TOPIK II reading

Six levels across two papers. TOPIK II's 50-question reading section is exactly one third of the exam — the biggest single reading block in the Asian catalogue.

Official exam page

TOPIK II’s reading section is the biggest single reading block in the Asian exams we cover: fifty questions, worth exactly one third of the total mark. And unlike the JLPT, there is no per-section minimum — your level comes purely from where your total lands in a band.

The reading section

Reading time
not published
Scored reading items
50Source
Texts or passages
not published
Approximate words
not published
CEFR level
no official CEFR mapping
Published annual volume
not published — no annual figure exists from the awarding body
Awarding body
NIIED — National Institute for International Education, Ministry of Education, Korea

Question types the awarding body publishes

  • Multiple choice, four options — all Listening and Reading items are objective
Source

What that means in practice

50 reading questions worth 100 of the 300 total — exactly one third of the exam. The reading paper is the second of two sittings inside a 180-minute total; NIIED publishes only that total, so the commonly quoted "70 minutes for reading" is not official and is not stated here. Levels: 3 is 120–149, 4 is 150–189, 5 is 190–229, 6 is 230–300. There is no per-section minimum in TOPIK: your level comes purely from where your total falls in a band, so a weak reading score can be carried by a strong total. That is structurally different from the JLPT, which fails you on any section below its minimum.

Every figure on this page was checked against the awarding body on that date. Exam formats change; check the official page before you book.

How well reading practice fits this exam

A full reading section

Reading is a complete, separately scored section with real passages. Training it moves a number that appears on your result.

LingoRead trains reading. It does not prepare a speaking or writing paper, it does not mark free-text answers, and it does not issue or predict an official result.

Practise reading for this exam

Start with this exam already selected. You get a passage at your level every day, with audio, tap-to-translate and comprehension questions.

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No section minimum changes your strategy

In TOPIK a weak reading score can be carried by a strong total, because levels are read off the total alone. That is structurally the opposite of the JLPT, where one section below its minimum fails you outright. Candidates who move between the two exams often bring the wrong instinct with them and either over-insure a section that does not need it or neglect one that does.

It does not, however, make reading optional. Fifty questions worth a third of the exam is the largest single lever available to you, so it is usually the most efficient place to gain points even though it is not the place where you can be disqualified.

The timing number you will see online is not official

NIIED publishes a total exam duration, not a reading-only one. The "70 minutes for reading" figure that circulates widely is not published by the awarding body, so it does not appear on this page. What is published — the item count, the share of the total mark, and the level bands — is printed here with its source.

Practically, fifty items in one sitting is a pace problem whatever the exact clock. The training that matters is being able to read a Korean paragraph once, at speed, and answer without going back — not being able to read it twice slowly.

How to build that pace

Short daily Korean at a level you can hold, read once and then checked with comprehension questions, is what turns careful reading into fast reading. LingoRead writes that passage for you every day, reads it aloud, translates any word you tap and saves it as a review card built from its own sentence.

LingoRead trains reading only. It does not prepare listening or the writing section, and there is a separate TOPIK Speaking test with no reading component at all, for which reading practice is not preparation and we do not sell it as such.

Questions people ask

Free tools that help

Our four free tools are English-only for now, so there is no matching tool for this exam. They are still worth a look if you also read in English.

See the free tools

Other levels of TOPIK

  • TOPIK I (초급, PBT)
  • TOPIK I IBT (초급)
  • TOPIK II IBT (중·고급)

No dedicated page — the research did not show enough search demand for it.

TOPIK II reading: fifty questions, one third of the exam | LingoRead