TOPIK levels and passing scores: PBT, IBT and Speaking

The same page lists one score band per level and states no minimum score for any single section, such as listening or writing. NIIED’s rules call the bands “pass grades” (합격 등급), so reaching level 1 on TOPIK I, or level 3 on TOPIK II, counts as a pass. TOPIK I and TOPIK II are separate tests: TOPIK I awards levels 1 and 2, and TOPIK II awards levels 3 to 6. “TOPIK 2” is easy to misread, because TOPIK II is the test for levels 3 to 6, while level 2 is a TOPIK I result. A total below the lowest band of a test receives no level. The table at the top of this page lists every PBT and IBT band.

TOPIK I has two sections, listening and reading, and no writing section. A TOPIK I PBT total below 80 receives no level. The top band of TOPIK I PBT, 140 to 200, is level 2, so even a perfect TOPIK I score gives level 2 and not level 3. On TOPIK I IBT, the internet-based version, level 1 runs from 121 to 235 and level 2 from 236 to 400, out of 400. A learner who wants level 3 or higher has to sit TOPIK II. The sections, question counts and timings of both tests are on the TOPIK structure page.

TOPIK II has three sections: listening, writing and reading. A TOPIK II PBT total below 120 receives no level, and TOPIK II never awards level 1 or level 2. “TOPIK 2” in a search can mean either the test or the level: TOPIK II is the test for levels 3 to 6, while level 2 is a TOPIK I result. Level 6 is the highest TOPIK level, and NIIED’s rules set six levels in all. On TOPIK II IBT, level 3 starts at 191, level 4 at 291, level 5 at 361 and level 6 at 431, out of 600.

TOPIK IBT, the internet-based test, uses a larger point scale than the paper-based test (PBT) but awards the same six levels. Each TOPIK IBT section is worth up to 200 points, according to the IBT structure page on topik.go.kr, so TOPIK I IBT totals 400 and TOPIK II IBT totals 600. TOPIK II IBT level 4, for example, runs from 291 to 360. A TOPIK IBT score cannot be read on the PBT scale: 150 is level 4 on TOPIK II PBT but no level on TOPIK II IBT, where level 3 starts at 191. The two formats are compared on the IBT vs PBT page.

TOPIK Speaking is a separate test from TOPIK I and TOPIK II, with 6 questions in 30 minutes. The 0–200 figure is a scale score calculated with item response theory, according to the same Speaking level page.

The Speaking table on topik.go.kr labels 0–19 “fail” (불합격), while the PBT and IBT band tables carry no such label. A TOPIK Speaking level is a result of the Speaking test only, so Speaking level 3 is not the same result as level 3 on TOPIK II.

The two figures appear inside descriptions of what a learner can do at each level, not in a word list. For the higher levels, our own tally of the National Institute of Korean Language (NIKL) 2017 curriculum list counts 3,460 words through level 3 of that list and 5,628 through level 4. The NIKL counts are our arithmetic on a list from a different institution, not a NIIED figure. NIIED decides a TOPIK level from the total score, not from a word count. The per-level counts and how we made them are on how many words for each TOPIK level.

The 2-year period applies to TOPIK I and TOPIK II, in both PBT and IBT. The Speaking page on topik.go.kr gives TOPIK Speaking the same period: 2 years from the result date. Result dates differ by sitting, so the end of the 2 years depends on the sitting; the dates are on the TOPIK results page. Score certificates are issued only through the TOPIK website and are not sent by post, fax or e-mail, according to NIIED’s rules. Outside Korea, the local test institution may receive one copy per candidate to hand out, under the same rules.