TOPIK levels explained: you do not choose your level

There are two written tests. TOPIK I awards levels 1 and 2. TOPIK II awards levels 3, 4, 5 and 6. There is also a separate speaking test, which awards its own levels 1 to 6.

You pick the test. The grade comes from your total score measured against published cutoffs. You cannot sit “TOPIK level 4” — you sit TOPIK II and score into level 4.

On paper, TOPIK I is marked out of 200: level 1 is 80–139, level 2 is 140–200.

TOPIK II is marked out of 300: level 3 is 120–149, level 4 is 150–189, level 5 is 190–229, level 6 is 230–300.

The internet-based test is scored on an entirely different scale. TOPIK I IBT is out of 400: level 1 is 121–235, level 2 is 236–400. TOPIK II IBT is out of 600: level 3 is 191–290, level 4 is 291–360, level 5 is 361–430, level 6 is 431–600.

The speaking test is out of 200: level 1 is 20–49, level 2 is 50–89, level 3 is 90–109, level 4 is 110–129, level 5 is 130–159, level 6 is 160–200.

Because the scales differ, a paper score and an internet-based score are not comparable numbers. 300 is a level 6 on one and a failing mark on the other.

Read the TOPIK II cutoffs again and notice what is missing. The lowest grade it awards is level 3, at 120 out of 300. There is no level 1 and no level 2 on TOPIK II.

So a candidate who sits TOPIK II and scores 119 receives no grade at all. Not a level 2 — nothing.

Correction, 28 August 2026. This paragraph used to continue: the same person sitting TOPIK I that day could have scored well into level 2 and come away with a certificate. That was too confident, and a Korean teacher told us so — Sol, of My Korean Lesson, who answered a cold email asking her to check this guide. The two tests are marked on different scales, 300 and 200, so a TOPIK II score does not convert into a TOPIK I one and what that candidate would have scored is genuinely unknown rather than merely unstated.

The defensible version is narrower: 119 falls below TOPIK II's level 3 cutoff of 120, and TOPIK I awards levels 1 and 2 against its own separate threshold, starting at 80 out of 200. Whether a given person clears that is a question about their performance on a different paper, not an arithmetic conversion. Sol has no affiliation with KoloLingo and nothing to gain from the mention.

This inverts the usual advice about aiming high. On an exam where you register for a level and pass or fail it, aiming a level too high costs you one sitting. On the TOPIK, a candidate near the boundary who sits the harder test can come away with no result at all, where the easier test awards levels 1 and 2 — which is a real risk even though, per the correction above, nobody can tell you in advance what you would have scored on the other paper.

The counter-argument is real and worth stating in the same breath: TOPIK I cannot award you anything above level 2 however well you do, so a candidate who is comfortably level 3 wastes a sitting by playing safe. The decision turns on where you actually are, which is what a timed past paper is for — and past papers are published by the exam's own organisers, free.

The notice is explicit: the grade is decided by the sum of the section scores. There is no per-section floor to clear.

That is worth knowing because the neighbouring exam works the opposite way. The JLPT fails you if any single section falls below its own minimum, no matter how high your total — a Japanese learner can score 138 out of 180 at N2 and still fail on listening alone. The TOPIK has no such rule. A weak section can be carried by a strong one.

This changes preparation in a concrete way. On the JLPT, your weakest section is your entire study plan. On the TOPIK, points are points, and the rational move is to push wherever points come cheapest — which for most learners is reading rather than listening.

Fees in Korea for 2026, from the same notice: TOPIK I on paper 40,000 won, TOPIK II on paper 55,000 won, TOPIK I internet-based 70,000 won, TOPIK II internet-based 95,000 won, and the speaking test 80,000 won.

At the European Central Bank's reference rates for 25 August 2026, those are roughly $29, $40, $51, $69 and $58.

The internet-based test costs 75% more than paper for TOPIK I and 73% more for TOPIK II. It is not a cheaper convenience — it is a materially more expensive product on a different scoring scale, and the same notice records that the internet-based test has no break in the middle while the paper TOPIK II does.

These are the Korean domestic fees. The notice states plainly that fees outside Korea vary by country and must be confirmed with the local administering institution. Do not budget from this paragraph if you are sitting abroad.

TOPIK scores are valid for two years from the date the results are announced.

This is the fact most worth acting on, and it appears in almost none of the level comparisons. It puts the TOPIK in a different category from its neighbours: a DELE diploma has indefinite validity, and the JLPT's own FAQ states that its certificate never expires — results from the pre-2010 test remain valid. A TOPIK level does expire.

One qualification that cuts the other way, and it is the JLPT's own: a certificate that never expires can still be refused. The same FAQ notes that companies and educational institutions referring to results sometimes impose a time limit of their own. So “does the certificate expire?” and “will this institution accept a certificate from four years ago?” are two different questions, and only the second one decides anything. Ask the body that will read it.

So the sequencing matters. If you need a TOPIK level for a university application or a visa, sitting it early “to have it done” can mean sitting it twice. Count backwards from the deadline instead.

There are six paper sittings and six internet-based sittings scheduled in 2026, but only three speaking sittings. If your plan includes the speaking test, that is the constraint on your timeline — not the written one.

The notice's answer-sheet instructions distinguish listening and reading answers from writing answers, and record that TOPIK II's first period uses two answer sheets. TOPIK II includes a written-production section. Speaking is not on it at all, because speaking is the separate exam.

Read the commercial implication in the direction that costs us. If your target is a TOPIK II level, conversation lessons are not the efficient purchase. They are the right purchase for the separate speaking test, and they are the right purchase if you want to speak Korean — which is a better reason anyway.

Where a teacher genuinely earns their fee on TOPIK II is the writing section, for a boring reason: it is the only part you cannot mark yourself. You can score your own listening and reading against the answer key of a past paper. You cannot tell whether your own paragraph reads like Korean.

Everything else on this page you can do alone and for nothing: the past papers, the level descriptions, and the cutoffs above.

Worth reading once, because several of these are unusual and all of them are in the same notice.

Leaving early means no score at all. A candidate who exits mid-test is not marked.

Marking two answers to one question scores zero for that question, as does an incomplete mark. Writing outside the designated answer box scores nothing, however good the Korean inside it.

No correction tape is provided, and has not been since the 68th sitting in January 2020. Bring your own.

Carrying a device with AI translation or writing functions, or a disguised recording device, voids the test and bans you for two years. Sitting for someone else, or having someone sit for you, is a four-year ban.

Results are published on the website only. The notice states they are not sent by post, fax or email.

Sit a timed past paper before you choose the test, and score it against the cutoffs above rather than against a feeling. If you land in the 100s out of 300, you are looking straight at the gap, and TOPIK I is the test that returns a certificate.

If you need the speaking level, plan around three sittings a year rather than six.

And nobody can promise you a level. Anyone wording it otherwise — a school, an app, a teacher, us — is selling you something they do not control.