With many Topik takers studying on their own, picking the right textbook to guide them on the grueling exam preparation journey can be important.

Although many Topik books are out on the market, one of the most popular picks is "TOPIK II Pass Recipe," first published in 2019.


On Yes24, "TOPIK II Pass Recipe" was the best-selling Topik textbook of the month in February and March. The book also ranked as the No. 1 steady seller for Topik textbooks on Yes24 as of Tuesday, meaning it was a best-selling book over the past year.

For students, one of the helpful features is how the book ranks words, expressions and topics of reading and listening passages based on how likely they are to appear on the Topik exam.

“The reference for creating the rankings is materials before the 35th Topik, or when the overall structure changed to what it is now,” said Lee Tae-hwan, author of the book. “All tests follow a question bank format, but that doesn’t mean the exam reuses old questions as they were.”

“It’s more of a system where questions are categorized by topics and then selected from the batch. The current Topik administration also announced that it would follow a question bank system, so the rankings were created based on those foundational materials.”

Specific orders within the rankings may slightly change as time goes by, but Lee says that studying according to the rankings will help, as he doesn’t see any drastic changes.

The book doesn’t follow the order of the actual test questions, but is organized by levels the test takers want to achieve — starting with questions for those aiming for Level 3, then Levels 4, 5 and 6. According to Lee, the format is efficient, as most test takers have a set level they wish to achieve, such as Levels 3 or 4 for Korean university admissions.

Lee is not just the author of "TOPIK II Pass Recipe," but is also one of the co-authors of the "TOPIK II Pass Recipe" mock test book. He is a professor at Gachon University's Department of Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language and also leads the university's Korean Language Education Center and Topik Center.

With his experience in teaching Korean to international students, Lee advises them to actively practice and also to try taking the test more than once.

"Choosing a book that's suited to self-studying students is important if you are studying for the exam by yourself, and I have made 'TOPIK II Pass Recipe' with those students in mind," said Lee. "But what's even more important is experience."

"It's important to take the test when you have the chance, as that's how you figure out your weaknesses and understand the areas you can improve in. When you're studying alone, the only person that can identify your weaknesses is yourself."

Lee sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily to talk more about his book and tips for the Topik exam.

The following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.


After the book was first published in 2019, has there been any notable changes to the Topik exam?

One section where there has been some changes is the writing section. I think that the difficulty of Question 53 and the essay, or Question 54, have recently been going up. For instance, if those questions are about topics such as the aging population, test takers would be asked to (write about) what welfare policies are needed. So, teachers could prepare students with an expected set of vocabulary and expressions. But at one point, questions started to combine topics — like combining the topic of the aging population with cultural lag — and asking what test takers think about the older generation struggling to keep up with rapidly developing technological and cultural changes. Topics like climate change or science were used for passages of difficult questions you’d see at the end of the listening or reading section. But they’re now coming up on question 53, or the (writing section's) graph interpreting question, and the overall difficulty level is slightly going up.

Knowing vocabulary is an essential step in preparation. What would be a good way to memorize Korean words?

In the past, Topik had the vocabulary and grammar section, but not now. But if you go to the Topik website, you can still find tests before the 35th exam, or before the change took place. The tests are likely still available, and I recommend students study the vocabulary and grammar from those sections that correspond to the level they’re aiming for.

Also, when students look up certain words they don’t know, they tend to focus only on learning the word’s definition. It then becomes difficult for them to actually use the words because they often miss out on expressions that occur together. For instance, when students learn the word boram [sense of fulfillment], they look it up in the dictionary and learn the definition. When asked to try using the words, they may give answers like ‘have’ a sense of fulfillment’ or ‘big’ sense of fulfillment. But that's usually as far as it goes. Instead of just memorizing nouns on their own, it can be helpful to learn them alongside verbs or phrases they commonly go with, like ‘feel a sense of fulfillment.’ That way, students can also get a better sense of how to use the noun, verbs and sentence structure.


The end of the listening section tends to have more than one question for each listening passage. What would be a good way to prepare for these?

Rather than just listening to the audio, test takers will need to jot down important words. But as they focus on writing things down, they can miss parts of the listening passage. But that’s why those listening passages are played twice. When it’s played a second time, students need to check the notes they have and also jot down parts they missed.

For test takers that are more advanced, it's important to know that listening questions have a certain pattern. For instance, the first and last sentences of the listening passage tend to repeat themselves, and people can pay attention to that. The last sentence also tends to have something that’s emphasized, and students can formulate strategies based on those patterns. "TOPIK II Pass Recipe" also lists sentence structures of topic sentences based on how frequently they appear in the exam. Even if words in the sentences change, you will see reoccurring patterns, and learning to find those patterns can be helpful.

Question 54, or the essay, is something that even those aiming for high levels struggle with. How should students prepare?

When preparing for Question 54, I think it’s best to narrow down potential topics into broad, specific and even more detailed themes, and then practice them by category. Question 54 is very difficult because test takers have to think about what words and expressions they need to use and how to structure the essay’s introduction, body and conclusion. Since students don’t know what topic they will be given, it’s easy to panic and not be able to write to their fullest in the exam. In the end, the only actual way to prepare for this is through reading books. One piece of advice I’d give to international students preparing for the exam is to go back and review social science and science concepts they learned in high school — even in their native language. I think doing that can really help with the exam.

Students that aim for a high score often try to use very advanced vocabulary or grammar for Question 54. But if you aren’t as confident in yourself when doing so, that strategy may not be effective. In artistic or literary writing, there’s room for bonus points based on creativity or style. But in essay-based tests like this, it’s a deduction-based scoring system. There’s a set score for each structural element, and if the writing lacks completeness or coherence, points get deducted. I think it’s better to use vocabulary and grammar you're confident with, and make sure your overall logic and structure are solid.


The Ministry of Education announced it will digitize Topik by 2035, developing an automated scoring system and having questions generated through computers. How will such changes affect future test takers?

There’s around 10 years left until 2035 and a lot of effort will be needed to set up necessary infrastructure, but looking at how fast AI develops, I think the plans will be possible.

Looking into possible changes for exam questions, I think there is a high possibility that questions dealing with current issues could be excluded if we focus more on IBTs (internet based tests). That may lessen the burden for test takers, but I don’t think it will make a huge difference in their scores.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]