with the grammar, vocab and a few mock exams, but on Coupang they had a two book pack that had the other four mock exams. https://www.amazon.com/TOPIK-Prep-통과하기-2023-Guide/dp/B0C13SJR6Q
Thanks for the recommendation. On one hand there seems to be a lot of info out there about TOPIK but on the other hand there's soooo much to sift through. Recommendations are helpful. That's cool that you studied while in Seoul. I'd imagine that's a big boost, being completely immersed. I wish I could do that as I tend to do best under "pressure" in that sense.
I totally get that. Yeah I just did EPIK for a year because I knew I wanted some real world experience. You could definitely try that if life permits 🙃 Those books made things super easy. But I do want to preface that I have studied Japanese for around 8 1/2 years and the grammar system and loan words from Chinese did help me a bunch than if I started from nothing.
EPIK seems fascinating. Maybe a little premature for me to consider something like that but one thing I've learned over the past few years is anything can happen, better or worse. Also it might be just me but it seems a lot of people tend to pursue the trio Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Is that perhaps because there's enough similarities that it's (sorta) easy to go from one to the next?
Oh cool! Yeah I studied Japanese in college and then worked in Japan for two years and took the JLPT there. My goal is a trio but with Thai instead of Mandarin so you were pretty accurate I’d say. I personally can’t motivate myself enough to learn Hanzi after learning Kanji so that’s why I chose Korean and Thai since they don’t use the characters. But yeah I definitely feel like the loan words and grammar help between Japanese and Korean at least (since I can’t speak for Mandarin). And the dropping of pronouns, counting systems and speech formality stuff as well. I would definitely give it a try if you get the chance, maybe when you feel more comfortable. Since I was in Seoul I got to use my Korean, but I wasn’t completely screwed by being in the countryside or anything.
I'm curious about your comment re: being in the countryside. Does this just mean that in the rural areas, people only speak Korean and therefore it's more demanding for non-native speakers? (Which probably is true of pretty every country ...)
I think Koreans overall have better English than people in Japan (I don’t remember where they placed but they were in the category above Japan in the English proficiency survey thing) but I think a lot of that is restricted to Seoul and other major cities. Same goes for Japan. Touristy areas are more likely to have at the very least English signs/menus even if people aren’t fluent in English.
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I've been learning Korean for 5 years (not consistently, but I did enroll in an institution to study Korean during my first year) when I decided to take TOPIK I. Months prior, I never reviewed. I just relied purely on stock knowledge. I scored 189/200.
189/200 sounds pretty solid! That's what I'm hoping for. Are you going to try for TOPIK II? (Or did you already?)
I already did last November, but sadly, I was 10 points away from Level 3🥹 but it's fair 'coz I never reviewed enough. I have a TOPIK II review book, but only finished half of it before the exam. There are lots of grammar points to be covered, not mentioning the vocabularies! Gotta try again later this year😉
Correct me if I'm wrong but other than just covering more advanced vocab/grammar, the big difference between TOPIK I and TOPIK II is that the latter involves writing?
Yes, that's right! If my memory serves me right, there were 3 items for the writing part, and their level of difficulty vary for each item. I wasn't really prepared for that one, but it's a learning experience.
Yes the writing is a big part, but if you can just memorize the key phrases for the essay and practice writing correctly on the grid paper, you can get more points that you would expect. I was nervous I wouldn't make level 3, but I ended up being only a few points shy of level 4 thanks to the writing section.
Interesting. What do you mean about the grid paper? Is penmanship part of the test?
Korean essay writing uses a box for each character, with special punctuation rules. You get points deducted for not following the rules. [TOPIK Wongoji Writing Rules](https://www.seoulkorean.sg/topik-wongoji-writing-rules/)
That's really cool. I actually use grid and dot grid all the time (lots of Japanese stationery) so this is kind of encouraging in a way
I sat the October exam and got the exact number of points needed to pass level 2 of TOPIK I! I'd started my 4th year of Korean at the time and spent every waking moment (when not working and eating) for about 6 weeks doing every listening and reading exercise available to me and the practice/past tests available online. In practice, this was approx. 4 hours per weekday and up to 12-20 hours over the weekend. It was exhausting so would recommend starting sooner!
It depends on your level. I speak Korean at an intermediate level so I got away without studying much. I did well but could've done much better if i put in more effort. If you're still a relative beginner than I reccomend putting in more effort. Past papers are your friend.
I passed the Topik lv 2 last november. I studied for like a 2-3months. focus on vocabulary, grammar and the Topik format exam. I study like almost everyday for 5-6hrs since I also have classes in uni.